I would like lots of people to come on this thread and tell me it's FINE that my 5yo isn't anywhere close to being dry at night

[oinkment]

It is fine isn't it?

I seem to be surrounded by 2 and 3 yr olds who are dry at night.

I don't see what on earth I can do to usher him in the right direction - if we leave the nappy off he wees by 11.00pm and doesn't wake up. If we change him.then he wees again before morning and sleeps so heavily he hasn't a clue.

I reckon it's fine. My son is 5 in a couple of months and nowhere near dry at night. Several of his friends are the same (maybe more, but I don't know all their mums well enough to ask!). Hope that helps!

Ds2 is almost 7 and still not dry.

Was fine until this week dd who is 2 got dry. Eek.

ds was 5 before he managed to be dry - and thats with us lifting him at 10pm for a wee. DOnt worry about it - GPs dont consider it an issue until a child is about 7.

Every child is different. DD1 was dry at night from the first time I accidentally put her to bed age 3 with no nappy- yet still has occasional daytime accidents and she is 11! (we are under paed care for it)

I've often read the "not an issue until 7" thing and wondered what exactly they do at 7? What steps do they then take?

It's certainly quite normal for many 5 year olds not to be dry at night. My 7 yo wets the bed at least once a week. My 5 yo on the other hand has been dry at night for 2.5 years! (However he did wet the bed last night, unusual for him). Don't worry :)

My 5yo dd isn't even close to being dry at night but was dry during the day very young. There's just no telling.

My Nephew is nearly 7 and just about dry at night, its all to do with hormones and genetics I'm afraid.

Its fine. The relevant hormones haven't kicked in yet. If they don't in another couple of years, his doctor might want to take some action. Really don't worry.

DS1 was in pullups at night until he was 5.5. We then managed to bribe him with a Nintendo DS to get dry

My 8, 6 and four year olds aren't dry
My 10 year old has been since he was 3

Different kids get dry at different ages

It's fine, I know a very bright, totally normal young girl who was still on medication and very careful when she drank in an evening aged 8/9.

My friend remembers her brother being ridiculed and belittled by her parents for wetting the bed. She resolved to never let it be an issue like that with her children, so when one of her son's carried on wetting the bed til he was 8 she was very calm and unworried about it. Son is in his 20s now and fine!

It's fine.
Ds1 wasn't dry at night til 4.5.
Ds2 was dry and and night at 3.

Yes, it's fine. Even GP's don't consider it a problem before the age of seven.

It's fine. It's expensive in pull-ups but other than that

Ds1 wasn't reliably dry at night till he was nearly 8. Was frustrating as his little bro was going through before his 4th birthday but everyone is different. Lots of ds1 peers had similar issues so i think its quite normal. Try not to worry, easier said than done i know!

DD1 wasn't dry all the way through reception and into year 1.

DD2 and DD3 have been completely different.

It is still well within the scale of normal.

It's fine, but worth bearing in mind that many children not dry at night at 5 are unlikely to be dry at night by 7 so you may want to seek referral to an enuresis clinic by the time they are 6-6.5 if still wet (many have huge waiting lists).

A lot of it is developmental, and also related to the adequate production of vasopressin which usually kicks in around aged 3 but can be much later.

Things you can do to help:

Encourage plenty of fluids in the daytime, eg between 0700 and 1700. If a child doesn't drink enough during the day whilst at school they are then thirsty when they get in and have the bulk of their fluids later in the day, meaning increased urine production after bedtime.

Remember milk is a food as well as a drink and takes longer to digest, so is converted to urine later. Avoid milk, hot chocolate etc at bedtime.

Do the 3Ts at bedtime - toilet, teeth, toilet so that the bladder is completely emptied.

Lifting isn't recommended as you are reinforcing the 'wee whilst you are asleep' message. Of course it can enable a dry bed but won't actually contribute to achieving night time dryness. If you need to take a child to the loo after their bedtime/before you go to bed then make sure you have fully woken them.

He's within the normal range.

If he still has problems by the age of 7 you can get a referral.

That's interesting FairyArmadillo. An inherited tendency is one of the reasons listed by ERIC.

My son will be 7 in July and he still has occasional accidents through the night - I think it's just one of those things that it'll take as long as it takes (in spite of all of the people who delight in telling you how young their kid was when they stayed dry through the night!)

My dc3 wasn't until she was 7. It's a lot more common than you'd think. I too was told it's to do with a certain hormone kicking in. Don't know about the genetics side as both dcs 1 and 2 were dry at night when they were 2 - 3, but dc3 just couldn't do it.
She's 11 now though, and no longer wets the bed although does have to get up in the night to relieve herself.

Hi there my daughter is 5 and has been dry at night since 3 and I thought that was late as someone I know their was earlier. But recently found out that some of the children in my daughter class were not until recently. So I guess each child is different and some children are quicker to learn certain things and others quicker at other things.