A five year old who still isn't dry at night

[WoollyBudgie]

My five year old was potty trained at 2 and a half years old and seemed to take to it straight away and it was a stressfree experience! My three year old was only potty trained after many many tries at 3 and a half, however, he sleeps in pants and never wets the bed. My five year old is still in pull ups and is wet most nights. Should I take him out of the pull ups or wake him up to go to the toilet when we go to bed? I am starting to get a bit worried about it now. Should I be worried? Any advice would be gratefully received!

You can do things like making sure he doesn't have loads to drink in the evening, and talking to him about not weeing in his pull-ups while awake. But beyond that, not much you can do.

There is a hormone that stops you making wee while you're asleep, and small children don't make that hormone, so their bladders fill up overnight. The age at which children start making that hormone varies from one to another. Doctors won't even think about doing anything till the age of 7. 10% of reception class children will still be wearing night nappies.

Bertha is right about the hormone and the age at which each individual starts to manufacture it can vary between DC in the same family. I think you should wait for the improvement which will eventually come.

You can restrict drinks in the evening but make sure he drinks well during the day in order to stretch the bladder capacity and keep him well hydrated. No drinks during the night. Limit any fizzy drinks to earlier in the day and also caffeine containing drinks like cola and hot chocolate. I wouldn't advise getting him up to go to toilet unless he wants you to and definitely not if he finds it hard to get back to sleep and is grumpy next morning. Something else you can do if you suspect he is wetting pull-ups when they are on is make sure they go on at the last minute before he gets into bed, if there is a long time between getting ready and actually going. So if he has a bath and puts on PJ's, then watches a DVD or has stories etc it could be as much as an hour before going to bed so make sure he wees before the pull-up goes on and he gets into bed.