Bed wetting advice

[Prometheus]

DS will be 5 in a couple of weeks and still wears a pull up at night. About 4 months ago the pull ups started leaking every night and he woke at around 4am soaking wet.

We changed brands and now when we go to bed at 10-10.30pm we lift him onto the toilet and he does a wee. Some nights his pull up is dry in the morning, most nights it is soaking by morning and about twice a week it still leaks and he wakes up in the early hours in a wet bed.

We’ve stopped his bedtime milk so he’ll have a beaker of water with tea at around 6pm then a wee before bed at 7pm and no further water. He also then does the wee when we go to bed.

I’ve no idea where all the wee is coming from and how to stop his pull up from leaking. I think he gets an erection in the night then when he does a wee it goes up his tummy and leaks. He won’t wake up when he needs a wee so toilet training won’t work. I’m at a bit of a loss what to do. Should we be worried that he still isn’t dry at night? Any advice would be welcome!

Hi my daughter was 5 in October and is still in pull ups. I have tried without but it seems his body just doesn't wake him up when his bladder is full. It's developmental and I'm not worried. I spoke to the community nursery nurse who stated it would come in time. Hope this reassures you a bit. X

Have you tried the sheets/pads on the bed?

Boys wee in stages, so they wee, bladder refills and they need a second wee, make him pee twice before bed once before story and again after, worth a try,

Speak to the doctors because there are different causes so may be worth flagging

My son wees before he wakes in the morning it's not waking him. He is wet but it's cold when he wakes up. Pads yes I've tried but he sleeps through it. My sister was a very deep sleeper and wet the bed at age 7. I'm not worried. What other things do you mean it could be caused by?

My 6.5 yo is only just dry at night (mostly). The wireless bedwetting alarm worked for her. It took about 3 months to work. We used a pull up over pants (the alarm clips to pants) to avoid constant bedding changes (to begin with she would wet herself 6 times a night!) it really worked well for us

lifting is generally not advised because you are effectively teaching the unconscious child that it's okay to wee when you are asleep/ half asleep and so the child becomes used to be able to wee during the night.
it's not generally deemed to be much of a concern until 7 - and the fact there are some dry nights are a good sign.
i would layer the bed with sheets and pads so you can just whip one layer off in the event of wetting, and keep in pull-ups for now. yes boys are a pain in the neck as they inevitably end up pointing in the wrong direction
if you do choose to continue getting him to toilet when you go to bed, make sure you wake him thoroughly, so he pees when awake. (if you end up having to use enuresis alarms later, this is how they work - they wake the child up as soon as urination starts - or for the first few nights the parents have to wake the child up when urination starts )
but given that you do have some dry nights, it's pretty likely he will be dry by 7 anyway.

It could be a few things

Immaturity
Bladder infection
There's a chemical that keeps us sleep, could be over production

I'm no expert but I've seen a few things online

Thanks everyone. I guess I’m just frustrated as this only started happening a few months ago and there seems to be no pattern - no leaks for a week then the past three nights he’s woken up at 4am covered in wee. We need our sleep . I’m already panicking about how to cope with on holiday and over Xmas when we’ve got friends staying.

My DS wet the bed until he was about 7. In the end he grew out of it. Things that helped: go to the toilet before bed, and then go again (to avoid 'voiding'), layers of sheets/protective sheets so that not everyone was woken up when it had to be changed. There are some good websites (that I found really helpful to show DH who was not that sympathetic to start with), www.nhs.uk/conditions/bedwetting/ and ERIC. I talked to DS about it, so that he wasn't worried, and then told his teachers and cub leader when they had a camp away (he wasn't the only child).

We went with Huggies Drynites (from most supermarkets I think). They do a 4-7 size and an 8-15 size. DD wears them over pants so she still has the 'wet' feeling to make her aware of wetting herself, but the bedsheets don't need changing - makes life much simpler. Especially when staying away from home/visitors/Xmas day etc.

They are so readily available everywhere that I think a lot of children have this issue, it just doesn't get talked about!

Loads of water during the day.
Wee, bath, teeth, wee, story, wee, bed.
It's not a problem him not being dry at this age, but finding out a method that means the pull up lasts til morning would be better for everyone.
Long term, lifting him when you go to bed isn't a good plan, but if it gets everyone more sleep, I'd stick with it for a bit.

Just been to the hospital this morning and they have bed wetting leaflets available - maybe pop in the doctors and see if there's any for advise