Bed wetting 3.5 year old

[GreenMeeple]

Looking for some advice on how to deal with this.

My DS 3.5 years old is fully potty trained but can't stay dry at night. I don't mind and know it can take a few more years before he might be ready but he doesn't want to wear nappies to bed. The main problem is that no matter what I try he still ends up wetting the bed most nights.

For example last night:

Last drink two hours before bed
Toilet before bed
He refuses nappy
Once he is asleep I put on a nappy anyway
He wakes around midnight because his nappy is full
He refuses a new nappy
Again I put on a new nappy once he is asleep
At 1 am he wakes up angry about having a nappy on and takes it of.
I take him to the toilet he doesn't wee
I let him sleep without nappy
3 am he has wet the bed

Often he takes the nappy off during the night and if I take him to the toilet in the night he offen doesn't wee and gets so upset it takes ages to get him back to sleep.

It's exhausting, laundry is hard to keep on top of and I don't really know how to solve the problem.

If he’s weeing a full nappies worth before midnight then weeing again at 3am despite you limiting drinks before bed then it’s obvious he’s not producing the necessary hormone to stay dry yet, which is totally normal because 4 is the average age and he’s only 3.5. Which means that you have a behavioural issue and not a potty training problem, and the only way you’re going to solve this is by getting him to keep the night nappy on. I would think about a combination of using the huggies night time pull ups or PJ pants because they don’t look like baby nappies, have cool designs and the sizing is in ages so he can see they’re for boys age 3-5 and also sticker chart or some sort of reward for keeping it on e.g. he gets to have TV with breakfast.

He’s only 3.5, It could be years yet before he’s reliably dry at night. Can you get those pull up nappies that feel more like pants but will absorb wee and keep him comfortable?

So as pp have said it is considered within normal range for a 7 / 8 year old to still be wet at night. However things that might help
7 big drinks a day
no squash (especially blackcurrant)
no drinks with caffeine in them
buy a coverless duvet - washing and drying is so much easier
double make the bed
we actually used a plastic sheet and a towel as it was easier - plastic was wiped down with disinfectant and towel went in the wash. I found washing waterproof bottom sheets a nightmare.
try a range of bedtime nappies - you can get them with different characters etc that might motivate

We use sainsburys pull up pants for bed and find that they don't leak/get too full. We call them his bedtime pants and explain that he may wee in his sleep even though he is perfectly able to go to the toilet in the day. Reassure him it's not that you think he's a baby but that what he does in his sleep his not his fault

I think above posters are right - he doesn't have the hormone yet so unless he gets ok with the pull ups OR he starts waking you to take him to the toilet, you won't get him to stay dry.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestion. A morning reward for keeping his nappies on is a good idea and I'll definitely give that a go.

We currently use Huggies night time pull ups but maybe they aren't very comfortable for him so I might try the Sainsbury ones and see if he likes them more.

Thinking about it now he has been saying that nappies are for babies. This is not something we have ever told him. The nappy refusing has started about a month or so ago and two of his best friends at nursery have recently left to start school. He keeps bringing it up saying that it's because they are big boys now. I'm wondering if maybe the two are connected. So some reassuring there might help as well.

I'm also going to look at some plastic sheets because the waterproof mattress protector is indeed a pain to clean regularly.

Huggies Dry Nights bed sheets are amazing. They are an absorbent pad with sticky on the back to stop them moving. I used them underneath the bed sheet but on top of mattress protector. Then just the sheet needs washing which is so much easier than mattress protector to wash.

Also, layer the bed sheets: mattress protector, absorbent pad, bed sheet, another absorbent pad, another sheet. This way if there are leaks at night you just have to whip off sheet and disposable pad and bed is clean and dry and ready to go again.

Sounds like he is drinking to much. Our 3 year old twins do no nappy nights. They have there last cup of milk half an hour before bed then toilet and bed. I also carry them thru to toilet again before I sleep around midnight and usually there's a big wee each and straight on again when we get up around 7am. Our 4 year old has just started taking himself to the toilet for a wee in the night so I don't have to carry him thru or remind him anymore

I think its good to not give give him something to drink two hours before bed. It could be a reaction to what he has been given to drink before bed. Sweet drinks tend to make us want the toilet more.
It might be a good idea to have a bucket next to his bed to use when he needs the toilet, for the time being.

This.

I'd also let him put big boy pants over the top of the nappy if he wants.