Bed wetting

[Bluey2023]

Hi,
My 5 yr old dd was out of nappies at 2.5 yrs, during the day. She continued to be heavily wet during the night so didn't come out of nappies. I was waiting for her to be dry a few times and then try her without nappies. During the day she's been fantastic from the age of 2.5. She has had the occasional accident but always linked to laughing. I did read something about giggle incontinence. I know every child is different but my dd was is 3 in a few months and is completely out of nappies has been since the age of 2.5. Due to this my 5 yr old wanted to come out of nappies at night, I have done what she wants. However, I've noticed if I don't wake her up twice during the night she's bedwetting. The night before I woke her at 10pm, 3 hours after going to bed and 1am. She literally goes straight back to sleep. She goes to the toilet before bed, I have tried limiting drinks but when she says she's thirsty I give her a drink of water. Any advice would be appreciated.

Night dryness is down to the production of the hormone vasopressin and some children are just slower to produce it (my son is 11 and still wet at night, though this is at the extreme end of the scale)

They don't advise waking them at night as it can be counterproductive.
For the most part they won't refer to the eneuresis team until the child is 7 as it isn't considered abnormal for some children to still be wet at night at that age. You can still ask your GP though as they might be willing to do a referal.

Check out the website ERIC which has lots of useful advice about fluid consumption etc.

I would put the nappies back on. Its perfectly normal.

Whilst it is normal, this isn't always down to hormones. Mine used a bed wetting alarm and within 4 weeks, she was dry at night. Her issue was sleeping deeply and also a bit of laziness not wanting to get out of bed to go to the loo in the morning so would just go in her pull up. If your DD wants to be out of of pull ups, I'd recommend an alarm but it's something you need to commit to and play the long game.

We made sure she was drinking lots in the day time, which stetches the bladder (its like a muscle that needs strengthening) and we limited drinks an hour before bed time.

Another with a child who went through the enuresis clinic until 15!!!

Avoid fizzy drinks and juices and just drink water. Make sure they drink plenty through the day. Limiting drinks is not recommended but increase them during the day but then limit from 6pm.

The White Company (although pricey) does the best waterproof undersheets. The advice is not to wake to take to the loo as this actually forms the habit of weeing at that time. They also suggest the child helping to put the wet nightwear and bedding in the machine (but as I said generally this is after the age of 7)

@Bluey2023 Exactly what @queenrollo says. ERIC website is a brilliant resource. Ds1 wasn't reliably dry until 10 years old and Ds2 was dry at 3. Think about all those supermarket shelves giving up precious space to pull ups that go up to 12 or whatever. No one talks about it because there is weirdly a stigma attached to it. Now we know it is a hormone thing.

As Ds was going on school residential trips from year 4 we went down the medical route, he was prescribed Desmopressin which is the synthetic vasopressin and on maximum dose he was dry.This proved he wasn't producing vasopressin. However I was not prepared to medicate my child unnecessarily daily so we only used it for hotel stays, holidays and school trips plus a pull up as back up.

We still have a quilted waterproof sheet on all our beds, we also had reusable pads that cover the bed for Ds1. We had a system in place for bed wetting changing the bed, we installed an electric shower to wash off his body quickly and extra bedding. That was when we were trying the alarm (awful, woke up with a racing heart, it also scared the shit out of us too when it went off) yes it stopped him continuing to wee but it wasn't worth it for the upset and trauma of being woken like that. We went back to pull ups. There are reusable pull ups these days too.

Also as your child is older too, explain to her that she gets to do things that her sister doesn't like go to school etc, this is just something her sister can do that she can't, yet.

Sorry I'm only now getting back, we've all been ill. Thanks everyone for your advice. I have been waking up and she's asked me to wake her up but it's not sustainable and not great for either of us. The few times I've been a little late waking she's wet the bed. I'm going to have a talk with her about putting nappies on again. Thanks 😊

4 is the average age to be dry at night so 5 is still very normal! I’d bet on a lot of her friends still also being in night nappies. I asked a group of mums when our kids were starting reception once and it was a solid 50:50. Another mum of a 6.5YO just gave me a box of pull-ups for my 3YO as her DS has just become dry, as of this month. What can help- no fizzy drinks, no blackcurrant, no caffeine (remember it’s also in chocolate!), limiting drinks before bed, 2 wees before bed eg before and after bath to double check. Then really it’s just a waiting game for the hormone to kick in. In the meantime everyone needs undisturbed sleep so the pull-ups stay until she’s had a fully dry week. If it’s still an issue when she’s nearly 7 then see the GP. And think of other ways to show her she’s a big girl so she doesn’t feel bad! She will get there.