Do I just keep waiting for night dryness?

[Clarabellawilliamson]

Hi all, my daughter is 4, starting school in September and will be 5 in December. She hasn't worn nappies in the daytime for years but is still in pull ups at night. They are very wet in the morning and I don't think we have ever had a dry one. She has a wee last thing, and within 10 minutes or so of waking up.

Do I just keep waiting?! I read somewhere that some children will never be dry whilst they know they have a pull up on. Should I just go with a few wet nights to see what happens?!

She isn't bothered by the pull ups, but I don't think she realises other don't wear them.

Would you wait, or try? Not much to lose by trying I suppose but will have to buy some more bedding first!!

Just wait - it’s hormonal so they’re dry or not. No one is worried until aged 7 or 8. Up to them it’s completely normal not to be dry at night.

She's 4. I'd just wait. Look into it again if no changes in 2 years.

My 8 year old has only just become dry at night. My older one was dry at night from age 4. They are all so different and nothing to worry about just yet

DC1's night nappies were absolutely sodden most of the way through reception. And then they weren't. Just happened like flicking a switch.

My DD wasn't fully dry at night until age 9. We thought we'd cracked it, she would be dry for ages on then she'd wet after 3 or 4 months, sometimes wetting several nights in a row . It is very common and GP wouldn't even refer us until she was about 7 I think. We saw a specialist nurse but to be honest she didn't tell me anything I didn't already know as I'd done so much reading on it. We lost the pull ups about age 6...I think that did help - she certainly woke up more after she'd wet (with the pull up.she slept through every night) than she did when she was in pull ups. We had a water proof mattress for her and spare bedding all ready (or put her in spare room). The nurse loaned us a bed wetting alarm when DD was 8....but this was in the summer and if she was sweating or hot at night, the moisture set the alarm off!. Eventually she did grow out of it but we thought it would never happen and it's hard. We ended up recording the nights she wet (looking for patterns etc). We also removed all 'dark' drinks - e.g give orange instead of blackcurrant squash. We also spoke to school and asked her teacher to remind her to drink plenty in the day and make sure she was going to loo frequently. But your little one is only 4 so I wouldn't worry about any of these things as chances are she will grow out of it before then.

And yes, as a pp said, the nurse said it is hormonal and my wasn't daughter producing enough of this hormone....and it comes with maturity, but the measures I mentioned above can help.

Yes, just wait. My son wasn't dry until he was 7, and then there were just gradually more dry nappies. It's a hormonal thing, not a learning thing - he would sleep soundly through wetting if we didn't use a pull up.

I have stupidly tried to night time train as my ds is almost 5. Since learned there is nothing you can do but wait. Health visitor said contact GP for referral if not dry when he is 5 at the earliest but it used to be aged 7.

Night time dryness varies massively. In my case:
DC1 was 7
DC2 was 2 (same time as daytime dryness)
DC3 was 3

As PP have said she's very young still so try not to worry as it varies massively between children.
DD1 was 9, Dc 2& 3 were 3. The eldest would manage to fill a dri-night, or completely wee round the side of them and then soundly sleep in a lake of pee. So my husband and I had a 10.30pm alarm and one of us would go up, take her for a wee and put her back to bed. Some said that wasn't the correct way to do it, but it worked for us for years until she was 9.

It has nothing to do with wearing a pull up.

When we sleep we produce a hormone called vasopressin which reduces urine production, meaning the bladder does not get full and we don't need a wee when we are sleeping. Hence full bladder in the morning. If a child doesn't produce vasopressin then their bladder gets full in the middle of the night, maybe more than once and cues emptying. If children sleep deeply, they wet the bed.

Children can be completely dry in the day and not dry at night for years. Ds1 responded to the synthetic hormone Desmopressin which proved he just didn't produce vasopressin, but we were not prepared to medicate him daily.

Just put him in pull ups and used the desmopressin for overnights at hotels, holidays and school residentials.

Most GPs will not be concerned about night time dryness until a child is at least 7, possibly 8, possibly 9. The Eric website is full of useful information. We tried everything, monitoring liquid input plus output (weeing in a jug to measure volume) tried alarms, set wee times, everything. Eventually they grow out of it.

Thanks everyone- very reassuring! I know that at 4 there is nothing to worry about, I just wasn't sure if it was worth trying something, or just waiting for dry pull ups in the morning. I will wait a while longer!