2.5 year old soaked every night - advice?

[alaska748]

Hello all

wondered if anyone has any advice - our 2.5 year old boy has been waking up in the middle of the night (3am or so) completely soaked through including pyjamas, sleeping bag, sheet etc. We haven’t started potty training - have tried but he isn’t ready yet.

He is a big boy, 105cm and 21kg so I have assumed nappy size may be an issue. He wears size 8 nappies to bed and I then pop a toddler (17-35kg) overnight nappy over the top. He is still getting soaked! I’ve checked and he points down etc when we put him to bed. He sleeps on his belly in case that makes a difference.

Any top tips for me? Thanks so much!!

My son wasn't dry at night until he was 8 , it isn't unusual.

There is a hormone which regulates night time dryness and if they aren't ready they aren't ready. It's nothing to do with day time dryness.

A size 8 nappy is likely too big. And then another nappy at the top will be causing compression. Try an age 2-3 huggies night time pull up just on its own and baggy PJ bottoms to allow it to expand. They’re specifically designed for overnight toddler floods rather than the more trickle like wees of non potty trained babies. DD wore them until almost 4 and they never ever leaked. Then yes to limiting drinks before bed.

By all means start potty training if he shows readiness, and dry through a nap can be a sign, but since night time training is hormonal the 2 aren’t really connected. The average age to potty train is 2.5-3 but the average age to be dry at night is 4 with lots of GPs not considering it a medical issue until 7. That said, if he can do a big wee on the potty right before bed then that will also help as it won’t be going into the night nappy.

Honestly blown away by all the helpful comments here - thank you so much. We have cut back on liquids this afternoon and skipped the evening milk, used just the one pull up nappy that he wears during the day and will try to change him before we head to bed…let’s see how we go! For those asking he’s been in Pampers but will have a read of the forum to see which other brands are recommended…

@NigelTheCrab - thank you also for sharing your experience with T1 diabetes. I had gestational diabetes towards the very end of my pregnancy so this is always a bit of a niggling thought for me…currently can’t say he is experiencing the other symptoms eg weight loss, tiredness and thirst but I know these things can develop seemingly out of nowhere. If we keep having issues I’ll check in with the GP just to (hopefully) rule it out….

How did you get on OP? We had this issue with my daughter and we ended up going back to nappies rather than using pull ups as I found they got a better fit, have you tried going a size down?

When this happened with my Ds we used the inserts for reusable nappies inside the disposable nappies. You can get bamboo or charcoal. They are super absorbent and made a massive difference.