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!

My parents tried all this with me. Limiting drinks blah blah blah I set the bed most nights until 9 and then stopped at 11.

Its been a while since I started this thread and my DD is still in night time nappies. She just hasn't shown any sign of growing out of these as yet. I feel like we've tried everything. Shes going to be 6 at the end of this month.

I posted on here early Feb and my DS was wetting most nights. Then it just stopped and I genuinely don't think it was anything we were doing. He has the occasional wet bed but maybe a couple in 3 months! He turned 6 recently

Hoping that it just stops for you and your DD I felt your pain :)

The nice guidance now is this is considered needing investigation and treatment from age 5.
cant remember what I previously posted but here’s the Eric page on bedwetting and a link to a wetting alarm we used with my daughter to great success just before she was 5. Reviews are also glowing! But was a tough few weeks.

https://eric.org.uk/childrens-bladders/bedwetting/

https://amzn.eu/d/8BziJNI

Sorry I previously posted exactly the same. I just think it depends on the kid, so try not to stress!

It's hormonal. The only way to deal with it is to get medication (hormones) that assist with night time dryness, and they generally wonky prescribe until 7.

My DS was in them, and you still have to come off every so often to see if the body has started producing the hormone itself, so in itself it's just a stepping stone and not a "cure" as such.

Stay with the big hot time nappies, and try not to stress about it. I know it's tricky once they start being invited to sleepovers etc.

Out of interest, what does the NHS do when a child reaches 7 and still wets the bed?

We spoke to a GP last week and all they said is that its a matter for the School nurse!
So we called the school to ask to speak to them and haven't heard back. The person I spoke to seemed very confused as to why I even wanted to speak to them!
My DD is 6 now, she's unphased by it all, it more me, but after reading the ERIC website, I am even more concerned something more is needed rather than just waiting it out.

I would try a bed wetting alarm.

I tried waiting it out and tried desmopressin sprays and wafers they didn’t do much.

i tried the alarm and it worked. It took a lot of perseverance as my daughter was such a deep sleeper that the alarm did not wake her. I spent nearly 4 weeks sleeping in her floor being woken when the alarm went off, making sure my daughter woke. But finally age 9 she’s dry.

So we got to speak to the school nurse and she said she had heard mixed reviews about bed wetting alarms. She suggested we tried waking and take DD to the bathroom. We’ve tried that at about 11pm at night and she’s done pees in the toilet but she’s still wet in the morning. I’m not even sure us waking her up to pee in the night is defeating the point?
The only other thing we’re now trying is putting pants on beneath DD’s nappy pant to “confirm current arousability”.

I know in time this will pass in time but of her group, she’s the only one now still wearing them and I worry about when sleepovers are suggested 😞

My eldest was in pull ups until he was 6 and a half, then I guess the hormone just kicked in as he suddenly started waking up for a wee in the night and was dry from then on. I don’t think it’s something that can be forced.

I am following this @cooper82 as we are just behind you.

My eldest cracked it when she was 4 (can't remember exactly when) but all it took in the end was taking her nappy off and she got up when she needed the toilet and didn't have an accident til about 1.5 years later on a night that she was particularly tired. We had tried 6 months earlier and she was absolutely soaked and slept right through, so for her it was just a bit more time that was needed.

We are now trying to get my nearly 5 year old dry. We have done several attempts of 2-3 nights with no nappy over the last year, last week we tried a full week.

On some nights when we woke him up at 9ish AND 11.30ish he would stay dry. HOWEVER, he is a very deep sleeper and even though I'd make him walk through to the bathroom and he'd do a wee, he was still essentially asleep with his eyes open and have no recollection in the morning. On the nights he was wet, he'd generally sleep straight through, despite being completely soaked!

I had a really good study of the ERIC website at the weekend and I've concluded that of the 3 reasons for bed wetting (poor arousability, lack of hormone and bladder not stretched enough) he has all 3.

ERIC says not to lift him to wee as it won't solve the problems. So we are going back to nappies again for now cos the poor lad is knackered (which apparently also slows down the production of the hormone required).

We are working on stretching his bladder by giving him a pint of water in the morning to drink in one go (and then encouraging lots of drinking through the day) but stopping all drinks after 6pm.

We are going to leave him for another 6 months to see if the hormone kicks in and that solves things, if not we will try the alarm for the arousability side.

I completely understand your concerns. When I talked to my DS about going back in nappies he said, but I need to be out of them before someone new comes to stay, so he is starting to become self conscious which makes me so sad (we have been very careful not to make him feel that way).

I just have everything crossed that something clicks soon.

Also, you can buy nighttime pants (similar to period pants) and special pyjamas for sleepovers. If he is completely filling a nappy then they won't help but if not that bad then might just give him enough that if he is invited to a sleepover before he cracks it that he might not have to wear an actual nappy?

We do use nappy/nighttime pants at the moment.

The school nurse did talk about making sure DD did drinks enough water during the day but I feel like that’s all normal too.

everything I’ve posted here and read sounds like my daughter is maybe more a late bloomer when it comes to bedtime peeing. I just it would pass soon.

You can get some good sheets and absorbant blanket pad type things nowadays. Mine wouldn't wear bedtime pants and that was what I ended up doing.

Hi OP

Totally get it as I have been there with my son who is 6.

I don’t know why the school nurse told you to wake your DD as that’s really outdated advice. In real life people don’t talk about and on mumsnet a lot of the time the advice is that it’s hormone related and you can’t do anything than wait. I’m sure that’s the case for some children but like you we had sleepovers / beaver camp on our mind so wanted to see what we could do.

Firstly we called ERIC and I would recommend this as they can talk about your child and give you specific advice - the lady we spoke to was really nice and helpful.

We then went the alarm route and we had 2 tough weeks and he’s not had an accident since and we did this at the start of the year. We used to therapee which is expensive but worth it for us. You get videos and a calendar to help you keep track of what’s happening when. He was just 6 when we did it.

Good luck OP

Thanks for sharing your journey, I have a little one still in pull ups, and hoping we get there, but useful to know we're doing the right things, but it might just not happen for her yet

So nearly a year after posting this I still see no end in sight.
Dont judge me but I think we are going to try and suggest the GP prescribed the hormone drug. It feels like it’s worth a try. We’ve tried everything.
I'm doing it more from the perspective that as my DD is nearing an age for sleep overs etc, I want to see if we can curb the nappy pants to avoid her any embarrassment should she stay over at a friends.
I know the friends parents will understand but it’s more from the perspective of the kids knowing that my DD is still in them.

My eldest (boy) has the hormone now and other medications but our area wouldn’t take that route until he was 10 and we’d done all the other stages (bed wetting alarms etc) it can take a while

DS is nearly 8 and wets at least 50% of the time. If he went on a sleep over I'd just put him back in a nappy. It's a bit unusual by 8 but not wildly so. Doubt he's the only one at school really.

Did you ever try the alarm? I got one off Amazon and my child went from wet every night to dry within a month, now we just have the odd accident but not often,

You could try putting normal
pants under the pull ups. I just waited for my dc to be dry through the night which happened about 4.5

Yeah. Some nights we’d check and it was just wet and she was sleeping in it. Other times, DD would say it was uncomfortable

Go to the GP now, because you might have to go through a process of trying a few different things before you get a referral, and the referrals can take a bit of time to go through.

I can't remember my son's age when he went on the hormones, I think it was 7. But it's not as simple as "here's the hormones, problem solved". But, it does help, eventually, especially with sleepovers etc. My son used them on camp and it ensures he stayed dry.

Good luck!