Nearly 5/ pull-ups at night?

[Miriam101]

DD nearly 5 and still in pull-ups at night. Has just started saying she'd like to not have them on, and I had already been thinking we should do something. (I had been hoping it might just resolve itself on its own but no sign of that happening - the pull-ups are wet every morning.)

BUT so much of what I've read indicates that this is a hormonal thing that you just can't rush. So would it be a waste of time to try to get her out of them- will we just be looking at nights of wet beds and broken sleep? Or would it be worth trying to take her for a "dream wee" when we go to bed and see what happens?

Any experiences gratefully received. I recently read that Eric have dropped the age at which to be start worrying from 7 to 5.
Thanks!

DS1 is 6 this month and still has the odd accident when he's really tired, we have found that this is reduced in number if we take him for a dream wee at around 10pm when we go to bed so yes I definitely think this could work for you, also restricting drinks to no later than 6pm (he's asleep by 8)

We just stopped using them, we put a sheet on, then a sheet protector , then another sheet and if he has an accident (oddly he goes through phases) just take the top one and the protector on the night

We just make sure we give more liquids on the morning and limit after 6 to only 1 glass

I had already been thinking we should do something. (I had been hoping it might just resolve itself on its own)

So have you actually tried any night time toilet training - sounds like you were just letting nature take its course?

Dream wees worked for us - no milk before bed - last drink about 6pm and then would stick her on the loo at about 11pm we went for bed

Following as I have a nearly 6 year old who is still in pull ups. I’ve also read that it’s a hormone thing so not sure what to do.

We figured we'd just wait until there are a few dry nappies in a row. Hasn't happened yet and he's 5. To be fair, some kids are really deep sleepers and a lot of the boys in both our families were quite late at night so not planning to stress yet.

My daughter asked to not have night time nappies at a similar age. We decided to go with her request even though her nappy was never dry overnight. We put a mattress protector on and a puppy pad under the sheet, had spare sheets ready.

It went fine, only had two accidents in total.

We are still in pull ups and nearly six, not worrying about it yet

My ds soaked a pull up overnight every night despite a dream wee before we headed to bed. I was getting concerned as he was 6.5 but literally in the last couple of months it’s just happened on his own and he’s now consistently dry overnight and we don’t need to do the dream wee any more. Obviously we send him for a wee before bed and make sure he doesn’t have more than a few sips of water after 6pm ish. So for us it did eventually just happen with time.

My 6 yr old son is still in pull ups. Last year we had a couple of failed attempts without them when he'd had 3 or 4 dry in a row. Then in October we put a tick chart up. There was no reward,just record keeping. On the 3rd week he had 1 wet, in the 4th week nobe, and was dry until Christmas when we stayed over somewhere else. He didn't want to go without a pull up and I thought it best to get Christmas out if tge way and settle back into a routine.

Hes mostly wet again now, and I'm not convinced he isn't just being lazy.

I'm going to put another chart up and once there's a week of dry nights, take the pull ups away

I used a mattress protector on the bed after my wee boy had been dry during the day for about 6 months. Had a few accidents but that didn't last long at all. I don't think dream pees work because they aren't recognising needing to use the loo themselves.

Same boat with my 6 year old

I read all the ERIC advise and we trialed a week with no pull-ups (my managed a few dry nights by lifting him - which isn't recommend) which was basically a disaster

So the 2 treatments seen to be a bed wetting alarm or medication. I've managed to borrow an alarm and we'll try it and see how it goes,.if no improvement I'll be looking for a referral to rule out any other issues

I think you need to at least try, she has expressed that she doesn’t want to wear them anymore, which is fair enough. It’s a nappy at the end of the day. My DD was potty trained at 2 but in pull ups until 3.5 .. one night she said that kids at nursery had said they were for babies and she flatly refused to wear them. Her pull ups were wet every night at this point.

We went with her wishes & put protective pads over her mattress. The first 3/4 nights we had accidents and then suddenly, she got it. We had the occasional accident after that but rarely. We put a potty in her room initially & after a few months she decided to use the toilet like a big girl. She half wakes up & takes herself for a wee once or twice a night .. your kiddo might surprise you, once you take away the comfort of not needing to get up, she’ll get the message & her body will learn to respond and get out of bed for a wee! At the moment, she doesn’t need too so has no need to really listen to her bodies cues..

I couldn't be bothered with wet beds so I had my sons wear them until they were dry for a month then we stop them wearing them. They were both about 5 and a half.

DS was nearly 7 when he was finally dry at night.

I was getting slightly stressed but he had less and less accidents and then they pretty much stopped.

We still get the very occasional accident but few and far between.

He just needed to do it in his own time.

Pretty normal, you're right that you can't force the ability but some kids do just not bother going when half awake if they know they have the security of a pull up so it's worth getting a good waterproof backed sheet, put some towels down and give it a go

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. No, we haven't really tried anything yet- I had read about waiting until you get a few dry pull-ups in a row, but I have a feeling she may just be using them because they're there and it's time to take them away in case she'll quickly adapt. Having said that she is an incredibly deep sleeper: totally unrousable, you could literally bang saucepans next to her and she wouldn't wake.....sooo.... I have my doubts!!!
I'll update this thread on how we get on, in case anyone is in the same boat.

My eldest was like that re the sleep, she hasn't to this day (she's 12 now) woken up for a pee in the night she just learned to hold it. You can always try though so you know whether it's happening when she's actually fast asleep or if it's at rousing times and she's being a bit lazy. I always knew it was the former as it was stone cold

Thanks @liveforsummer do you remember how old she was when she started going through the night dry?

None of mine was reliably dry overnight until at least 5. I never did "dream wees" because I felt it actively encouraged them to wee while asleep! Plus, it sounds like a total ballache hauling a sleeping 5yo to the loo every single evening 🤷‍♀️

DS is 5 and still in pull ups, but we're going to try without this weekend as he's admitted a couple of times recently that he's weeing in them deliberately instead of getting up for the toilet!! so I'm wondering if he actually needs them.
I'm surprised they've lowered the age to 5, I've read on here loads of times that 5 isn't particularly unusual.

@Miriam101 I can't remember tbh but she was definitely still in pull ups starting school and she was 4y and 9 months when she started .

I think there’s something about knowing they don’t have a pull up on at that age. DD was past her 6th birthday before she was dry. Like you, literally no dry pull ups. Then one night she just wouldn’t wear it. Been dry ever since.

One of mine was dry at night at 2, the other was nearly 7. We went to the doctor with the older one and he said it was completely normal and it would resolve itself in the end, and it did. So I wouldn't worry too much! Our problem was that our DS got to the point he didn't want to wear pull-ups because his younger brother didn't, but then he would still frequently wet the bed and wake himself (and us) up. At that point we did take him for a wee when we went to bed just to save us all some sleep! But I don't think that 'trained' him, it was just a stop-gap until he matured hormonally.

Honestly I wouldn't worry. My daughter is a deep deep sleeper and at 6.5 years has never had a dry night. Then this month all of a sudden she did 10 straight dry nights. 1 wet night and now on 20+ dry nights to date.

Bad mum but I havent broached taking pull ups off yet as I don't want the additional work of cleaning up. But i know I need to.

I'm not concerned as I used to be a late bed wetter. And I do think as shes a deep sleeper she will probably have the odd wet night for years

Meanwhile my 3 year old gas been dry for months

They'll get there when they get there.

Don't add work washing sheets. Just let him/her wear pull ups till they're completely ready.

I've 4 dc and never actively toilet trained overnight - they've all just ended up dry in their own time. One of my ds' was 6 but the others were all around 3. I just waited til their pull-ups were consistently dry.
But then I tend to take the easy way out with lots of things so not necessarily the right way😁