6 year old son wet at night still

[Orangesandlemons82]

My 6 year old son has been toilet trained for 3.5 years - never has an accident in the day. At night he is in pull ups still - these are always heavy with urine in the morning. His 3 year old sister is dry at night. Should I take him to see the GP? I had heard that they wouldn't do anything until he is 7, but im not sure if that is true? He will be 7 in February.
Thanks!

My DS was wet and in pull ups at night til age 6, start of year 1. At that point we started lifting him from bed and taking him to the toilet at 11pm and we did this for about 3 weeks. In that time he only had a couple of accidents. After 3 weeks of lifting him in the night, we gradually started taking him to the toilet earlier and earlier on in the night, until by week 5 we just put him down to bed at his usual 8pm then didnt lift him again in the night and he was able to sleep through til morning no accidents. He had 1 or 2 accidents on waking for a month or so after, but then was fine. We also restricted drinks til a couple of hours before bedtime for a good 6 months.

Some people disagree with lifting at night for a wee, but it worked for us! He's now just finished year 1, hardly any accidents and can even have drinks close to bedtime now and will wake himself up and use the toilet in the night himselfon occasion if he needs too!

I remember thinking he'd never be dry! So I completely empathise! But your DS will get there!!!

My son is 6 at the end of year 1 and still in pull ups. He isn’t producing the hormone that stops him weeing. My daughter was the same. I’m just waiting, when my daughter was ready she didn’t have any accidents at all.

Ds is 9 and the dry nights are just starting to be more than the wet ones. The ability to wake for the loo is hormone related.
He wears Aldi pull ups for bed. Not an issue unless made into one.
His friend at school is the same so they have become better mates because of it!
His db 4 is drier more often so it's just pot luck.

I’m a GP and parent to a child that wasn’t dry at night until over 7. We used to lift him before we went to bed and cross our fingers. Of my others, one was dry at night from 2 and the other about 3. They just do it in their own time.

I will usually agree to refer kids over 8, but encourage editing until at least then as it’s just normal for many until that age.

Editing = waiting!

DS2 was dry during the day at about 22 months - he did this himself. But nighttime was a completely different ball game. He wet the bed right up until the age of about 10. We used to lift him every night. He just eventually grew out of it.

In my opinion and personal and professional opinion this is entirely normal.
I wouldn't consider doing anything about it until aged 8 at least. Look at the ERIC website or the zillions of previous threads on this.you cannot train night time dryness ; you just have to wait.
Medication can work quite well for the older children but you need to balance up how you feel about medicating a perfectly well child.there will be more

than 1 child in every year 6 form who is still wet at night . It runs in families and is more common in boys.
For context my three were very easily trained in the day between 2 and 3 . DD was dry at night at 5 and her brothers were dry aged 10.

That's really helpful - thanks everyone. I will leave it for now, he isn't really bothered by it so I won't make an issue of if.

It's great that you don't want to make an issue of it. If they don't produce the hormone by then, it usually won't kick in until the onset of puberty, so expect wet night until about age 10. Can help (a bit) to have them drink loads earlier in the day and less in the evening, as (ironically) one reason it happens is that they have strong bladders so hold it in until they relax when asleep. Also limit blackcurrant drinks like ribena as they can trigger wetness.

Increasing drinks throughout the day is really important as it helps to flush out the kindneys. This helped with my daughter. But not easy to monitor when they at school. I second looking at the Eric website. I found this helpful.

My DS was 10 in April and its only the last month or so that he has been completely dry. We tried a lot of things, more drink, less drink, lifting, pull ups, no pull ups. Nothing but time worked. He also suffers with constipation which can cause night time wetting as well but both seem to be getting sorted at the same time.

I think you're doing the right thing by not making a big deal out of it, the only time it ever bothered DS was if he was having a sleepover but I spoke to the mums and each one was always very good about helping him keep it quiet.

Another vote for waiting it out and not making an issue of it. My DS wet the bed every night so was in pull ups, and I had in my mind that once he reached 7 I would take him to the GP about it. A couple of months before he was 7 it just stopped - literally overnight it seemed! He has not wet the bed once in six months even if he has water directly before bed, and I have heard him get up for a wee in the night once or twice so I definitely believe it's a hormonal rather than behavioural thing.

When my DD was 7 we decided to try a bed wetting alarm. She was keen to give the alarm a go too.
It worked really well for us and she was dry at night within 2 to 3 weeks of using it. Using the alarm seemed to teach her the skill of being able to wake if she needed the loo rather than just sleeping through.

Have to be honest, I didn't like the Eric website. It seemed to be a covert sales pitch, linking you to endless devices - alarms etc . If I'd used those, DS would have felt like I was judging him for not having the ability to stay dry yet. They stay dry when the hormone kicks in, unless the wetting is linked to psychological stress. n either case an alarm won;t cure it. We used large bedmats that adhered over the sheet, a rubber undersheet and kept dry PJs, wipes and a spare duvet with a fresh cover on nearby. If he had a bad night, his bed could be changed in 5 mins and so could he.