Bed Wetting - Portland,OR

I can relate. My daughter did great at night, then BAM started wetting what seemed like every night. I was so tired of changing sheets I was ready to scream. I threatened to put her back into pull ups which really didn't go over well. I bought the pads you can put over the sheets, so if she did wet I only had to change that. I think she got tired of the pad and finally just gave in to my demands. She hasn't had an accident since. I also really cut down her liquids and sat there while she went potty before bed. I know how frustrating it is, just hang in there.

First, make sure he doesn't have a medical reason for this return to nighttime wetting. A urinary tract infection, etc can be a cause if he was previously dry for awhile.

Now this part might sound totally off, but fear can be a cause of nighttime wetting. It's how our bodies work in response to fear. The body tries to eliminate what it doesn't need. I have heard many success stories of parents who start engaging their children in games like wrestling and pillow fights (where you take the less powerful role and your child gets the stronger, faster, more powerful role) and this active play builds confidence and helps off-load fears which leads to the end of bed-time wetting. Freeze-tag was the game of choice in our house. (My daughter is four and I thought she'd never stop wetting at night!) Try it out and see if it works for you, if not, at least you will have had some fun playing together! :) Here's a website with lots of inspiration on connecting and listening well to our children. http://www.handinhandparenting.org/ Good Luck!

I don't have much experience with night time potty training yet. I have heard of one technique that has helped my family. Have you tried waking him up in the middle of the night to take him to the potty? It may help get him back on track. Is he going through any tough times in daycare or preschool? maybe that may be the reason.

I wish we had an archive so you could look up all the sensible solutions that have been covered on this topic for the past year.
Be patient. If he is fight an illness or his immune system is compromised or you just gave him a vaccination or he is just emotionally overwrought temporarily it might not go on for long.
Be kind and sympathetic with him. Punishments don't work and they create other problems.
It's hormonal as well since some children cannot stop wetting the bed until puberty no matter how hard they try.
Growth isn't only one way straight up. It goes forward and slides back.
When children are sick they tend to be more immature and then they take a great step forward. It could be the same thing with the bed wetting.
Wash the bedding and either put him in pull-ups or be prepared to change the bed every morning.

With my son I started waking him up in the middle of the night, do this a few times it does work, then they will start getting up and going to the bathroom in the middle of the night on their own, also like someone else said limit the drinking before bed time, if they are really thirsty around that time just give them a little bit of water not alot. That worked for my son good luck.

Kids can go back and forth with the potty training. It isn't always a done deal the first time they are "trained". I would rule out any medical issues, limit the intake of liquids at night and start again the nighttime training. My youngest took three tries to get him potty trained all the way.

I restricted night time drinking, "Can't have any thing to drink after (whatevert time)because you wet the bed." This worked for my little girl.

My mom used to wake me up in the middle of the night to go and that worked for me.

I can't wake up my little girl because she is very mean when she gets woken up. Tantrum city.

And telling them they will have to wear diapers like a baby didn't work for my daughter, because she just agreed and that was not the response that I wanted... no regression move forward :)

I agree,kids do degress. Sometime kids sleep real heavy and dont wake at the urge. I would put him back in pull ups for now till he gets throught his. Some kids will realy try when they know they will have to wear a pullup again.

My son has done this a few times now. He was day potty trained just before he turned 3 and going all night at 3.5. He's now 5 and i'd say maybe 4 times in the past 2 years he's had a 1 week issue with peeing his pants during the day and bed wetting at night. Sometimes 4 times in a day then fine for a couple of days then a bunch of accidents again.
I was really confused the first time, but it seems to be rather normal and they get back on track. I wondered if it was a developmental thing, like there's a stage where they are thinking about it less and figuring out just how much control they have.
I never made a big deal out of, just maybe asked "what happened? did you forget or not want to stop playing?" Recognizing that it happened but not making him feel bad about it, just matter-of-fact.