4 year old started bed wetting again

[AdriannaP]

I have a 4 year old DC who had been dry at nights for at least a year. She would often wake at night and use the potty next to her bed.
Since she started school, two things happened: she drank less at school and was very thirsty in the evenings and was very tired. So she started wetting the bed again at night and didn’t even wake up.
We sat her on the potty sleeping every night at 10pm and that helped. Then we read, you are not supposed to do that and put her in night nappies.

Since the lockdown, we have monitored her drinking and wees (given lots of water during the day, she does 4-5 wees in the day and one before going to bed), and still she was not dry most nights. Maybe dry 3 nights out of 14.
What next? There is no trauma/stress in her life, she is happy and healthy, no constipation, only drinks water and has milk with cereal.

[AdriannaP]

@JiltedJohnsJulie unfortunately, our DD doesn’t wake from bet wetting at all. Her sleep is so deep. Most of the bed wetting js before 10pm.

[AdriannaP]

@Mary8076 that’s really helpful advice thank you. I am worried that there is a deeper issue, but she is a happy little girl. Loves school and her friends, no issues in the house or any significant change. (No new siblings, pets, divorce or anything like that)

We have put her back in night nappies, she is ok with that as we are calling them night pants and she understands why it’s needed.
We are trying hard to make sure she wees enough during the day but with very little success so far. I do think you are right and we will just wait for a bit longer, before trying anything else like the wet alarm.

[Mary8076]

You mentioned constipation, stress, what she drinks... you seem well informed about enuresis. And yes, after a period of at least six months of dry nights, usually it's secondary enuresis and there should be a cause...that is the the main rule but for what I know there are many exception. The growth of human body is not so linear, maybe there's a small delay in her bladder growth (totally normal in kids) or better, her body is growing up faster than her bladder.

According to you, I think the cause probably is just a different deeper sleep, she sleeps too deeper now to wake-up at night as usually she did.

Until 8yo bedwetting is common and normal. Sleep is one of the most important thing for kids so waking them at night is not good, but that you are not supposed to put her in night nappies is an old wrong belief. Sleeping in a pee pool brings disturbed sleep, UTI, humiliation and a lot of stress for both parents and the kid. All depends on the way you present the nappies issue, if you make clear it's just a temporary help, she is not the only one and not only baby wear nappies, even not making a big issue about all the bedwetting thing, then everything will be better for all of you. No regression at all, just a normal thing.

More things to consider are UTI, a wet alarm, weak bladder/kegel exercises, but honestly to me she seems really too young for that, I would just go back to nappies, wash away all the stress and embarrassment, see if with some more time that clears up on its own.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

One thing that worked with my DD was putting her I a cloth nappy at night. She simply didn't like the cold, wet feeling.
Another thing that might work is giving her lots of drinks in the morning and early afternoon, then limiting them. Try things like hot chocolate or diluted fruit juice.