Five-and-a-half year old still soaking night nappy, when to see GP?

[Thrushcrossgrange]

DD is 5 and 1/2. She has been potty trained during the day since she was three. She has never once had a dry night. Her nappy in the morning is absolutely soaking. Even if I go into her at nine or 10 pm, she has a wet nappy. She is able to hold her urine during the day for hours at a time. We try and limit liquids in the evenings and always have a wee before bed, but nothing seems to be changing. I'm starting to get worried. There's still just so much wee overnight.

at what point do you think I need to speak to a doctor? Has this happened to anyone else and the child has grown out of it? Do I start lifting her at night to try and get her on the toilet?

In contrast my youngest daughter is three and has just potty train during the day and seems to be having dry nights most nights since.

I really want to help my eldest, but don't want to give her a complex.

Nothing you can do until they’re 7. It’s a hormones thing. My daughter was the same. She was dry before she was six.

1 in 5 children are not dry at night before age 7.

so nothing to worry about.

it seems counter productive but don’t limit drinks. As well as the hormone that shuts down urine production at night, they need to develop “biofeedback”- this is where a full bladder will wake them to go to the loo.

if you limit drinks the bladder won’t fill properly and they won’t develop the waking mechanism.

same with “lifting” to the toilet before you go to bed which many people suggest- this just teaches them to wee in their sleep.

both of mine were over 6. I just kept up with the nappies at night until one day they woke up dry and that was it.

i never did anything or tried to force it. I read/hear about people dealing with wet beds 2 or 3 times a night for years- no thank you.

8 for medical concerns, which I remember as DS was two weeks shy of his 8th birthday when it kicked in like a switch, never a dry nappy to never a wet nappy/bed.

Nothing to worry about, anecdotally it's often the better/heavier sleepers so hopefully you have an upside to it.