How Long Is 'NORMAL' to Be Using Pull Ups at Night????

Updated on May 21, 2008
L.D. asks from Mount Prospect, IL
17 answers

My son was potty trained at 24 months old (early for a boy!) but now he is 5 and he is still wearing pull ups at night. One night out of seven, his pull up actually leaks because it is so full. I thought this would just happen naturally but I am losing hope. Is there something I should be doing to help this along?
p.s. I tried just to go cold turkey, and he would wake up in the morning soaking wet from head to toe......IT NEVER EVEN WOKE HIM UP!!!
thanks fellow mommies!

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So What Happened?

I just wanted to say thank you for all your responses. I always feel better after I post a question here and hear that I am not alone.

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M.

answers from Chicago on

I know what I am going to say may be painful, but others I know had to set their alarm to wake at night, go in and bring their child to the bathroom. For example, they would put their child down at 8pm and go in at midnight or 1am and bring them to the bathroom. This one middle of the night trip to the bathroom kept them from being wet in the morning. Eventually, they will wake at whatever time they need to and go themselves. My daughter didn't need this, but many mothers of boys specifically had to do this method.

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T.N.

answers from Chicago on

What we did with my son, besides stopping liquids around 6-7 pm, was to take him to the toilet before we went to sleep, around 11 pm. He wouldn't wake up, so he would pee in his sleep and then continue sleeping in bed. We did that for a couple of months, and it must have helped, because soon enough he stopped peeing at night. Good luck!

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J.

answers from Chicago on

My son is 7.5 and still wearing pull ups at night. From what I've read, it starts to fall into the abnormal category sometime around age 5 or 6. But it's not that unusual for it to last until age 8 or longer. But it doesn't mean anything else is wrong - they just haven't matured in that area.

My kid also sleeps through anything, and if I try to wake him (to get him in the habit of going at night) he doesn't really wake up - he sort of sleepwalks. He has a cousin who is 10 and still wets at night. (nocturnal enuresis can be inherited, although my husband and I did not have it.) We are thinking of buying one of those systems that has an alarm when they start to wet. I wanted to last year and my son objected so we agreed to wait a while.

1 mom found this helpful
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T.H.

answers from Terre Haute on

I am in the same boat I have a 5 yr old daughter that is still wearing a pull up at night. She has a few good nights and then we have our bad nights. She is a very heavy sleeper also she does not realize that she has wet in the pull up until the morning when she takes it off. So I just keep her in them because I don't want to ruin the mattress because of her accidents. I am okay with my daughter with using one "only" at night time. and as soon as she wakes in the morning she is to take it off. She also knows that she gets nothing to drink 2 hours before bed time. We are starting a new thing. If she goes a week with not having an accident in her pull-up we have a "party" we can bake home made cookies or a cake and have some ice cream with that. She has done really well!!! we only have 2 more days and it will be a total of 7 days with out an accident. So maybe the reward is what is helping her. Hey if it works it is worth a try.
Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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T.M.

answers from Terre Haute on

Ask the doc about desmopressin. My son used it. After he was on it for about 2 months, we stopped it and he hasn't wet the bed since. He's 9yrs. old and doing great. The desmopressin is just a small pill they take before bed. It is smooth and my son didn't have any trouble taking it. If I remember correctly it was rather inexpensive and insurance covered it. Sure beats buying pull ups forever. Good luck. Shannon G.

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C.K.

answers from South Bend on

NORMAL? There is No such thing with potty training and bed wetting and you should never compare children. My oldest daughter wet the bed until she was seven. But not on a regular basis\. I found turning off the drinking about an hour before bed helps. Also get the child up to use the bathroom when you go to bed or about 3 hours after going to sleep. May keep the bed a little dryer.

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D.S.

answers from Chicago on

Have you tried eliminating liquids after dinner time? That may help. How about offering him an incentive if he stays dry?

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A.P.

answers from Chicago on

My 5 year old daughter is still using pull ups at night also. Most nights she has peed in them. I think she is also just sleeping so soundly, she doesn't know she is doing it. (Or I guess she could just be not going to the bathroom out of easiness...) I have a friend who's 10 year old son is still needing pull ups! Her doctor told her everything is normal and not to worry. But I have seen other moms on here writing about some kind of medicine that has helped their kid stop wetting the bed.

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J.L.

answers from South Bend on

My son will be six in March and still sleeps in Pull-Ups. My daughter didn't stay dry through the night until she was 5 1/2, so I'm not too concerned about it and don't pressure him or wake him up during the night--I don't want to stress him about it. Some boys just take longer for their bladders to mature to that point as they grow faster than the system can keep up with.

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J.F.

answers from Fort Wayne on

Bed wetting seems to run in my family. My brother was 12 or 13 years old b4 he completely quit, his daughters were about 5 yrs old and his son was about 8 yrs. I was 6 yrs and so was my oldest daughter, my youngest was out of diapers by 15 mons and has never had a bed wetting issue.
I have heard but do not know its truth that boys tend to wet more than girls and for longer periods than girls.
With that said, what you're experiencing is pretty common. My daughter and I just grew out of it.

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J.S.

answers from Chicago on

Us too! 5 year old girl. Wet every night except if she gets to stay up late as on Christmas or something. That's the only time she makes it through the night dry (maybe only 10 hours of sleep as opposed to almost 12). Pediatrician said to do nothing about it, keep using pull ups, and then we'd discuss it at 6 year check up. So I am not really too worried. My 2 year old was dry at night when first potty trained and now falls into the same wet at night category. I wonder if I could've prevented that. Oh, well. Good luck. Sounds like a common topic.

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J.E.

answers from Chicago on

I agree. Pull ups are still diapers. They need to wet the bed at least once to trigger that little sensor in the brain that wakes us all up when we need to go to the bathroom at night. I used to bring my daughter to the bathroom right before I went to bed (which was about 3 hours after she went to bed). She would be half asleep, but I would sit her down & she'd go. That helped her get through the night.

Good luck! I'm about to go through potty training with my 2 year old (the 3rd and final child!)

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S.H.

answers from Indianapolis on

My son is 5 and he too is still using pull ups and will not wake up if we let him try to go without. And he too was potty trained when he was two.
Most often the reason is that a child is a heavy sleeper. I know my son is taking allergy medicine at night that makes him drowsy.
We tried bribing him but he just doesn't wake up.
We went from pullups to goodnights and they keep his bed dry most of the time.
I have not tried it but someone suggested that waking him up halfway the night might be helpful.
What is normal? I have no idea. All kids are so different.

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L.R.

answers from Chicago on

Relax. I had one who was still occasionally wetting the bed at night until almost age 12. Perfectly normal in every other respect, except that ever since she was little, when she had to go to the bathroom she wasn't kidding - she meant immediately! The dr said it was an immature bladder and she would outgrow it and she did. I'm not saying it wasn't annoying, but no medical intervention was needed.

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A.A.

answers from Chicago on

NO Advice, in the same boat. I have heard (as others have posted) that it is normal to still wet the bed and that even if you wake them up at night to potty, they aren't really awake, so it's not teaching them. Bribing doesn't work because they are sound sleepers. We just deal with buying pull ups and just like you it seems 1 time a week the bed is wet. She'll be 6 in April. Our ped said it's heriditary - so I blame my husband's side since we weren't delayed in that area growing up. LOL!
Good luck!

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J.M.

answers from Terre Haute on

Get rid of the pull ups. Don't let him drink anything after
supper until bedtime. Make sure he goes potty before he goes
to bed. Get a calendar. Keep track of nights he stays dry -
week - 10 days (whatever time). At the end of that time, he
gets a special reward. Praise him every night he does stay
dry.if this doesn't work, talk to his dr. About it. It could
be a medical problem.

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M.S.

answers from Chicago on

Hi Lynn,

All kids are different. Ask a pediatric urologist and they can probably give you techniques to try.

Best of luck!!!

M.

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