Can someone please tell me how I can get DS (5) out of nappies at night?

[startingtolooklikemother]

DS is 5, normal happy little boy. Perfectly able to go to the loo on his own during the day but still wears a nappy at night.
We were waiting until the nappy is dry in the morning but this just doesn't seem to be happening. Am I supposed to wake him up at night to go to the loo or what?
What have other wise MN's done - do I just no-longer put a nappy on at night and let him wet himself or do I just wait it out until the nappy is dry in the morning and then assume he no longer need it anymore?
I know it's not the end of the world but he's going to have to go without a nappy during the night at some point so what comes first, the dry nappy in the morning or the hard-core removal?

Hi all.. I can sympathise. I have two boys aged 5 and 7 and both wet the bed every night despite me lifting them both each night at 10/10:30pm (the 7 year old is almost as big as me so it's a struggle!). I often wonder if it'd be better on the environment to use nappies than to wash 2 sets of sheets every single day.

This has been going on for 2 years for the eldest, for 6 months for the youngest, but I simply don't want to put all those nappies in the bin. I'm so tired now as I have to wait until 10:30 to go to bed and am up every night as they wake up wet. I'm not sure what to do! I tried the alarm but my eldest became very afraid in the night as he thought it was the house alarm and somebody had broken into the house.

Cheryl surely it would just be easier on all of you to use nappies

Check to see if the nappy is warm in the morning..I realised my daughter was basically waking up in the morning and weeing in her night nappy rather than go to the toilet. If so whip it off, cover the bed in the plastic sheets and see what happens... my friend had to really persevere with her son he wet the bed a lot (he was 5) and still has the odd accident now and again (he is 6). Trial and error

If I were you Cheryl I'd use nappies (in fact I do!) the reason I haven't tried DS out of his nappies overnight (they are wet in the morning) is because I don't want to have to wash all his sheets everyday. Waking up wet every night must be hugely unpleasant for your boys and it's clearly no something they have control over

I think it could be easier ladies, but there are times I check early morning and the eldest is dry (4/5am), then he wakes up at 6am I guess as he just peed. So if they are going most of the way through the night sometimes, I just hope that eventually they will go that last bit.

If kids are in nappies they don't feel the discomfort of being wet. My mother had 5 kids and had problems with a couple (the boys) but not until this age. I really wonder if that fact that nappies are so comfortable when wet has something to do with kids being longer in nappies these days. This is why I'm resisting.

good luck startingtolooklikemother

My Ds was nearer 12-13 before he stopped having occasional wet beds. Up until he was about 10 I still got him up and zombie-walked him to the toilet before I went to bed at midnight. He never woke up properly and never remembered it in the morning, but it certainly saved on washing!

We were in exactly this situation, and a friend advised; don't let them drink much after 5pm, toilet just before bedtime, lift onto toilet at your bedtime. This was 3 weeks ago. We had a few accidents to start with, but nothing at all now. We don't even need to wake her up when we go to bed anymore. I know all about vasopressin, but I'd suggest just giving it a go, and seeing what happens. DD is 4.5 by the way. Good luck!

Bigkids - I dont know the percentages, but certainly some kids its bladder size rather than vasopresssin issue. Mine got to 7 and was then referred to enuresis nurse - main treatment was to drink a lot of water in the daytime (think it was 1.5 or 1.75 litres)then none for an hour or two before bed.

So probably always worth checking your DC is drinking enough at school ... sometimes they don't if they dislike the loos or are only allowed to go at break.

That's exactly what worked so well for us, Errol. Worth trying first anyway