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

Original poster

4.11yr old wetting the bed. Can I have your opinion please?

9 replies

BananaFruitBat · 09/03/2009 21:36

DS (4.11yrs) is not yet ready to come out of nappies at night. We had been using the pull up bed time ones, but now he has decided he wants to be a big boy and wear pants.

So every night he wets the bed.

What would you do?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

tigerdriver · 09/03/2009 21:40

DS was like this until he was nearly 6. We called the pull up jobs "big boys sleeping pants" which helped a bit. He sleeps very heavily so just wouldn't wake for a wee. Also found that he would fiddle with the nappy so he'd end up with a nappy on and a sopping bed.

What turned the corner was his older cousins coming to stay for Xmas. He realised they would see the pile of nappies and just asked me to hide them, he would stop using them. And although there were one or two accidents, he dried up pretty quickly.

Catilla · 09/03/2009 21:46

He have only just stopped lifting ds (4.8) at our bedtime (between 10pm-midnight). Doing that every night got him out of nappies and used to looking after himself. He would quite often get up for the toilet at some point between 4-6am.

Worth a try if he is aware of the concepts but not yet able to self-wake from deep sleep.

HTH

Original poster

BananaFruitBat · 09/03/2009 21:54

Thanks.

Unfortunately tigerdriver it's the fact that his cousin doesn't wear pull ups anymore that made him want to stop!

I'll try the lifting Catilla, if I get to him quick enough!

ATM I've just resigned myself to changing the bed every day!

OP posts:

ihearthuckabees · 09/03/2009 22:04

Why not try the sleep shorts - they look like pyjamas (not sure how much they 'hold' but you could give it a try). My DS wasn't dry till 6, although fortunately he wasn't too embarrassed about it.

Good luck.

Fizzylemonade · 09/03/2009 22:11

BananaFruitBat - we ended up lifting our ds up until quite recently, he is now almost 6.

He is a very heavy sleeper so even when we lift him he is totally out of it like a zombie

We know that we have to lift him before 11pm and we try to lift him at different times so that it wasn't something he got used to. We also stopped carrying him to the toilet and made him walk as that is what he would do if he got up himself. It felt very cruel

He has started getting up himself now to go to the toilet but considering he was potty trained in the day at 2 1/2 it has felt like a long journey.

The only thing we have done is to put a wipeable mattress protector on which we got from Boots so that we are just changing the sheets and wiping the mattress protector down with zoflora.

Do you think the wearing of pants may be the issue? What about leaving him naked on the bottom half? So it would feel different?

I know of several parents whose children are in yr1 at school who have to either lift their child or they wear pyjama pants, it seems to be very common.

Niecie · 09/03/2009 22:13

We had this with DS2 and put him back in pyjama pants (the Huggies things). We thought he might kick up a fuss but he was actually quite relieved I think because waking himself up every night and having to be stripped down completely was no fun.

He has been wearing them for about 6 mths now. He was out of them for 3 mths before that but getting progressively worse at making it through the night. He now seems to be dry every morning so it might be time to give them up again but I need to get a duvet protector first so that I don't have to wash his duvet every morning if the accidents start again.

DS2 is 5.5 yrs.

If your DS can be convinced it would be better to wear some sort of nappy I think you would give yourselves all a break to go back to them until he physically as well as emotionally and mentally ready.

izzymom · 09/03/2009 22:40

My stepson could not be persuaded to wear any kind of pyjama pants/pull ups after he started school.
A friend passed on a 'Kylie', basically a washable incontinence pad bout a metre square, and then we bought another. You can buy them online, search for 'washable bed pad'. This at least meant that only pjs and 'Kylie' had to be washed, rather than whole bed changed.

Although it was a pain for a couple of months, I think now that he became dry at night more quickly because he started to be aware when he was wet.

devientenigma · 10/03/2009 09:19

I wouldn't worry about it yet. Give him time. My DD is nearly 12 and I am still changing the bed daily, sometimes 2 and 3 times a night. We have tried quite a lot of methods to no avail. Alarms, drugs, lifting, cutting drinks etc. Have a look at the eric website. Or if you are really concerned speak to your doctor. Take care.

ICANDOTHAT · 10/03/2009 10:06

This is very common .... both my ds's stopped wetting bed at night around 5.6yo. Up until they stopped, I would put them on the loo when we went to bed. Eventually they just stopped on their own. I used to put pull-ups on them once they was asleep .... couldn't stand the wet sheets/pj's every morning. Wouldn't worry if I were you.

Flip