DS is still not dry through the night!!

[chicaguapa]

DS is coming up to 5 1/2 and still wears a nappy at night. We sporadically try him without but he always wets the bed. I have now decided that I'm going to try again but for longer. I am lifting him before I go to bed but for the last 2 out of 3 nights he has been wet before I go to him. He has no idea he's wet and isn't bothered by it at all, ie it doesn't wake him.

During the day he often leaves going to the toilet until the very last minute, which results in a bit of leakage before he gets there. I can't remember when he was out of nappies during the day. Is he just not ready yet for 'dry nights' or should I keep going in the hope that something eventually clicks? I'm more worried about knocking his confidence as we don't make a fuss about wet beds or anything but at this rate I can see him still in nappies in year 1.

I would just keep going and lifting him. It took my dd just over 8 months in total to be dry at night. Even now she will have the odd accident. It is usually when she is dog tired, or when I forget to remind her to have a wee before bed

Maybe try going to him earlier? With my DD I first started to lift at 9pm then again before i went to bed at around 12am. Then very slowly and if she was dry for around a week at that time, then increase it by half an hour. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not Then slowly worked to 1 lift a night. Eventually she went the whole night.

It could also be that he is not ready yet. Have you got an HV you can chat to? I have read somewhere on here that some kids dont have enough of the "wee holding" hormone .. iyswim :D

He isn't ready. Healthcare professionals will not do anything until he is 7, so just wait for him to become dry in his own time. Lifting isn't going to help that much, unless you wake the child fully, make them go to the loo fully awake and aware of what they are doing. Why is it a problem him still wet in yr 1? Waking him often during the night will result in a tired, grumpy child and still with a wet bed. I'd go back to bedwetter pants to save all that washing, unless ds refuses to.

The anti diuretic hormone isn't produced in babies, so their kidneys keep producing urine at the same rate as during the day. At some point (vary variable) the brain manufactures the hormone, which regulates the rate at which urine is produced during sleep. Less is produced, and it is more concentrated, which is why we can hold on during sleep for many hours. This, combined with the full bladder sending signals to the brain that it needs to empty, and the childs awareness of this which wakes him to do something about it, is what will keep him dry at night. Until all these things happen, 'night training' is not really possible. There is a family trait that if one or both of a childs parents were late to become dry at night, the child can be the same.

There are some things you can do to help (but not train). The school nurse provided this advice for me: Limit drinks after tea to plain water. Fizzy and caffeinated drinks such as cola and hot chocolate can irritate the bladder and make the kidneys produce more urine. Some mums have noticed that blackcurrant squash and fizzy orange do the same. Make sure the child drinks well during the day, to help improve the bladder stretchiness and capacity. Make sure the child wees just before going to sleep, especially if there has been a long time between getting into bed and sleeping. Have a potty in the childs room if the toilet is far away or there are steps on the way (to prevent falls,) a newly woken child bursting to go won't take care and can't wait!

Good luck.

Thanks for your replies. Conflicting advice then! He says he doesn't want to wear a nappy anymore so I'll wait a bit longer maybe to see what he wants to do. I've not mentioned the wet beds in the night and have just changed his bottoms and taken the towel etc off his bed, so he thinks he's going really well. He says he's holding on in the morning now whereas he used to just wee in his nappy when he woke up, so at least he's becoming more aware.

Lifting is not the right thing to do imo.

I would just wait.

DS1 was 7 before he was dry and dd was 6 and just did it. One night wet, the next dry and has been for weeks now with 2 accidents.
ds2 is still in nappies at 4.10. Not bothered, it will happen.

We've tried various things with ds 5.5yrs, from lifting to drinking more in the day.
Lifting really didn't seem to work-could already be wet, could have a good wee and still be wet next day, or would not wee at all and be dry!
We were thinking of trying again in the summer, maybe with an alarm, when to our complete surprise he has been dry for the last 10 days,so be patient, it will happen

My DS1 is 6 months younger than your boy and we're in the same boat. He doesn't want to wear pyjama pants but is wet every night. We lift him around 9pm, sometimes this works well, other times he's already wet, and other times he refuses to go and is then wet in the morning. Some nights I changed the bedsheets twice! Been like this for a good six weeks now.

I think you just have to persevere and get used to the laundry or try again in a few months. I'm gonna try to persuade him to go back into PJ pants until the school holidays. Good luck!

My son is exactly the same age and we have exactly the same issues. The advice from girlywhilry is exactly the advice we were given by our health visitor about our dd1 when she was the same age quite a few years ago now. At 6 she just suddenly became dry overnight having never had a dry night (with or without lifting) previously and had maybe 2 accidents since.

HV also warned us at the time that it would likely be the same for any other children we had as it ran in families and I can certainly remember struggling myself! Good luck and try not to worry too much. Other people had more of an issue with it than my dd ever did, she was oblivious. Also if you do have any concerns after age of 7 you can contact ERIC an Eneurisis(sp) support group for excellent advice.