Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

5 year old DS not dry at night, looking for advice

41 replies

itstheyearzero · 29/12/2013 20:45

Hi, I'm looking for some advice on this because I'm really not sure what to do. DS was 5 a few weeks ago and he has never been dry at night. I have never pushed it, he wears pull ups at night, and I always thought that one day he would wake up with a dry pull up and that would be it. Sorted. However, this has obviously not happened. He was quite late potty training, I tried when he was two and a half, it was a disaster, so I left it and tried again when he was three, he got it within a week, no bother.

When he started school in September I had to fill a form in re his medical history etc, and there was a question about being dry at night. I said he wasn't, but I wasn't concerned, I just thought he would do it in his own time. A couple of weeks ago the school nurse rang me and advised me to take the matter in hand. She advised me to try and get it sorted over the Christmas break, when he didn't have to get up for school etc. So two nights ago I had a chat with him, to!d him what we were doing, and put him to bed in underpants. Night one he woke up at half three really upset because his bed was wet. I didn't make a big deal of it, just sorted him out and out him back to bed. Night two, same again. I spoke to him about it the morning after, asked him if he woke up when he was weeing, or just woke up because his bed was set, and he said he couldn't remember.

Tonight I have put him to bed in his pull up because I just don't see the point in pushing it when he is obviously not ready. The nurse to!d me NOT to wake him up for a wee before I go to bed as this wouldn't be training him to wake himself up.

So, what do I do? She mentioned seeing a continence nurse if things didn't go well, but I'm not keen on this idea, mainly because he has had to see so many health professionals throughout his short life ( he had OHS at 5 months so has regular heart check ups, he is hyper mobile so sees physio, paediatric ion about that, problems with his eyes so he sees eye doctor every three months), I just want him to be left alone!

Any advice welcome, should I agree to see the continence nurse? Anybody been through similar? Thanks.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Original poster

itstheyearzero · 29/12/2013 21:19

Never has any accidents during the day either!

OP posts:

ShoeWhore · 29/12/2013 21:20

Glad you've found the ERIC website OP, their advice is excellent. Perhaps you should send a link to your school nurse?!

Fwiw, ds1 wasn't reliably dry at night until he was about 7.4, when suddenly (literally almost overnight) he was.

TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 29/12/2013 21:20

There are 3 factors involved in stopping wetting at night

onset of production of vasopressin (which minimises urine output when asleep)
functional bladder capacity (how long they can hold on to urine before having to wee)
how deeply they sleep (whether they will be aware of full bladder signals)

One of mine had the triple whammy & nothing worked with him so he stayed in pull-ups for years, poor love. School nurse was very kind & helpful though & lent us various bits of kit (best one was the old-fashioned big metal alarm thing - it didn't wake him so we put it inside a biscuit tin to increase the noise. It woke the entire house but still didn't wake him )

When he was older desmopressin tablets (synthetic vasopressin) did have an effect - eventually...

Anyway, OP, it sounds as if your DS is really not ready yet so ignore the nurse & wait until his pull-ups begin to be less loaded. Good luck

lljkk · 29/12/2013 21:22

wow, I wonder if having a nurse is an academy thing.
2 DC were still wet at night after their 5th birthdays.
No biggie.
What in world it would have to do with school confuddles me.

Original poster

itstheyearzero · 29/12/2013 21:25

On the form it said that his medical notes etc fro his health visitor would be passed to the school nurse, and she would take over that role from now on. I thought this was just usual practice. Not that we have seen an HV for years mind!

OP posts:

TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 29/12/2013 21:28

Incidentally when my DS was still wetting the largest size of DryNites available was something like 7-11 - it's good to see that they now go up to 15 which goes some way towards acknowledging that it is a problem for some older/larger children (because people tend not to talk about it with people they know)

Also of course you can get them delivered with your online shop now instead of buying them in person

fivegolddeblooms · 29/12/2013 21:29

My Dc are 5.5 and 3.5 and both wear pull ups at night. They were both fully toilet trained by day at 2.5.

I've heard school mums gassing with each other about how clever their DC were being dry at night at 2, what is wrong with DC who aren't etc etc.

Whatever.

I won't be making an appt with the Dr until they're 7 (if I have to).

TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 29/12/2013 21:30

The school nurse service covers eyesight, hearing, vaccination etc but they are also available to help with other things (like this)

Provision might vary with different health authorities, maybe

Whereisegg · 29/12/2013 21:32

my ds was 7 this month and very heavy pull ups 6 nights out of 7.

I might give the gp a call in a month or two.
I think this is really quite common, but people don't really discuss in rl.

It'll all be ok in the end

Whereisegg · 29/12/2013 21:35

Btw, I really only posted as this was one of the first things I asked about on here, and people were just so lovely and wanted to pass that on.
I have really chilled about it, although never worried in front of ds

Original poster

itstheyearzero · 29/12/2013 21:44

Yeah, I have never shown any concern in front of DS egg, truth is I haven't been concerned, just wondered if I ought to be! Glad I posted this. I feel much better now

OP posts:

Whereisegg · 29/12/2013 21:48

it really helped me too!

you can't train them to do stuff while they're asleep, and there os no way that children think that waking up soaked in urine in the early hours is a fun thing to do

another thing that has helped when my ds has said he doesn't want to wear his pull ups, is to take him to the supermarket with me and show him the pants.
Seeing that they went up to age 15 and gently pointing out why this was, was very reassuring for him.

fruitpastille · 29/12/2013 21:51

Ds 6 and dd 4 are the same. So were 3 of their cousins and their dad so I am blaming genes! I have also read that it is associated with hypermobility which is relevant to your ds. I suspect that my ds is a bit hypermobile but not diagnosed.

Mikkii · 29/12/2013 22:00

You won't get a referral to an enuresis clinic until after the child's 7th birthday.

I'm happy to summarise the advice we received following DS's referral. We only went 3 times and he was classed as dry.

DS doesn't drink much so was thirsty by the end of the day, giving insufficient time for the drinks to clear his system.

Drink a small glass of water in one go, six times a day (5 times suited our routine). This also trains them to recognise a full bladder and stretches the bladder and strengthens the muscles. Preferred him not to sip from water bottle as the school require, so I sent in letter explaining it was medical advice.

No drink for 1.5 hours before bed. Last drink at night not milk (the fat content means more likely to wet bed)

No black currant (irritates the bladder)

No caffeine

Two wees at bedtime. So one when bedtime routine starts and a second one as child about to settle down.

I think that is everything.

Incidentally, DS was dry in the day quite early, 2.7 and a week after DD1 was born DS suddenly announced that he was a big brother now and big brothers don't wear nappies!

Whereisegg · 29/12/2013 22:08

Mikkii, that's great, gonna screenshot it and have a bash.
Been wary of taking ds to the dr as he will then think something is 'wrong'.

Whereisegg · 29/12/2013 22:10

Managed to miss out the 'thank you' there...

Flip

1 2