Should I put my 4 year old in pull ups at night?

[nonappies]

DD has been wetting the bed, once or twice a night for the last month. Prior to that she had been dry at night for about 2.5 months though she only wet the bed occasionally then. After a month of constant washing I asked her if she wanted to wear pull ups at night to keep her dry and she agreed and for a couple of nights this has worked well.

BUT am I right to do this? It just seems such a backward step but the only alternative would seem to be expensive absorbant pads on the bed. Do they work well? I also have the problem that we travel quite extensively so pull ups seem to be the most practical measure.

Please help. I understand from internet research that bedwetting is common in this age group. What are your experiences?

Many thanks!

My DS1 is nearly 4 and wears pull ups at night.
Think its pretty common, IMO nothing to worry about, they get there when they are ready.

Thanks Pannacotta! Will also trawl through the other posts in this area to see if other posters bring this up.. Not looking very common ATM ; )

DS1 has never been dry at night yet, so he wears pull ups. He does seem to be able to stay dry for naps but can't last all night.

My dd1 keeps swapping back and forth between dry at night (totally for a few weeks) and then wet for a week in a row - I have the bed covers on when she is out of pull ups (don't use the absorbent pads - yes expensive but also seriously awful for environment!) but when she goes back in pull ups I just ask her lightly to try and keep them dry - she often does and then we re-use them. It seems to depend on how tired she is/happy at school.

You can get a washable absorbant pad, with a waterproof backing - I used one for ds1 who had an occasional bedwetting problem up to secondary school age. If I recall correctly, I got mine at Boots. I'm not sure where it is at the moment, otherwise I'd offer to post it to you - we've just moved house (twice) so have had two big clear-outs and still have some stuff in storeage - so it could be anywhere, I'm afraid.

If I find it, I'll come back on and let you know, nonappies.

FWIW, I'd avoid the pull-ups - they feel too much like nappies and can make a child feel subconsciously like it's OK to wee.

Put on her bed plastic cover + towel + sheet and another layer of plastic cover + towel + sheet. If she wets herself in the night, just take the first 3 off and you will have a clean layer.

I wouldn't go back to nappies either.

my dd (nearly 5) has now had 2 occasions where she started wetting the bed again. To combat it we lifted her when we went to bed and got her to do a wee - we make sure she is aware of what she is doing or you just teach them to wee in their sleep. The first occasion we lifted her for a few weeks and then when we stopped lifting her she stayed dry. This time we lifted for a few nights and had our first night of not lifting last night and she stayed dry (although she did wake me at 5.15am saying she'd had a bad dream and I took her to the toilet then). I use the pampers bed mats but may look into getting a washable one instead.

Ok, thank you all so much!

I think the way forward for me is to double up on the waterproof sheet, towel and sheet (and hope they don´t both get wet through..?) and continue taking DD to toilet before I go to bed. I´m afraid you´re right - using the pull ups certainly seems to have given my DD the ok to wee in them instead of getting up for the loo... Thanks again!

I'd forgotten about lifting at bedtime, nonappies! It has been several years since we had to do it, but how can I have forgotten something that we did for sooo long!

The enuresis specialist we saw did say that, in the long term, lifting them for a wee wasn't the best idea, because they might not be fully awake, so weren't properly aware of what they were doing, and also they weren't getting up for a wee because they were getting those 'full bladder' signals, so weren't learning to recognise those signals in their sleep - if you see what I mean.

However, we did carry on doing it, because it worked and because I couldn't face night after night of worrying about whether I'd have to get up in the middle of the night to change his bunk bed yet again.

In the end, what worked for us was a bedwetting alarm - we hired one from a company called (I think) Astric Medical. It wakes them as soon as they start to wee, so they learn to wake up and gradually they wake before they start to wee. I think they don't consider it to be a real problem until the child is over 7, and I guess they wouldn't recommend a bedwetting alarm before then - I only mention it to finish off my experience.

I am sure that this is just a passing problem for your dd, and the temporary measures will sort things out for you and her.

Thanks for your experience Sunnygirl. I liked the look of the alarm but knew they don´t recommend it till much lad re´s harter.. It the lifting to the loo thing isn´t it.. But I know if I don´t then the bedclothes are absolutely sodden, even down to the matress, and that´s with all the protector etc.. : (

I think that if lifting works for you, nonappies, then you should do it. I can well remember how exhausting it was dealing with wet beds night after night - it got so I dreaded going to sleep because I knew I was going to get woken at some point.

I would definitely recommend the washable protector - it seemed to be less sweaty than the plastic mattress covers too.

Hugs
sunnygirl.