Being dry at night.

[madm00se]

OK, lst night, we stayed at my parents, and the conversation came up again, about DD not wearing a nappy at night. They think at 3.5 (4 in Sept) that she should be out of nappies at night now. On a morning her nappy is soaked. She came out of nappies (really of her own accord, but with a little encouragement from me & MIL) during the day last June whilst we were on hol. She was dry during the afternoon nap aswell, so really took to it. Now my opnion is, if she's as wet as she is on a morning, then she's not ready. It nearly caused an argument with my parents. My MIL doesn't think she's ready. My mum says you need to be lifting her to take her to the toilet in her sleep. I said, once I'm asleep between 9 & 10 pm, that's it for me, and I'm not going to start setting the alarm to wake me up, to lift her. My mum came back with-that's what I did with you 2!! So do I have a go and wake myself up, or do I leave it. I'm expecting number 2 end July. Do I do it then? So when I get up for a feed, I lift her, or will it be too much with a new baby? Thanks in advance for your advice.

Well my ds1 is still wet at night and he'll be 5 in august. He's been dry in the day since he was 2.25 years.

I'm not a great believer in the lifting when asleep as they're still weeing in their sleep really.

What we're trying now is to get him to drink more water in the day to try and expand bladder capacity and then not much post 5pm - i read that on here the other day.

My HV says its a hormone thing though and not too worry yet.

So i'd ignore your mother or just nod and say hmmmmmm . . .

You are right -she's not ready.

Children being dry at night starts when a hormone kicks in. Until then, keep her in nappies at night - she's not ready and dragging her to the loo in the middle of the night might work well for your dm but she's not the one doing it now, is she?

dd is younger but i waited until she was dry in mornings, absolutely no problems!

tried before this point, wet the bed within two hours of being in it.

i would wait until she is dry, cut down fluids, make sure she goes to toilet last thing and as early in morning as possible.

i found with dd that sometimes her morning nappy was soaking due to her going in morning as opposed to during night.

my 7.5 dd still wets at least once a week

my 5 year old dd has been dry for a t least 2 years
my 3 year old dd is still wet at might

I just posted this link on another bedwetting thread - make your mother read it & then tell her (nicely) to butt out

BBC page

"Some Things Not to Do
Deliberately waking a child to go to the toilet might seem like a good idea, but it doesn't help train their bladder. Either the bladder will only be half full, or the child will still be half asleep. Either way, the child won't learn the sensation of a full bladder"

She will become dry at night when she is developmentally ready - if she is soaked every morning then she isn't ready yet.

See my reply to recent thread 'night time potty training for 3 and a half year old DD'. Sorry don't have time just now to repeat!

My in-laws recommend getting a child up at night to use the potty, but it sounds completely bonkers to me - a complete pain for you, and anyway, why would you want to encourage a child to wee in the night? Much better to keep them in nappies until they're ready to go through the night dry, I'd have thought. My dh gets up endlessly in the night to use the loo - I've sometimes wondered if this is because his parents trained him to do this from an early age, so he's incapable of holding it in until morning?!

Your instinct is right, she's not ready.

And you'll have enough to do with a new baby without having to remember to lift your dd as well. I was lifting but stopped after reading lots of advice on here not too.

They have to be developmentally ready to be dry at night and that will take longer for some children. That's just the way it is.

My DS will be 5 in September, and he's not reliably dry at night yet, although this past week we've had 4 dry nights on the trot.

I wouldn't lift him, i can't see the point.

my ds is 4.2 and has been dry the last 3 mornings. I have not been lifting him at night as I was convinced he was not ready - he used to wake up every morning with soaking nappies. However, a few mornings ago he woke up with a dry nappy and after a lot of praise we have taken it from there. He has been told that after 5 consecutive dry nappies he can try without. It doesnt sound like your little one is ready - I am not sure why people feel the need to pressure children. It is not as if they are wilfully wetting the bed!

You can tell your mum:

Achieving night time dryness is largely a physiological process that some children do not attain until they are between 5 and 7. It is usually a combination of increased hormone levels, increased arousability and a stronger, more toned bladder which all develop usually between 3 and 7.

Lifting to wee is NOT recommended as it perpetuates the 'wee whilst you're asleep' message to the brain and does not help a child to achieve night time dryness.

You don't need to do anything yet. If you notice that her pull-ups are dry or drier, then you can try going without them. But in the meantime encourage lots of fluids (helps to stretch and tone the bladder), do the 3Ts at bedtime (toilet, teeth, toilet) to encourage complete bladder emptying and relax