Dry by day for over a year but still wearing a nappy at night

[SMarie123]

Any tips on how to get a 4 year old to be dry through the night?

I have tried bringing him to the toilet about 11pm but he just wants to go back to sleep.

Should I maybe get him up at 6am to go to the toilet.

What worked for others?

My 6 year old still isn't dry at night. He goes through phases of being dry for a couple in a row and then soaking wet again. The dry phases are slowly increasing though. I'm thinking it just takes time.

Night dryness is a hormonal thing, you can't really train it the way you do daytime, you just have to wait it out!

Many 4 yr olds are just not ready, just leave it till he is.
My eldest was dry at 6, the youngest who was slightly later to be out of daytime nappies, was dry at 3 - so there was a year when the younger one was out of night nappies and the eldest not.

Don't worry - leave him in pull ups at night. DS1 wasn't dry till 7 and DS2 at 8 after we used a bed wetting alarm.

Thanks all I had no idea this was a common thing.

I am using 6+ nappies from Aldi. What are the best nappies you found?

We used huggies night time pull ups

It’s not a training thing. If the hormone pathways aren’t in place they won’t be dry. Nighttime pull-ups are your friend here.

Have you tried him without? I realised my guy was ready to go through the night when I realised he was just happy to pee in his nappy he knew what was going on and had control etc but just didn't ask to go to the toilet if he had a nappy on. He'd go when he woke up. But if he was in pants he'd wait. So he didn't actually go dry at night or naps until the nappy was off.

My son was in pull ups at night until he was 6 and a half , we tried a few times before that and he wouldn't even wake up when he had wet the bed. Then one night he refused to wear a pull up and was absolutely fine which really surprised me! It's just a matter of time.

My DS was trained in the day a few months before his third birthday, was in pull ups at night until very recently (he's just turned six). He decided himself that he didn't want to wear one! I think it's connected to his baby brother being born and he's a 'big boy' now! His pull up had been dry in the mornings for a while before his decision.

Don’t worry it’s a hormone/physiological pathway that you can’t train. It also usually develops later in boys than girls so it’s not uncommon for them to take longer.

I let him make his own decision about a nappy or pants. He is more often wet than not with pants, then that night he wants a nappy. On some level he doesn't want to wear a nappy but he just isn't ready.

Is it purely a hormonal thing or does drinking less before bed time help?

If you can, get pull-ups rather than happiest OP so that he can pull them up and down and use the loo if he wants to, and they may make him feel more grown up than actual happiest.
My dc was in night pull ups until 5.5.

**nappies! Not happiest! I have no idea why my iPhone is correcting nappies to happiest?!

In theory drinking less before bed helps in terms of fluid volume e.g dropping the bedtime bottle of milk/feed however restricting fluid too much should be avoided. It is largely hormonal we need to start producing a hormone (can’t remember the name) that down regulates the kidneys so less urine is produced overnight- if little one is still soaking nappies overnight more often than not I would say not quite ready. What PP have said pull ups rather than nappies so they feel more like they are wearing pants and perhaps cut the bedtime drink if they have one but allow fluids freely up until evening meal.

Thanks so much everyone for your responses. I really appreciate it ( and you have saved a little boy being woken up at 6am!) I am glad it is normal enough. He really loves his nighttime milk in front of the television, I don't want to take away something he enjoys so much.

I will buy some pull ups today. X

Dc1 didn't have a reliably dry night til after her 5th birthday. She was in pull ups till then. She daytime trained at 2.5.

Dc2 was dry overnight from about 18m. He daytime trained also at 2.5.

It's just luck of the draw when those hormones arrive.

I really wouldn't worry yet, my 3.5 yo is still nowhere near dry and still wears nappies full time. I'd be surprised if he's out of them at night at 4yrs.

I'll bet a lot more 4yr olds wear nappies than you'd imagine.

My ds is 5yo in October, been dry in the day for over 2 years (it literally took 2 days to train him), but still wears a pull up at night. As pp have said, it's physiological, rather than a training issue. I don't believe in withholding liquids (I think that's really mean) and I can't see how lifting them at night helps to teach them to react to the sensation of a full bladder. Just keep on with the pull ups. We use Pampers size 7.

DD was dry in the day on the weekend of her 2nd birthday, but not dry at night until almost 6. Don’t rush it, it’ll happen. I did buy a bed wetting alarm and after about 2 weeks she then didn’t need it.

NICE guidelines don’t recommend treating bedwetting until aged 5, because as many PPs have said with some children it just takes longer for their bladder to mature & the hormone vasopressin (which surpresses the overnight production of wee) to kick in. However there are a few good practices you can look at to ensure good all round bladder health such as getting you child to drink 6-8 glasses of water based fluid during the day (so their bladder is used to filling and stretching), making sure those drinks aren’t fizzy, caffeinated or blackcurrant/orange -as these can all irritate bladders (and interfere with sleep). Also get them to have their last drink at least an hour before bedtime and double void at bedtime - so going for a wee as they get changed & brush teeth and again after they’ve had a story & lights out.

My DS still had quite regular accidents at 7. And by regular I mean maybe 2/3 times a week. He's now 10 and is fine but sometimes it just takes time. I never did anything like alarms, GP etc. It just took longer.
My DD is 6 and out of the two of them, I'd say he's still more likely to wet the bed than she is. I can count on one hand the number of times she's wet the bed since she was out of nappies at 2.

This can really vary. I had one DC who was dry night and day at 2, another who was dry during the day at 2 but was in a nappy at night for over a year longer. I told her she'd get a present if she was dry overnight for a week, it was the last time she had a wet nappy overnight. I was pretty sure she was weeing in her nappy when she woke up because she couldn't be bothered to get up. DC3 was also dry during the day at 2 and was pretty dry during the night but then got an infection a year later. Antibiotics sorted the daytime wetting but he wasn't dry at night again until he was 6. I have a relative whose DC both wore pull ups at night until secondary school (dry during the day at 3 or 4). As others have said it's hormone issue and that is inherited. What age were you and their other parent dry at night?

My eldest was 10 before she was reliably dry at night. She was dry in the day from 2. We did all sorts of training as recommended by the nurse but nothing worked. We were offered hormonal tablets to kick start whatever the required hormone is (while ago now so can't remember the name) but we declined as if it wasn't a hormonal issue we didn't want to upset her with it not working.

One day it just suddenly clicked and we haven't looked back. I know it's hard when your in the middle of it but they do become dry eventually.

This is not unusual at all at this age, in girls or boys.

Buy some Drynites and take the pressure off yourself, DC and your washing machine.