Why has this happened - other than s**'s law? (sigh)

[elliott]

I have written before about ds1's problems with daytime wetting (he's 4.5). Well, we've had a good run the last few weeks with bone dry pants virtually every day (linked to being away from school I'm beginning to work out...) and a dry nappy overnight nearly every day too (wet about once a week for the last 3 weeks). So i decided to bite the bullet and try without a pullup at night. Ds1 keen to try. The result? Two wet beds the first night, one the second. WHY???

And how long shall I try before we go back to pullups?

maybe you just need to get rid of them altogether?

when he had the dry nights was he getting up at all for a wee? in the night or first thing in the morning?

do you think that he is capable of doing it?
If so then it might just be that he knows he is "safe" in pull-ups and amybe that makes the difference?
perhaps if you just chuck them all and make a clean break he'll realise that he has to stop wetting?

do you lift him on to the toilet when you go to bed?

he will keep wetting for a few weeks until he gets the hang of it .. and even after that once in a while you'll get wet beds .. they're little with very small bladders

if you've decided to night-train I wouldn't go back to pull-ups

On the whole, he doesn't get up in the night for a wee. He can be wet before we go to bed, and always sleeps through it. I have occasionally lifted him but all the books advise against it - also its not that easy as he invariably has an erection! But maybe it would be worth a try to at least get some successes. His dry nights with the pullups are without lifting, so he's clearly physically capable of getting through the night without a wee, if not 100% of the time.
he is often better away from home - i think perhaps because he is less relaxed and sleeps less heavily, and tends to get up early in the morning and go to the loo.

i did try once before, a whole year ago, after he'd had a run of about 10 dry nights, but lasted less than two weeks. He hasn't really got significantly better in that year - occasional good runs of dry nights, and then bad patches of very few dry nights.
I've been working up to going for it for a while now - thought it might have a knock on effect improving the days too if we just binned nappies altogether - and thought that after this recent good spell might be a good time.
I'm really not sure that I can just plough on indefinitely changing the bed every night, but I'll give it a week or two.

what I found helped with ds was making his bed with ... a waterproof sheet - a normal sheet - a waterproof sheet - a normal sheet ... then if he has an accident you can just rip off the top layer

as for lifting dh did it for about 6 months at 10 or 11ish .. I really think he was too little to go for that long without emptying his bladder

an erection shouldn't matter too much

elliott it may be worth taking him to the GP, just to rule out any physical reason for it.

it seems odd that he can stay dry for quite a while and then suddenly revert.
do you limit drinks in the evenings at all?

starlover have done that, thanks anyway. This pattern of good phases and bad phases is very typical of him, day and night. Who knows what the reason is?
Anyway he was dry this morning (hurrah!) but we lifted him last night - now in a dilemma about whether to continue or see if he can manage without.

ahh ok! it's strnage isn't it... have you tried a star chart?

oh yes. star chart veteran
Have tried everything really. Just recently noticed the association with school (term time really, he is bad at home as well during these times). it doesn't really help, I'm jsut hoping that he'll grow out of it in time.

ok, didn't lift last night, wet this morning . Don't know what to do now. It's beginning to get to me already (didn't sleep very well last night, I think partly worrying that he was going to wet). I just don't know how to incentivise him to behave differently - why can he go for days without a wet pullup, then as soon as he's out of them, he can't stay dry at all? I'm worried that if I leave it he will just get accustomed to sleeping in a wet bed (I think a lot of the problem with his daytime wetting was about getting into a habit of having damp pants alot of the time). He doesn't wake up or see the need to get up if he is awake and wet. Consequently the damp patch spreads everywhere - pillow, teddy, blanket as well as sheets and pyjamas - and the room stinks. I hate him sleeping in a urine pool but he doesn't seem to care.
So, wise ones, should I carry on for a full week, two weeks, or just give up and accept that he'll still be in pullups at 7

i have to say, i think i would carry on with the pull ups for a while longer, unless you do think it's just laziness on his part?