Four year old in night nappies - problem, or normal?

[Smithagain]

DD2 was four in August and has just started school. We've just had the School Health Team's questionnaire, prior to doing their standard checks. One of the questions was "Does your child suffer from bed wetting?"

DD2 is still in nappies at night. So I guess she does "suffer from" bed wetting - but it hadn't occured to me that it was a problem. We've had a couple of attempts at night-time training, without success, and have just put it on hold for another couple of months while she settles at school.

So can anyone remind me what is the "normal" age for being dry at night. And is the question appropriate for Reception-aged children or not?!

I am so pleased to read that I am not alone in experiencing problems with children still being wet. I have a 5 year old son who has been out of daytime nappies since he was 2 years old but is still wet on waking in the morning. We stopped using pull-ups at night because he was being lazy and lying in bed reading and not getting out of bed for the toilet because of the 'convenience' of them. He is 5 years old and desperately wants to be dry. He gets quite upset about it but we never make an issue of it. I wash his sheet and bed mat every day and tell him it will happen eventually and not to worry too much about it. He actually stayed dry for almost a week while we were abroad on holiday in October, but once we returned home, things returned to his being wet every day.
We have tried all sorts (bribery included) but he just doesn't know he's doing it so gets upset in the morning.
We have tried getting him up at intervals through the night and taking him to the toilet, but he is still waking wet - I don't know what else to try.

On top of that - I have a 3 year old girl who want to wear 'big girl' pants, but wets/soils every pair she puts on through the day. We had a breakthrough yesterday when she did her first wee on her potty !! But since then - just on the floor and in her pants and she only says she's doing it as it's actually happening! I feel she's not ready to be potty trained yet but how long do I leave it before pushing her a bit more?

I am a pretty laid-back Mum and I know it'll happen when they're good and ready but do I persevere, or give up with her (or both of them) for now?!
I have been off work for some time now - finding everything a bit difficult to cope with - am I adding to it by making more of these things than there actually is??

Does all of this make sense?

My dgs was 4 in September and has just [last two nights] had two dry nights I thought it was normal up to about 6 or 7-some hormone kicks in.

We had the same experience as mummyloveslucy. We ran out of 'special pants', so I seized the moment and my 4.5 year old DS and I talked about how he would need to get out of bed if he woke up and needed to do a wee, and I asked him whether he thought he could do it, and he said he thought he could, and we've never looked back. We've had, I think, two or three wet beds since (this happened in October). I think being 'trusted' without his nappy made him feel very big boy and responsible, all tied in with starting school too.

I wish my son felt the same - he really wants to be dry and tries desperately to do so.

On the rare occasion he is dry in the morning we make a real fuss of him and shower him with praise, but he says he doesn't realise he's doing it when he's asleep so we can't really do anything for that (can we??).

i don't want to go back to pull-ups so I think perserverance is the key (and optimism!!) .......and extra boxes of washing powder!!

He is very mature for his age and extremely intelligent so we 'Googled' it together and found a site which explained about the hormones and development of various parts of the brain for bladder control. I think he understood but still gets a bit unhappy when he's wet every morning. Has insisted on a towel and getting lifted out of bed and helped out of his wet things each morning!!

I don't want to 'molly-coddle' him but also don't want to upset him further!!

Oh dear..........

My son is 5 years old, nearly 6 and is still wearing a pull up at night. I tried for about a week of not protection except for a waterproof bed sheet, but found not only did he wet the bed every night and come and wake me in the night, that he also soaked the bed quilt as well, which was more washing everyday and after a while i gave up and put him back into night nappies.

He doesn't seem to be fazed at all by it and i suppose i've looked at it that at some point he will be dry. My daughter also had the same problem and at 6 years old i took her out of night nappies and never looked back. She made a few mistakes but generally she gets up in the night when she needs the toilet now. My son unfortunately is scared of monsters and isn't too keen on getting out of bed in the dark.

Any ideas?

Rudmeister - would your ds use a potty next to his bed if he is scared of the dark?

I did this with ds for a good while, grim I know by their age but he was attached to his beloved potty and used it happily.

He was in pull ups but they were fully soaked every morning. One day aged about 5.3 he announced he didn't want to wear them anymore. I was nervous as we'd never had a dry morning but my mum convinced me to let him take the lead. That was over a year ago and we have had 3 wet beds in the early days.

I think following his lead was the key.

Rudmeister - would your ds use a potty next to his bed if he is scared of the dark?

I did this with ds for a good while, grim I know by their age but he was attached to his beloved potty and used it happily.

He was in pull ups but they were fully soaked every morning. One day aged about 5.3 he announced he didn't want to wear them anymore. I was nervous as we'd never had a dry morning but my mum convinced me to let him take the lead. That was over a year ago and we have had 3 wet beds in the early days.

I think following his lead was the key.

I posted about this about a month ago and got some really good replies. Worth searching for -Night wetting and school nurse moan!

DS1 is 5 in April and still wet at night. I am trying to encourage him to drink more in the day as this is meant to stretch the bladder. This is fine at weekends but he forgets to drink at school!

I have stopped him having any 'red' drinks in the late afternoon/evening as these irritate the bladder. We also toilet him twice before bed. Once before bath and then again after.

I have tried waking him but he is sooo grumpy. I think I will have a proper try without night time nappies over the summer holidays.

But I was a bit annoyed about the letter we received from the school nurse.