Eh? I have a 2 year old son dry at night and a 4.5 year old who's not!!!

[JennyJJ]

I started potty training ds1 at 2 years 9 months. He did well during the day and was sorted in a fortnight, but is now 4 and a half and still wets the bed about once a week, on average.

I also started potty ds2 at 2 years 9 months. He was also sorted by day in a fortnight and also, bizarrely, from the FIRST day of potty training in the day was ALSO dry at night. I took his dry night-time pull-ups off after a week and we have had NOT ONE NIGHT-TIME ACCIDENT in over 2 months. Anyone else have this? I am now struggling as my 4 year old has wet the bed 4 nights in a row now. ds2 is teasing him about it and I am reluctant to put ds1 back in pull-ups. How did ds2 get control so quickly (he gets up in the morning rushes to the loo and has a huge wee - every morning, without fail) IS IT MAGIC?

first question: I hope you touched wood or something when you posted that!

being dry at night is to do with some hormonse which some kids develop earlier than others. it's not a simple matter of training like many people think, and I don't think wetting the bed at 4 is unusual. do you do the putting him on the loo at midnight thing?

but anyway lucky you with ds2 - it'll save you a fortune!

No, I don't put him on the loo when we go to bed. My Mum asks me why not as she did it with us.

I just figure that 1. it's not training them to wake themselves 2. It might result in a bigger "I've got to get him to go to bed again" problem

But I suppose it might save my poor washing machine. What's the consensus on 'lifting' a 4 year old?

Good old ds2! Touch wood

I would try as hard as possible not to let the younger one even know about the older one's wetness as the teasing will make the matter much worse. I have friends and relatives who wet the bed late and I know the emotional side has far more to do with it than the development, in some cases. Try not to make an issue of it.

well she was 3 not 4, but I used to lift dd. she didn't wake up really - going back to sleep was no problem at all and it didn't affect her sleep in other ways either (other than to prevent the wetting the bed tears in the middle of the night). I say lift!

My dd is 5 and still not dry at night. I don't lift her because I agree with your thoughts that it's just training her to wee in her sleep and not to wake when she needs to wee.

It's not about control, it's not about training, it's all about hormones - SP is right that there's a hormone that kicks in to suppress urination overnight. In some children it happens earlier than others, that's all.

Personally in this situation I would lift. Yes it is not training DS1 but it is preventing it building up as an issue between DS1 and DS2 which I think is an important point.

Agree it's probably the hormone thing. I've had one child dry day and night at just turned 2y and one child took until nearly 9y before dry at night. My other children were dry during the day between 2y and 3y but were dry at night somewhere between 3y and 5y.
We tried lifting but it never made any difference.

Message withdrawn

1 of my DS had this problem. The nurse at the enuresis (sp) clinic he attended told me that bed wetting is very common in primary children.Any class in primary school probably as 2/3 children who regularly wet the bed.It is more commom in boys (although one of my sisters did it until she was 8),and it often runs in families.
My DS went on a residential trip in year 5 and I was very concerned that other children would tease him if he wet his bed. GP gave him a nasal spray that he had to take before bed to stop this happening. It worked.I was shocked to hear on DS's return that 3! other boys on the trip also used the same nasal spray. That means that 4 out of 12 boys in his class were still bed wetters at 10.
I've also been involved in many cub camps and wet sleeping bags are delt with without embarassment.
Bed wetting is very common. It's just not a thing that mums dare talk about at the school gate.