bedwetting in 4.5 year old

[JennyinCorfu]

Hello, my daughter is 5 in October and doesn't want to wear nappies at night any more. She has been out of nappies in the daytime since 2.4. She wets the bed every night. We go to lift her to sit her on the toilet around 11pm but it's too late. This has been going on for months. She's really unhappy about pull ups but she just can't manage to stay dry. I am working and finding it very hard with all the washing. We try to limit her liquid intake but we live in a hot country and she does need a little drink of water in the last 2 hours before bedtime. Is there anything we can do to make this a bit easier? My elder daughter (now almost 7) was exactly the same and I washed sheets daily for a year. Any advice or tips would be really appreciated. Thanks, Jenny

Don't call then "pull ups" or "nappies". We called pull-ups "bedtime pants" in our house to distinguish them from nappies. I also never used pull ups during the daytime.

So when we potty trained my children at around 2 years old, at the same time we would introduce bedtime pants for bedtime (which were just pull up nappies). By not calling them nappies they were more readily accepted.

It is quite reasonable that a child will not be dry at night for some time after they are dry in the daytime.

Mine three children were all dry in the daytime about 2yo-3yo. All were around 5yo-5.5yo when dry at night when we stopped using bedtime pants.

DS (now 10) was not dry at night until about 8. I hadn't tried to get DD1 dry at night because it seemed that her being dry and him not would reinforce that DS had a problem. As soon as DD1 was starting school, I wanted her dry.

DD2 will also be 5 in October. She has co-slept since she came out of a cot. She stopped wearing nappies day time at 2.9 months, and immediately started refusing at night. Every child is different.

DS's visit to the enuresis clinic advised to get him to drink 6 cups of water (small IKEA beakers) a day, throughout the day, no blackcurrant or drinks with caffeine, and "two wees" this means going for a wee when they start to get ready God bed, and a second wee when they settle down to sleep (so after reading/a story). If they do have an accident, then they help to change the bed (but DS was older)

Hope that helps?

My dd3 was 8 before she was night dry. Never before, then suddenly the week before she turned8 she was dry 3 o 4 nights. Was another 3-4 months before reliably dry. I understand tgat production of a hormone is necessary and some just don't produce it till older. We used pull ups.

I really wouldn't worry till he is 7 or 8. Put him in pull ups. Don't wash sheets daily. Tell your DD she can go without a nappy once she has had 4 dry nights and her pull ups have been dry each night.

Please have a look at Eric website for bedwetting.

Night time dryness is to do with producing a chemical that suppresses urine production whilst you sleep so you don't have a full bladder in the middle of the night.

They advise not to limit liquids as they need to stretch the bladder to a normal size so it can hold what it should hold. Ds1 was 10 before he was completely dry. We used Eric's "brolly sheets" but he also wore pull ups every night.

Ds1 didn't produce the chemical vasopressin so we did medicate him with desmopressin as prescribed by the GP but only for school residential trips and holidays in hotels. We didn't want to pump him full of chemicals for convenience of washing sheets. I do feel your pain, but it will pass.

I was about to start a thread too; DD1 is 6.5 and has almost never been dry at night. We've had short periods where she's gone 3 nights, but almost never more. We try to stop her drinking too much before bed, but that is difficult when she is in school/aftercare all day and I don't know how much she has drunk. I'm afraid that she is still in pull-ups because the alternatives are just impossible with two working parents (bed mats etc). But we simply ask her each night what she wants to do - if she wants to go without, we let her, and just deal with the sheets. Mostly, she prefers her pull-ups. Her 3.5 yo sister has been dry since before christmas. I despair of her ever being dry, but can't seem to find any solutions.

Have you heard of Rodger wireless bed wetting pants? They're basically pants that set off an alarm and wake the child up as soon as they get a tiny bit wet. They're wireless so very safe! I used them for my DS and he went from having a very full pull up in the morning to being totally dry at night within a couple of weeks and I've also just leant them to a friend with the same results. They're pricey but you may be able to get them cheaper on eBay and make the savings in pull-ups and laundry!