DS4 bedwetting - would you take him to the loo at 10pm?

[MamWithNoName]

DS4 wets the bed once a week on average. He wears normal pants and we use a bed pad under the sheet or a brolly sheet on top. He goes for a wee before bed and we try not to give him much to drink at tea or early evening. What I'm wondering is would you wake him at 10pm and take him to the loo or leave him until the morning and take your chances? Just checked the NHS website and it recommends not to wake them but I'd be interested in any other suggestions.

He is 4 years old? His body is just not ready yet, it's not producing enough of the hormone to concentrate his wee.

Back to nappies/pj pants he cannot control it.

We took ds from about 4-6yo(recently) as it prevented accidents and helped him sleep later in the morning. He never really woke, just murmured and went straight back to sleep. Try it for a bit - it will either work or just pack it in and pop him back in pullups for a few more months. Btw, we did it when we went to bed,so more like 11-12pm.

We tried this with DS, despite advice online not to. It made it worse. He'd wet the bed most nights and sometimes twice. I think the logic is that they get used to going when half asleep.
We put DS in pj pants. He's still in them at six, which is fine with us.

We have a children's continence nurse in our team & basic advice is:-

*Regular fluids throughout the day-at least 8-10 250ml cups.
*no fizzy drinks, no tea, no blackcurrant squash. These all have diuretic properties & can irritate the bladder.
*last drink 1.5 hours before bed.

• 2 wee's before bed-1st wee, wash, brush teeth etc, try again for 2nd wee. *no waking/lifting after this, it's not recommended.

And actually at 4 he is ready & this needs to be addressed before he starts school.

Why does it need to be addressed before school? It happens at night! Don't worry OP. Back in pull ups for a while then try again.

Thanks all. We're not keen to put him back in pull-ups because he stopped using them around four months ago and he only wets the bed once a week on average so it's not too inconvenient for washing. He isn't bothered by it, just comes in and says "My pyjamas are too wet". I'll stop occasionally waking getting him up at 10pm though (my bedtime) because it doesn't sound like it does any good.

Pippin8 thanks for the advice - will try two wees before bed now.

All Pippins advice is what I've been advised to do with my DC by the school nurse, other than the fairy glaring error abut the age it needs sorting. It absolutely does not need to be addressed before he starts school. My youngest has only just been referred to the continence team at not quite 7. Not sure what the exact stats are but I understand something like 1 in 4 or 5 still wet the bed at age 5 so it would be madness to encourage intervention at this age.

OP I wouldn't bother lifting him, it makes no difference if their hormonal levels aren't right yet. It's absolutely fine for him to still have wet beds or be in pull ups at this age so if the odd wet bed doesn't bother you or him then I'd leave it be for now.

Because a wet night is a broken nights sleep & can impact on behaviour & capacity to learn the next day. And also a wet night means a bath or shower in the morning, so the child may need to get up earlier to fit this in, thus even less sleep.

If not addressed early on It can also limit social opportunities such as sleepovers & nights away when the child is older.

I know in the OP's case it's only 1 night a week, but it can get really draining & impact on the whole family. Plus the child can get embarrassed & distressed if they are still wetting when they are older.

Just a disclaimer, in my area it used to be 7 before intervention but it's now 5 due to a big campaign on school readiness.

I completely understand all that. I suppose it depends on the reasons for the wetting. Looks like my DC has a hormone issue but bemuses me that it's considered a medical issue when so many at this age are still affected. Dd us still in pull ups as she wets heavily every night despite us following all the advice, if she'd ever been an intermittent wetter I may well have dealt with it earlier. Medical intervention of what would be 20-25‰ of the age group seems overkill to me

We did this and it worked great for us. He never woke up properly and it didn't disturb him. Did it until we were getting him up and he didn't need it anymore as he was barely squeezing a drop. We stopped and he goes all through the night no problem. He's 5 now.