AIBU using a nappy at night for my 4yo?

[Evie24]

Just wanted to get people's opinions. DD has just turned 4 and still isn't dry at night. I work in a reception class and know that many of kids still aren't dry at night. We still use a regular nappy on DD as she doesn't wake up in the night and has never kicked up a fuss. She wakes up with a very full nappy in the morning and would rather wear it than have wet sheets. My sister was round the other night dropping of DD's birthday card and I had just got DD ready for bed. She obviously saw the nappy out the top of the pyjama bottoms and said to me "Isn't she a bit old for them now?" to which DD heard and was very embarrassed about.

I calmed DD down as she got a bit upset about it all and thankfully she was fine. Am I being unreasonable still using a nappy?

We used nappies with DS1 until he was 6.5, he was dry in the day by 2.5. Tried so many different pull ups but all of them leaked so were totally pointless. DS2 is 4; pull ups don't leak for him so that's what he has.

DS is nearly 7 and at least 4 other boys in his class still wear a night nappy. They are pull-ups but we still call them nappies. Pull-ups are just a different style of nappy surely? I had no idea when you say nappy people assume you mean a taped one.

I say nappy as well for pull ups thought it was just me then! My daughter wears dry nights pyjama pants but i just call them nappies

Isn't it well known that it's a hormone that helps them be night dry, rather than training?

My almost 4 year old has pull ups. He's wet most nights. But he drinks more than half a litre of oat milk overnight too. He wakes up for 1 or 2 wees most nights, he has a potty in his room. Sometimes he's very upset if he wakes up and has done a wee and requires a new pull up in the middle of the night...

I think you're not meant to worry until they're 7?

How exactly are nappies not good for autonomy and personal dignity, My son is 4 and I put a nappy on him at night time. arent pulls ups just nappies too really dont see how it affects dignity and autonomy

Because at 4 a child should be able to dress themselves, access the potty themselves, etc, but they can't do that in a nappy. Pull ups they can manage themselves. Nappies are infantilising.

A nappy doesnt stop the child dressing themselves at all, loads of people use nappies for bedwetting and you still need to remember that a pull up is a nappy too. My friend used normal nappies for her son too until he was 5 and he actually preferred them to pull ups.

Nappies don't stop my son from being able to use the toilet as just before bed time I tell him its time to have his nappy on and encourage him to have a wee first which he then generally does. He then lays down on the sofa where I put his nappy on and he knows he can ask me to take it off so he can use the toilet,however, he generally sleeps throughout the night so doesnt need me taking it off. I also put him in a nappy if were going on a long car journey as he falls asleep (again i take it off so he can go toilet) and plane/train journeys where he may not have access to a toilet in time, only thing is he doesnt like being changed infront of other people so i try and keep it as private as possible.

The point is, he can't do it himself. So he's relying on you to do it, like a baby, which is infantilising. At 4 he should be able to do all his dressing etc by himself, hence pull ups.

I think there might be some confusion in some posts here as to what constitutes a 'nappy'. Nappies do exist that act like pull-ups, no tabs, so can be used by the child.

Oh and my 4.5 dc still wears pull ups at night too. Sometimes dry, sometimes not. Not bothered. I would ignore your sister op.

I'm surprised that so many people are picking up on nappy/pull up. To be fair we did switch to pull ups overnight at the same time as during the day but more for consistency that anything else as we were trying to teach independence as DS was later to train in the day due to speech and language delay.

For us, night dryness was something that really did come on its own. DS just started waking up dry about 2 weeks after ditching the daytime nappies. We had no expectation that this would happen as he was a bit later than average to be dry in the day (3.5) so did absolutely nothing to influence it. He usually sleeps all night without a wee but will offer the toilet if he does wake randomly. We've never actively woken him.

He has had the odd accident at night when ill. I guess he sleeps more deeply and doesn't wake? Otherwise we do make sure he doesn't have too much to drink before bed as he will be up before midnight for a wee. He does wake himself for it though. We do double layer the bed and use one of those bed mats just in case.

As for your sister, I'd be beyond livid!!