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Potty training

Is your child ready for potty training at nursery? Here's the place for all your toilet training questions.

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Original poster

4 1/2 year old not dry at night...advice please.

18 replies

nobodysfool · 14/05/2013 20:28

DS2 has been out of nappies during the day since he was 2 but has only ever had a dry nappy at night a couple of times.
He is a VERY heavy sleeper and says he doesn't know when he has had one in his sleep which he find frustrating but we never make a big deal about it.
I'm not overly concerned as I know it's to do with the chemical being released into his body to wake him up. He always has a wee before bedtime and doesnt have lots of drink after his tea.
He used to be prone to lots urine infection and I guess at the back of my mind I'm worried there may be some connection.
Any ideas?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Margetts · 14/05/2013 20:42

Don't worry he will become dry when he is ready. I know children older than your DS who still aren't dry at night.

Original poster

nobodysfool · 14/05/2013 20:45

Thanks Margetts. Can't think of anything else to try .

OP posts:

Shakey1500 · 14/05/2013 20:46

No advice I'm afraid but just to let you know that DS (6 in August) still isn't dry at night either. Also a heavy sleeper. I stopped worrying ages ago when I knew there's little do be done until the hormone kicks in.

CokeFan · 15/05/2013 08:50

We're in the same boat. DD is 4.8 and only had a couple of dry pull-ups ever. We tried just getting rid of the pull-ups but she was wet every night by 10pm, still fast asleep and we were changing her bed 2 or 3 times a night. She just wasn't waking up (and also not that bothered about it). It made the house stink so we've given up for now. We've tried incentive charts etc. but I don't think it's that she's not "trying". She has a potty in her room that she sometimes uses if she wakes up but I think she's still going in her sleep and it doesn't wake her.

We're considering one of those bed wetting alarms but don't know which one to get.

DoodleAlley · 15/05/2013 08:59

We are in a similar position in terms of dry at just over 2 at days but not at nights yet (4.5yrs).

I take the view it will come. Randomly he went dry after a tummy bug because he was restless and I think realised he needed the potty and used it. He started weeing in the pull ups when his sleep got better.

I take a view that it will happen in its own time

conorsrockers · 15/05/2013 14:04

Just leave him in pull ups until he is dry. It'll come. My DS1 was nearly 8 when he could finally ditch them - didn't stop him going on sleepovers though, he just didn't care it's no big deal. Try not to worry about it or he will sense that ....

TigerFeet · 15/05/2013 14:37

As far as I'm aware, it isn't considered a medical issue until they get to 7 or 8. It's to do with hormone production, basically once it starts working the production of urine is suppressed during sleep. It has little to do with laziness or heavy sleep. Like everything, children manage it at different ages. DD1 was dry day and night by 2.10, Dd2 is 3.8 and is nowhere near being out of pull ups at night. For the time being, the only thing worrying me is the cost of pull ups

Jojay · 15/05/2013 14:39

My Ds's are 6.5 and 4.6 and still in pull ups at night.

fanoftheinvisibleman · 15/05/2013 14:41

If I was you I wouldn't do anything at his age.

Ds was the same and showed no signs if being dry when he asked himself to stop pull ups at 5.2. He only ever wet the bed a couple of times which I think was down to doing it when he was ready and letting him take the lead.

Original poster

nobodysfool · 16/05/2013 21:34

Thanks for all your replies and reassurance. I'll just leave him as he is and wait for Mother nature to do her thing Thanks.

OP posts:

Queenofknickers · 16/05/2013 21:35

My DS wasn't dry at night until he was nearly 9 - now he is fine!

lovetoski · 16/05/2013 21:42

My ds now 12 wasn't dry until about 6 I remember him being in yr1 spent so many wasted hours worrying about . All came good in the end we used an alarm which did the trick but 4.5 is still v young.

MonsterBookOfTysons · 16/05/2013 21:50

Ds was also dry in the day at 2 and at nearly 5 still wets the bed more frequently than it being dry.
I am starting to think I may buy dry night nappies for him.

Areyoumadorisitme · 16/05/2013 21:54

Ds1 (now 12) was dry during the day at 2 but not dry at night until about 6.5yrs. He just couldn't biologically tell when to wake up, he wasn't being lazy.

Strangely he night trained at the same time as DS2 who did day and night at the same time aged 3.

I found that if you spoke to other parents most didn't admit it but I did know 2 others who weren't dry until yr2 in his class. Apparently 1 in 10 are not dry at night at aged 6.

I agree with others we were told it wasn't a medical issue until they are about 8. Boys are often later too.

No need to worry yet (she says knowing I was the same as you at the time) .

binger · 16/05/2013 21:57

Neither of mine were dry until 7 years old so you have loads of time yet, don't stress. We used to lift but that was hard as they got bigger and didn't help at all.

Stick with pull ups or whatever and as he matures and gets more regular dry spells you could do what my colleague recommended, put a waterproof pad on the sleeping part of the bed, on top of the sheet, put a bath towel over this to keep it in place and extra absorption, then if bed is wet in middle of night you don't have to remake whole bed, just remove towel and waterproof. I still do this for my 7 year old, just in case.

LackaDAISYcal · 16/05/2013 21:59

My DS is almost 11 and has only been reliably dry in the last six months or so. We did eventually get a bedwetting alarm from the school nursing team about 18 months ago andf it was this tht eventaully did it. He was also a solid sleeper who just wasn't waking up.

He went through a brief period of being dry at night when he was four, and then he started school and it all went pear shaped.

The medical profession won't consider any investigations/referrals until they are seven or older. We had the choice of a bed wetting alarm at that point but we had a new baby who didn't sleep so we thbought more sleep disruption would be a bad thing. The good thing about waiting till he wasover 9 was that he could wuite happily sort himself out when it woke him up.

We've had a few mishaps recently again, but SATs week at school and illness have contributed.

What is reassuring is that he isn't the only one in his year group at school and they openly talk about it at school in their PHSE lessons.

IT'll come good in it's own time :)

TeamJesse · 16/05/2013 22:01

My ds wasn't dry at night till he was almost 8. For about 6 months before that, he was sporadically dry (probably 50-50). We never made a big deal out of it, it sorted itself out without any intervention on our part.

LackaDAISYcal · 16/05/2013 22:02

We bought a washable bed mat from a mobility shop; it wasn't cheap at £25, but has saved us a fortune on night time pull ups (which DS refused anyway as he got older) You can also get waterproof duvet covers, which in hindsight we sghould have bought.

The bed mat is now in use on DS2's bed, though he is much more reliably dry at 4.5 than DS1 was.

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