4 year old wants to drop night time nappies but is still wetting at night

[lagrandissima]

Our 4.5 yo DS has been dry during the day for about 18mths, but still in Drynites or similar at night, and these are usually very full in the morning.

He does a wee before his bath, and one before going to bed (an hour or so later), and has no drinks after teatime, unless it's hot and I give him some water.

Apart from baulking at the extortionate prices of night time nappies, I hadn't considered trying to 'train' him to be dry at night until he showed some interest or had dry nappies in the morning.

Three days ago he said he didn't want to wear night time nappies as when he did a wee his bottom got sore. He seemed to think that he knew he was weeing in bed because he was wearing a nappy. I had one of those hippychick waterproof sheets and put it over the bed and let him go without a nappy.

The first 2 nights I lifted him for a wee at 10.30pm, he squeezed out a few drops, then slept through to 6.30am, waking with wet shorts and sheet.

Tonight I lifted him at 10.15pm and the bed and quilt were soaking. (I'd put him in pants tonight thinking perhaps that might feel different to PJs and jog his memory on some level that he had to remove them to wee.) I forgot the last bedtime wee tonight, so that probably explains why there was a biblical flood tonight.

We've just changed his sheets and quilt and put him in a clean t-shirt and back to sleep.

Are we wasting our time waiting to see if he is indeed ready to go without a night nappy? What's the current thinking on this? Are there techniques or methods we should be using or have we screwed it all up already?!

We've been quite relaxed about it with him as the waterproof sheet is pretty good, it's summer so we can turn around the bed linen in a day etc. Also, he's very good in all other areas of development, so it's not like we're stressing out over this. He's been offered a toy if he can go dry for 2 consecutive nights - is this putting too much pressure on him? (It was supposed to be an inducement!)

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

bumping

...and washing

It doesn't seem as though he's ready. Either go back to dri-nites or cope with the washing. I wouldn't offer bribes, the wetting is still beyond his control, and lifting is not really helpful. Until he is physically ready, and he is producing a hormone that regulates urine production during sleep, it's a waiting game.

Not that i have massive experience of this, we've only gone through this with DD so far, but I can share our experience if that helps...

DD had been dry in the daytime for a yearish when we started to put her down nappyless. Actually it was more by neccessity than plan as we ran out of nappies one night and after that we just didn't buy any more. we had taled about it and, i think like you, weren't sure whether to wait til she was dry at night or not. As i recall she was dry some nights but certanly not all at the time.

for the first few days she wet every night, and then slowly it became every other night, and now 6 months later she is dry most of the time, but there are still some accidents.

We are lucky in that she is a heavy sleeper, so if i discover she is wet before 2 or 3am then i can lift her, change the bed and pop her back in; however, if it's after that she usually comes padding in to our room (more often than not to my side of the bed...) with a wet bum. in which case i strip her and lift her into our bed for the remiander of the night. The bed gets left til morning as i'm too lazy to get up and strip it then...

As I said, this is just our experience, but i wonder if any kids are ever 'ready' as such. Everyone i know had gone through a similar stage of constant sheet changing at first, but it should get better over time. Maybe repeated waking in wet sheets helps to click the switch with regard to regulating the flow, so to speak. HTH

just lurking - I could have written the OP myself

Think I'm going to put him back in drynites for the time being. We have to spend some time away from home next month, so might be better not to put us all under that sort of pressure. He's pretty bright, so I have explained to him that if he tries wearing nappies again, and wakes up with them dry, he can show me and we can try to go nappy-free then. He seemed quite happy with that.

Thanks for your comments.

my girls is nearly 6 and is still wet every night.. i also have a 3 yo who is DRY every night..

I still put nappies on my 6 yo and was looking for info on how long this can go on for? I am so dreading her asking for sleep-overs etc as i dont know how to deal with it.

Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Determination, I'd let dd wear those dri-nites pants for sleepovers. Make sure she has a plastic bag/nappy sack to put the wet one in next morning, so she can dispose of it discreetly at her friends' or put in her bag to dispose at home. You could have a quiet word with the friends mum, you never know, her dd might still be wet at night too!

Also need help here.

DS1 4.8 and been taking him to the loo every night for the last year. He and DH decided when he was 4 he didn't need his nappy, but who was changing the bed at 2am?!?!

So we talked about it and decided when he had 3 nights in a row dry he could ditch the Nappies. We've only ever managed 2 and in recent months he's been wet when I take him to the loo and wet in the morning.

DS2 has 2 year check in the morning, going to quiz nursery nurse on current ideas. I'd like him to be dry by the time he goes to school in sept. I do have a friend that tried everything and in the end gave up to wait til he was 7 and the dr would get involved.

It's the cost of the pull ups that winds me up, and if the 1st one is wet when I take him to the loo I change him otherwise they leak, so that's 2 a night .

I have had similar problems with my 4 yr old, she is mostly dry during the day. we decided to go the no nappy and rubber sheet route. We lift her 2 -3 times during the night and limit drinks after 6pm and still have a wet bed most mornings, or halfway through the night.

We have decided to continue this method figuring eventually her sleeping brain will click discomfort with urination. It is extremley hard going as we have been doing it for 5 months now and still have a wet bed most nights and piles of laundry.

If anyone has any other tips, i would be grateful to hear them

my boy has just turned 7 a couple of weeks ago and he is still wetting the bed he has to wear taining pants every night and i have been told now to take him to my doctors.