ds just turned 5 - am I sposed to 'train' him to be dry onight.

[TracyK]

or should I wait till he starts having the ocassional dry nappy in the morning?

He goes into such a deep sleep that he wouldn't waken to go to the loo during the night. He can go for hours and hours during the day without needing a wee - so he has the capacity in there!

His nappies are still wet every morning - is it a case of letting him wet the bed for a few nights till he 'learns' to wake up for the loo? I'm not convinced he'd even notice - he's been wet a couple of times before(when his nappy came loose) and if anything, he sleeps even longer in the morning!

One thing to consider is that he might be wet in the morning because he does a wee in there out of laziness when he first wakes up. I say this because I was waiting for a dry nappy from my daughter (nearly 5) and it was only when we ran out of nappies but didn't realise till the last minute that our hands were forced and she was brilliant. Just a thought. We did lift her for the first few days.

You could try for a couple of nights and always go back to nappies if you think he's really not ready - no harm in that if you're relaxed about it.

I think he does do it out of lazieness - cos he doesn't do another pee for ages once he's up. But I do think he has maybe 1 or 2 during the night too.

I'll maybe wait till we're on hols and then its a hotel bed that he'll wet! I'll take a waterproof undersheet with us and then he's also got an ensuite right next to his bed.

I was really dreading it to be honest and put it off as long as possible...I can't tell you how much she has surprised me.
The hotel plan sounds good, you'll be more chilled about it. You could also try lifting him in the early days to give yourselves confidence.

Your DS may not be doing it out of lazyness, because being such a deep sleeper he just does'nt know when he's wetting his nappy. What sort of nappies do you use? I've always used terry squares, and found with DS1 that he potty/night trained much better, because they're more uncomfortable, and he was much more conscious of having a dirty or wet nappy. He was a very heavy wetter, and would wake up soaking, and come and tell me he did'nt like it, and we went from there. Personaly I'd leave your DS in nappies until he has a couple of dry mornings, rather than have all the work involved with wet beds, and certainly not in a hotel.

Can i suggest that you use disposable bed pads, as a waterproof sheet doesn't really soak it up. Used to as a matter of course put bed pads on dss bed all the time, for the just in case senario.

I use tesco size 6 nappies - I don't really know how much 'wet' there is by morning - is it a 1 pee full - or 2 or 3 pee fulls. iykwim.

The only think about lifting him is - he has a wee at 7.30 and I go to bed around 10 - so lifting wouldn't really have much pee to come out so early on in the night.

I'll take bed pads on hols with us and try there.

Hmm.... I wondered the same about my DS.I looked here for advice, sounds like you could give it a go. Maybe hoilda wouldnt be great - would you get a supply of fresh sheets everyday? Or would you put the waterproof on top?
My DS is 4. He has a wet nappy every morning, waking between 6-7, but it's 'warm'.
I'm assuming He has done an early morning wee.. But when we chat about being a big boy, and not wearing a nappy, He doesnt seem ready, I have taken his que when toilet training, He decided at 2.5 that He wanted to use the loo. Having said that, He still has regular accidents, (these are usually when very distracted)
So on Sat we spoke about trying without a nappy - He was eager, woke up at 630 and took himself off to the loo for a wee. Fantastic!
We put large incontenance pads under his sheet, when we put it over, it just moved in his sleep, wriggling. plus there is a waterproof mattress protector under that. I got them for 40p each in a shop that provides for that kind of thing.
Last 3 mornings, however, He has woken to wet sheet and PJ's. We havent made any fuss, reassured him, it's ok, I don't mind washing a sheet daily, I work from home. and he has a spare duvet if that gets wet.
We don't know whether to carry on? I don't think He knows He's doing it. I check him when I go to bed, He's all dry.
Shall I set my alarm early in the morning, waking him for a wee? He would be very cross! Loves his sleep, and probably wouldnt go back to sleep afterwards.
DH says let him sleep - a happy boy would be better that dry sheet and grumpy boy.
We could just go back to nappies? and wait until He wakes with dry nappies?
Good luck with trying.

I'm not sure there is all that much you can do to 'train' to night time dryness, but that said i do think that the advice to wait until you get a dry nappy is not necessarily correct either. DD1 potty trained at 2.3 but I still had her in night nappies. She never ever had a dry nappy in the morning - it was always soaked and so heavy you wouldn't believe it. But I suspected she was doing it first thing in the morning when she woke. She knew she had a nappy on and just treated it as an alternative to the loo. So a few months later I tried without the nappy for a couple of nights and she was absolutely fine. We did have one or two accidents over the next 6 months or so but only maybe once a month. I always made the bed up twice (i.e. matress protector undersheet and normal sheet, then pampers disposable bed mat and a further top sheet - so if she did have an accident I could just take off the top layer and not have to completely remake the bed.

I have other friends who have experienced the same - waited and waited for a dry nappy and never had it, but when trying without nappies have been fine. Try for 2 or 3 nights, if no luck leave it a month or so then do the same again. Leave a potty in the room?

I'm sorry, but there's no way I would try this in a hotel. If the bed pad doesn't catch it all you'll have to be getting dry sheets etc. from housekeeping, dealing with wet pyjamas etc. Also, staying in a strange hotel is probably more unsettling for your son than his own familiar room.

I would forget the waiting for a dry nappy thing to happen. I would just go for it, it may take a while as he is used to doing it but it is retraining his brain not to wee when he is asleep. He may well surprise you, just like my dd did!

DJGemini, I would lift your son when you go to bed. You will probably find he barely wakes up and just lets you hold him there. This may then enable him to carry through to morning. At 4 I personally wouldn't give up so soon.

I don't mind trying on holiday - it's an apartment not a hotel - it'll be in Spain - so he'll be going to be with no pj's anyway - it'd only be a nappy.

It's a 3 bed place - so plenty of spare bed linen not in use and his ensuite is literally as he falls out of bed - the door is there.

He has stayed dry for a good couple of days the last time we were on holiday- but it never lasted - cos he wanted milk before bed - and the rule is milk=nappy.