Five year old not dry at night .................... Any advice greatly received

[Ronniebaby]

I have a 5 year DS1 who has never been dry at night. He has been dry during the day since he was 20 months.

We have been to the doc's who took a sample to see if he is missing a hormone which wakes them or controls the bladder??? (We are awaiting the results)

Some times he can wake up at about 10pm and goes the loo, and then will be dry, then other times he has accidents, other times he has wet before 10pm.

We let him have a drink 2 hours before bed and none after which is what the doc said to do.

We are pursevering and we are not blaming him, we dont shout at him or taunt him about it, we just say (as told to do) that if he can have 5 dry nights in a row then he can have a toy or whatever he wants. Hasnt worked as yet, but it's still early days yet

Any other suggestions??????

Any advice greatfully received.

Watching with interest. Dd has same problem. She's five too.

Hi, Ronnie!

Being still wet at night at 5 is actually quite normal for a boy. Lots of them still are at that age, but you just don't hear about it. DS1 went through years of being sometimes wet, sometimes dry, being lifted at various times etc; if your DS is late developing the hormone production then there's nothing he or you can do about it, with or without bribes.

Have a look through the ERIC website, and don't sweat it He is still quite little for this (DriNites go up to age 15 now you know!)

My advice is:
Don't worry too much it's totally normal in 5yos esp boys. Lots of boys in ds1's reception class were still in nappies at night.
Stop drinks of squash, juice etc after 4pm, especially blackcurrant (a major culprit for wet beds here). In fact with ds1 we stoppe dsquash etc altogether.
BUT give plenty of milk or water and I would personally not limit these at all. 2 hrs sounds like a long time before bed. Certainly make sure he drinks plenty. He needs to feel a full bladder so he knows when to go.
Lifting at 10pm never worked for me but it does for some.
HTH

Also look at patient.co.uk - it says 1 in 7 5-yr-olds are still wet at night.

my son is just 5 and started wetting again when he started school but it's tailing off now. Agree it's very normal, try not to worry.

try and make sure he drinks lots during the day (at least 6 cups of drink) and when he says he needs a why try and make him wait some more, to help his bladder get stronger...

BUT if that hormone hasnt kicked in yet (as is the case in some 5 year olds) theres not a lot that you or he can do except for wait!

should have said need a wee, not need a why!

Apparently quite normal and really really common. We lifted C1 when we went to bed and that worked. That didn't work for C2. Could try lifting when you go to bed. Might work. might not!

Don't think there is too much that can be done. I was told that depriving of drinks could be counter-productive in that the bladder gets used to holding smaller amounts and so can't hold for longer. However, fizzy drinks last thing were a no-no because they irritate the bladder. Took my dd until she was six. Took ds until he was 8 and then it was a bit hit and miss for 12 months-ish. GP said not really a concern until 9 or 10.

This is cut from a previous post of mine:

I had 5 then 6 then 7 as a goal. At 6 the school nurse said he could go to clinic at 7. He was 7 in the August & started clinic in Sept, was home & dry by Christmas.

I think a few factors were involved

1. He REALLY wanted to be dry - cub camp, sleepovers etc. Got v.embarrassed if anyone saw the Dry-Nite packet.
2. The clinic made him want to report good news. They worked on a sticker chart & we choose the rewards. First was a new pair of PJ's, final one was a sleepover. NB, we made our own really snazzy chart with NO reference as to what it was for in case a friend saw it.
3. Drinking more. We cut out ALL fizzy for a while, treats allowed before 4pm on weekends only. Almost forced him to drink more at breakfast, before school, break time, lunch time, on the way home and up to tea time then NO MORE. This expands the bladder - makes things worse for the first few days though.,
4. No more Dry-Nite pants. Apparently if they are aware they are on, they are less likely to wake.
5. No lifting to loo when we went to bed - bladder has to learn to cope.
6. In the day, when he needed the loo - WAIT. Get used to feeling the need to go so it can wake them at night. When cannot wait, COUNT TO 10 at the loo before going (v.difficult for a boy!).
7. Get them to help change the bed. No malice involved, just becoming part of it. Good practice anyway.
8. remind them at least one other child in their class will have same problem.

Here is a good website, discussion boards etc.

Good luck!

Thanks Ladies for all the advice, I wasnt so worried about it, but DH is a nutter sometimes, and this is his bee in his bonnet.

Mainly because our nephew who is 5 months younger is dry at night and has been since he was 3. But he's a crap eater, (whereas my ds is a fantastic eater) his speech isnt half as good as my ds's, my ds is better behaved, and there are loads more faults in my nephew. So its swings & roundabouts, I would much prefer to have my ds with his bed weeting than my nephew, but my DH is adamant that he has to be dry. So he gets up in the night to change him, I DON'T.

I was told they dont worry too much with boys until they get to 7. But the Doctor my dh went to see, put all those point in DH's head, saying WHAT 5 and not dry ever, blah blah blah, which is just what he wanted to hear.

Men eh !!!!!

MMt DS was 5 a month ago and has never ever had a dry night. We took the dry nites off for 3 months as he was approaching 4, but after 3 months of changing the bed 2 or 3 times a night, we just gave up, thinking that one day his Dry nite will be dry and he's done it all by himself. Still waiting after a year! I do feel reassured by reading all these posts that he is not alone, but I wonder whether I should start thinking about trying again, using some of Merry Ways's tips. The Dri-nite is still heavy as a stone when it comes off in the morning, and he sometimes even leaks into the bed. The sleepover thing hasn't started yet for him (only had 1 term in school) so maybe that will be a trigger for him.

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