5.5 DD Still in Bedtime Nappy Pants

[cooper82]

My DD is amazing. She’s learning and growing in every way, I’m very proud.
My DD has at times asked to go to bed with pants on instead of nappy pants but without fail, she just sleeps through the need to pee and wets herself. I’ve heard this is only really treated as a “problem” when they are 7 so perhaps we still have to wait it out.
I can’t help but think we should be trying ways for DD to learn to hold in a pee at bedtime. Or at least, go to the loo in the night.
Any advice would be appreciated!

It's a hormone thing and will come in time. There isn't an awful lot you can do at this stage but look at the Eric website for advice. My DS is 5 and soaks through at night still and nothing will be done until he is 7.

It’s hormonal and you can’t do anything about it except make sure your DD doesn’t feel bad about it. My DD wasn’t dry at night until she was 7 and lots of kind parents on here told me not to worry about it as it would just stop one day. We were purposely breezy about it in front of her and one night it just stopped. She is 12 now and has no memory of wearing sleep pants.

Oh this is reassuring. I have just woke my DS 5.5 for a wee and he couldn't! I 199% know he will wet the bed by 5am :( was considering bedtime pants but when I mentioned it to him he was an absolute no!
Would you recommend any?

You can’t train it at all. Just work on making her feel fine about it.
You need a couple of weeks of dry nappies to try without them.

Eric advice this is great to follow. Most of the time it's hormone related and they will absolutely grow out if it but not a bad idea to follow the steps that don't involve intervention at this stage and ruling out constipation. Also with the stopping fluids I'd avoid diluting juice at night as it can be irritating on the bladder. A couple of my friends kids were in their teens before being dry at night which was torture as the volumes passed were much harder to contain but in most cases she will be dry fairly soon.

Ah the memories this brings back. My DS soaked a night nappy until he was 7 and a half. We tried a couple of times to go without but he would wet the bed and just sleep in it, that’s how deeply he slept.
Then suddenly he just had a run of dry nappies so we went without and he had no accidents at all. Nothing different, just age.

Try not to worry, I know that’s easier said than done

DD is 4 and still wear a nappy at night, not a pull up as we find they leak awfully. She knows that she needs them otherwise she will wake up wet. After 3 dry nappies we have said we would try without.

My god son was like this. I agree it's a hormonal thing so a waiting game. That said, he got a sort of mat for under his sheet that somehow knew if he needed a wee and meant he'd get up in the night. I think it detected movement. Sorry that's a bit vague, I just remember how pleased his parents were with it.

HV told us to watch for 10-14 nights dry in a row as a sign they are now ready to go without pull ups at night. At 5.5 I still probably wouldn’t worry!

I'm glad you've posted as I have a 4 year old who is soaking through a nappy and leaking every single night.

We've tried without nappies but he just wets the bed and sleeps through. We've tried lifting him at 9/10pm but it doesn't help.

The just taking the nappy off did work for my eldest (not the 1st time but yes the 2nd and had only 2 accidents in the 2 years since).

My DS never drinks diluting juice, only water.

This thread is encouraging.

(P.S. if you have problems with leaks, we've found the taped nappies much more reliable than the pull ups (though the latter were fine until quite recently).

Another one chiming in to say don’t make a big few of it. Nappy pants and offer a pee before bed but just keep it casual. Perhaps explain all bodies are different in case she already feels ashamed, and some people just take longer for the bit in their brain to “switch on” that helps them hold it in at night.
1 out of my four was almost 7 yrs old, one was 4 and the other two were 3.5…

My daughter was pretty much dry at night as soon as she came out of nappies. My son was dry in the day fairly young, but wasn't dry at night until he was seven. As others have already said, it's individual and a hormonal thing and there was no training him out of it, he slept through a soaked bed!

My daughter actually prefers water over anything else which is great!

thanks got all the comforting comments. I guess we just need to let nature take it’s course and bide our time!

I've been lifting at 10/11pm and again at 6am and that's reduced the wet nights from 6 to 2 this week

I know plenty of friends that have kids who aren’t dry at night. Our daughter is 4 and she still has a very wet nappy in the mornings. We have tried lifting etc but have decided to let her grow out of it. Less mess and she seems happier.

It’s funny reading this stuff now my oldest is 21. It all seems like such a long time ago. She wet the bed till 7 or 8. It all seemed like it mattered so much then. Now it’s just a vague memory.

Everyone said it was hormonal but a bed wetting alarm worked for my daughter at 5.5. It took 2 weeks, the first few days the alarm went off constantly as she was dribbling bits through the night. She used to be dead to the world sleeping through it but 3 years on she’s got up every night without fail and not an accident since

I thought new NICE guidelines brought the age down to 5 for investigations/advice?

We used a bedwetting alarm I think from Amazon or ERIC. It worked for us in a week or so. She’ll still wet the bed if she’s had a lot of liquid but generally goes through now.

FYI regards the hormone… it doesn’t magically kick in and wake them up at night, the hormone reduces the amount of urine produced at night is all. The bedwetting alarm bells them
build the association. Ours came with a reward chart too and it worked pretty quick.

we also got some waterproof bed mats from Amazon that feel like material but tuck under the sheet. Then when she wet the bed you just change the mat not the entire bedding. So much quicker to do in the night time!

Good luck!

bedwetting alarm; www.amazon.co.uk/DryEasy-Bedwetting-Control-Selectable-Vibration/dp/B00LX0OV2E/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1H5DO2LLD4Z90&keywords=bedwetting+alarm&qid=1675912635&sprefix=bedwe%2Caps%2C77&sr=8-3

dry mats; www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UVTW3AK/ref=sspa_mw_detail_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AH2ALCDGRVBYQ&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWw

This is from the ERIC website so NICE do recommend ‘treatment’ from 5 years. That is restricting fluids before bed, see before bed and a bedwetting alarm.

”Bedwetting in childhood is very common, affecting 1 in 15 seven year olds and 1 in 75 teenagers. It runs in families, but it’s no-one’s fault. You don’t need to wait for your child to grow out of it – treatment is available from 5 years old (as per NICE Guidelines).”

in reality I don’t think a Dr would worry until age 7 but just wanted to highlight guidelines are to treat from 5.
eric.org.uk/advice-for-children-with-night-time-wetting/

• wee before bed not see before bed.

We've had this change recently, my son is 5 and a half, and I've tried a few of the things you can do (toilet twice before bed, less water an hour before bed, waking up in the night) but nothing worked until recently without trying anything he suddenly started being dry.

So now it's only random nights, but the first night he was dry we stopped the nappies and its been mostly fine.

Have you tried putting her to bed without nappy pants for a few days or a week?
DS actually soaked his nappies through at 4.5 years if I didnt wake to change him in his sleep.
I got sick of it and bought those paper underlays and just washed his blanket and sheet every morning for a few days. He had 5 or 6 wet nights and then he was dry all of a sudden.
I know It wasnt hormones kicking in all of a sudden, because my mum didnt trust me and kept him in night nappies for another 6 months (he slept there once a week). He still fully soaked his nappies over night at her house even though he was dry at home without a nappy.
It was like in his subconscious he knew about the nappy and just peed.

I stuck it out nappy free for a few days because my friend told me this worked for her child.

It's totally normal, just wait. My DC was 8 before they were dry. There is a tablet you can give them on prescription but it didn't work with mine, they just suddenly grew out of it. It's really not a big deal and using alarms aged 5 seems a bit excessive, they're only little.

That is the current NICE guidelines for treatment from age 5 though - if limiting liquids, wee before bed and a week of no nappies doesn’t get them mostly dry.
The alarm on my link you can lower the volume and it has a vibrate so it wasn’t some blaring siren and it worked in about a week to get her dry.

Appreciate that. Just saying that not being dry until much older is actually really common, and really normal.

When I was worrying about my DC it was reassuring to know that, as people don't talk about it.