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

When to drop the night time pull ups?

26 replies

thinkfast · 03/09/2015 12:32

Can anyone advise on when I should stop using pull ups at night for my ds who is just turned 4.

He was very difficult to toilet train and would rather wet/soil himself than interrupt what he's doing to go to the toilet. Generally speaking he has to be made to go as he rarely asks.

He loves his pull ups at night and I have no idea if he physically still needs them; although they are wet in the mornings I suspect he could just be choosing to pee in them as he really hates to take them off in the morning and start using the toilet.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be very welcome.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Jasonandyawegunorts · 03/09/2015 12:40

Simple solution is to try him without them, if he still wet's he still needs them.

JessesGirl · 03/09/2015 12:43

My dts are nearly four and a couple of weeks ago one of them asked to wear his pants to bed instead of a pull up. I didn't want to discourage him but I knew it would be a disaster and it was! Let your ds try for a few nights and if he stays dry then great but if not then it doesn't really matter.

Original poster

thinkfast · 03/09/2015 16:29

Thanks for the suggestions

OP posts:

PolterGoose · 03/09/2015 16:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ffffffedup · 03/09/2015 17:05

I'd try him 1 night without them and see how he goes my ds was around 4.5 when I stopped his pull up was always soaked but I soon realised he was weeing in the pull up because he knew he could not because he didn't know he was doing it. Cut down drinks after tea time then plenty of trips to the bathroom before bed. Make sure you've got mattress protectors on and give it a go for a few nights if he's wet every night then he's not ready put the pull ups back on and try again in a few months. Ds2 was more or less dry straight away he probably has the odd accident about once a month maybe even less. With ds1 he was nearly 4 and ge heard someone in his class say she didn't wear a nappy at night any more and he said he wanted to try without a nappy so we gave it a go and he was dry from then on with the odd occasional accident

BustyRino · 03/09/2015 17:50

There's really no rush, when he can sleep through without wetting and then go for a morning wee is when he's ready.

Making him wait all night is a bit extreme.
Getting up to wee in the night is what should be looked out for.

Eva50 · 03/09/2015 18:25

None of mine have ever got up in the night for a wee. They were dry at night at 3.5, 2.5 and 7 respectively.

PolterGoose · 03/09/2015 18:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BustyRino · 04/09/2015 12:44

So you would make him use a nappy if he woke in the night?

CecilyP · 04/09/2015 15:16

I disagree with Poltergoose too. Although reliably dry during the day, DS's nappies was always wet through when I went to him in the morning so I was quite nervous leaving the nappy off at night. But when I did, he was dry at night too - didn't do anything special, and the mattress protector came of the bed the next time I changed the sheets. It is worth a try - if he does wet the bed, he can always go back into pull-up and you can try again at a later date.

PolterGoose · 04/09/2015 16:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Teladi · 04/09/2015 16:44

I had thought that my (recently 4yo) DD was just weeing in the nappy when she woke up, so I decided to try that 'lifting' thing that some people do when night training, to test out my theory. I would lift her at 10:30pm and the pull up was already wet, and that was with no liquids after dinner time, which is at 5:45, and her going to the toilet before I put her to bed.

Not really much more I can do to help things along, so I think she's just not producing enough vasopressin, as PolterGoose mentions. We'll maybe try it without pull ups in a little while. She's been reliably dry in the day since 28 months and trained herself, so I don't think I'm going to push it.

Iloveonionchutney · 04/09/2015 16:51

My dd is 5 in December and not dry yet, I did think it was because she was being lazy and not getting up out of bed but even when we've tried waking her and going to the toilet she is still wet by morning and she dives out if bed first thing to use the loo and see if she's dry herself, but no luck yet!

Flisspaps · 04/09/2015 16:59

DD was 5 in March and still wet at night. If she's still in pull ups at 7yo, we'll see the GP.

IssyStark · 04/09/2015 17:05

I agree with polter you just can't train for night-time. Ds1 was dry at night years before he was dry during the day; he was dry at about 3-ish but he wasn't realiably dry during the day until he was over five (he would just get distracted and always leaves it to the last minute). Even now at 8yo, almost 9yo, he has at least one accident a month.

However it sounds as if your ds likes having a nappy to wee in (ds2 did this a bit until I realised he was dry when he woke and came into us and would then have a wee when snuggled between mum and dad. Removing the nappy was the trigger to stop him doing that and going to the toilet instead.

Jasonandyawegunorts · 04/09/2015 19:23

I always wonder if people who think their kids just pee because they don't want to wait or are just lazy realise how uncomfortable it must be for them.

steppemum · 04/09/2015 19:59

while I agree that you can't train for night dryness, we did need to lift ds at our bedtime.

This was because he drinks LOADS and his bladder was just too full to last the night. he is a deep sleeper, so he didn't wake when he weed.

So we lifted him at 10, his nappy was dry, he had a huge wee, and then went til morning and was dry.

So if you have a big drinker I think it is worth lifting them. If I drink a lot I wouldn't last 11 hours either.

IssyStark · 04/09/2015 21:59

jason when asked, ds2 would grin and say he liked it, so noi don't think he did find it uncomfortable to wee in a disposable.

horsewalksintoabar · 04/09/2015 22:03

My daughter's 5 and still uses them at night. She is definitely improving. She was awesome about toilet training, never had accidents at nursery. She was a breeze compared to DC1 who was a nightmare to train BUT did not need pull-ups at 5, which is funny. You never know with kids. It's an expense but it's worth it and I reckon by 6, most kids can go all night and don't need the pull-ups. Sorry I have no advice, just reassurance that many kids wet the bed from time to time and it's still totally normal at age 4 to be relying on night-time pull ups.

ceeveebee · 04/09/2015 22:36

I waited until there were a few nights in a row of dry nappies, then just tried without. Last drink of the night is 1 hour before bedtime and wee just before going to sleep. Haven ever had to lift mine - they both go all night without waking for a wee (DD at 3, DS at 3.5)

maximama · 04/09/2015 22:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Jasonandyawegunorts · 05/09/2015 02:24

jason when asked, ds2 would grin and say he liked it, so noi don't think he did find it uncomfortable to wee in a disposable.

Yes and I'm sure everything he has ever said has been 100% true and accurate.

CallieG · 05/09/2015 03:35

I would be a bit worried that a 4 yr old is still soiling, have you had him checked by a Dr? Some children hang on so long that over a period of time their colon stretches and they lose sensation.
If your child is dry by day (no accidents) and gets through the night for a week with a dry nappy then you can do away with night time pull ups, I never used them, I started all my kids in summer, I armed myself with lots of paper towels, old cloth nappies ( to mop up the mess) and enzyme spray (to break down the urine into water and carbon so it evaporated out of carpet) I found that they quickly associated the puddle on the lino floor with the preceding full bladder and made it to the potty quicker when not encumbered by layers of clothes, all kids are different, I used to pop mine on the potty when I was going to the loo so they formed a regular sitting habit and were more likely to sit still long enough to have something to crow about if we had a short story . DD1 was happy to start sitting on the potty at 15 months it took about 8 months with many mishaps to get her trained she only ever wet her bed once. DD2 was very different, she point blank refused to use the potty until she was 3 yrs old, I asked her regularly but she always said No, then one day she said yes, she was done in less than 3 weeks out of all nappies , she never wet her bed once, DS started at about 27 months and it took about 3 months for him to be out of nappies completely & DD3 she trained herself by copying me and her sisters, she is only 13 months younger than her brother, she dispensed with the potty, I caught her one day climbing on the end of the bath then straddling the toilet seat before doing a gymnast type maneuver before sitting down she was only 14 months old , "what are you doing" I asked, "wee wee" she said, that was it she resented any intrusion, she would call me to wipe her bottom and only until she could reach it herself then I was not welcome at all.
Put a water proof liner on the bed with clean linen another waterproof liner with clean linen then ditch the pull ups, this makes midnight clean ups easy and most kids will become dry after only a few accidents, make sure there is a night light in the hallway and the bathroom so they can visit the potty / toilet during the night themselves and restrict fluids from dusk till dawn, a belly full of fluid at bed time is going to be a bladder full of urine at 3 am.

IssyStark · 05/09/2015 08:12

jason he did it because he could. He was dry during the day (he potty trained in a week after flatly refusing to even try for months) and as I said, he was dry overnight but weed in his nappy when he came with us in the morning. We could tell when he was wearing because he would do his wee face! He quite clearly explained why he liked the feeling of it. He never pooed in his pull-up; if he needed a poo then he'd insist we took him to the toilet.

So I do disagree with you about how uncomfortable a wet nappy must feel - after all young kids are conditioned to them and the technology with the stay dry fabrics etc (similar to those on sanitary towels) is pretty effective.

Jasonandyawegunorts · 05/09/2015 08:22

So I do disagree with you about how uncomfortable a wet nappy must feel

Have you ever worn one?
I've had first hand experiance and i can tell you even stay dry fabrics leave you damp, they are uncomfortable.

He quite clearly explained why he liked the feeling of it.

Did he, becuase all you've said is he response was "i like it", which doesn't explain anything. "I like it.... more than a wet bed"

Flip

1 2