9yo DS has had 2 Dry nights and now wants to go nappy free.

[Marioswife]

He's decided he has stopped bedwetting but is really sensitive about the issue and he's going to be heart broken if he wets the bed. Obviously i will let him wear underpants tonight but i was wondering if there is anything i can say or do to lessen the blow that waking up wet will cause?

You may find that he does not have any more wet nights so there will be no problem. If he does what I have said to ours is that becoming dry at night happens over a few weeks or months and that what really matters is that it has started which means that his body is getting ready and beginning to make the special sort of help, called a hormone, which we had talked about before and which means it is much easier to be dry at night. I have then said that if they want to be without nappies that's fine and of course it won't matter if they are wet but they might be more comfy wearing a nappy just in case.

By the way a paediatrician friend, who knows how late all of ours have been to be dry at night, pointed out to us three or four years ago that there is some research which says that school age children who still have wet beds and wear nappies enjoy much better sleep than those who do not - the article is at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3022939/ (I am not sure that link will come out, I don't seem to be able to do them, but it is copyable and pasteable anyway.) That is what we had always thought and is a very useful counter to well meaning people who question the continuing use of nappies as did my sister and Mum - funnily enough MIL, who was a paediatric nurse, was much more supportive of us than my own Mum.

Hurrah - the link did work. Looking at the article again I am reminded that, as I read it, one of its key findings was that far from reinforcing wetting, wearing a nappy gives better sleep and better sleep makes wetting less likely.

You could try disposable bedmats instead, they don't protect pyjamas but they might keep the sheets dry.

Thank you CatWithKittens i will explain all that to him.

And if he still insists on ditching the nappies ill start with the bed mats.