Naptime and Nighttime Pull-ups

My 3 1/2 year old had been potty trained completely for about 8 months but was still waking up wet until I finally listened to my mother and just put her in panties at night (she no longer takes naps, much to my dismay!) and she stayed dry all night. She did have a few accidents the first week or so, but was dry more often than not. So I would just put him in underwear and see how he does. For some kids they need the physical cue of having regular underwear on when they sleep. And if he still wets at night then go back to the pull-up for awhile. Some kids are 5 or 6 before they are dry at night. It's no big deal either way! Good luck!

Hi J.,

My 5 1/2 yr. old did the same thing. I was worried with him coming up on his 5th b-day and still wearing pull-ups at night. He had been pottied trained since before he turned 3. But I believe it's just a development issue, its nothing they can control. Shortly after my son turned 5, it was like overnight almost, he just stopped needing them. It kind of shocked us, but he hasn't needed one since. I would say just give it time, especially for boys. Yes, there is a small percentage that truly have a medical problem, or you can link it to dairy, but most likely they just need time to mature. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

Good luck,
S.

I have 5 kids, the 3 oldest are potty trained. My third one is 4 years old, has been potty trained for nearly 2 years and still wears a pull-up at night. He rarely wakes up dry. I never had this issue with the first two. In fact, I never even purchased pull-ups for them. He struggles with being "big" and wanting to wear his underwear to bed. We have tried a few times and it typically results in his crying in the middle of the night and a wet bed. We are still willing to let him try a couple of times a month. I don't want to discourage him, but I also don't want the constant disappointment. The doctor has told us not to worry about it. So for the time being, we are just trying to manage his frustration. Good luck!

My oldest wore a pull-up to bed every night (and soaked it) until just before her 4th birthday. (She did stay dry for naps.)

A couple days before her 4th birthday, she told me that she didn't want to wear diapers to bed anymore, so we decided to let her try wearing undies. We spent several months with lots of wet beds and going back and forth from diapers to undies. We also bought two of those mattress protectors that lie on top of the sheet (right under the child's middle) so that we only had to change that and the child's clothes in case of an accident. The rest of the bed stayed dry.

Because my daughter was so insistent about wanting to wear undies to bed and because she was making some progress (wetting fewer and fewer times per week), we let her keep trying. It took a few months before she was consistently dry at night. Even now at age 5 1/2, she's more likely to have an occasional accident at night (once every couple months or so) than her 4-year-old sister.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my story because I'm not sure if wearing underwear to bed made a difference or not, but it was something my daughter wanted to do, and it was a long process, but we worked through it. If your boys are interested, it might be worth trying. If not, they might not be ready yet.

Edited to add that my daughter was consistently staying dry for naps before we quit making her wear a naptime diaper. It was overnight that we had the biggest problem with.

my second son is almost 7 and still wears a pullup at night (he hasn't napped in years-lucky you that they are still napping at this age!) I wet the bed until I was almost 11, and my husband wet the bed until he was 9, so we aren't surprised to see it in our son. We try not to make a big deal out of it, we did go thru a period where we thought taking the pullups away would help-boy were we wrong! The Dr doesn't seem too concerned about it, and it doesn't seem to bother our son too much. The only thing we have done is not let him attend/have sleepovers until he can stay dry all night. Hubby and I both remember the embarrassment of waking up wet in a strange place, and want to avoid that for our son. We just make sure he bathes in the morning so he doesn't go to school stinky. So, obviously, I would suggest you wait until they are physically showing signs of readiness before taking the pullups away, otherwise you will just increase your laundry load and who wants to do that?
Good Luck

The problem with pull up type pants is that kids do not know they are wet. They had the cool alert ones but I had not been able to find them or the store was always sold out so I went to the pant. My ped said that for boys occasional accidents are normal up through age five. I have my son in regular underwear.

If your peditrition says not to worry don't. It will pass say your linen. If you have't done so try gettin him up at least once during the night[bladder training] and stop liquids at 6pm. A little about me I'm a 57 yo Grandmother of 18 and I have 3 grands whom I have adopted. My children are 38,32,26 and twins girls 25.My husband and I enjoy every minute of are children.

I have a twelve year old that still wears pull ups to bed at night. It isn't really anything to worry about. It just takes some kids longer to grow out of it then others. My oldest daughter grew out of it at about 6 my son about 3 and my 5 year old daughter still wears them. It just takes some kids longer is all. Now there are things you can try to do to help like limiting what they drink before nap and bed time but it doesn't work all that well. Hope I've helped, good luck!

D.

Hi J.,
I dealt with this with my youngest son who is now almost 29 yrs old. He wet the bed until he was 10. I flustered over it so terribly for the longest time and I now realize it was very difficult for him. It didnt matter if I had him in normal underpants or a diaper. I tried and tried only for him to wake up (FRUSTRATED) every morning wet. From age 2 he was potty trained and the bedwetting did not stop until I used what helped me and him at age 10. I found a device (to save my soul I cant remember the name of it but I purchased it at a pharmacy) that sits inside the underpants and as soon as the wetness hit it had a alarm that would go off. This woke him up and he would run to the bathroom..He was dry within one week at night. They say that some kids sleep so deeply that the feeling of the urination does not wake them and thats why they wake up wet. I hope that you get some help but I feel that bedwetting at age 5 isnt too awful but if it is still happening in a year or two I would seek help.

Good Luck
K.

same situation here.. she is just starting to be able to keep dry at nap, but not even close at night.

my daughter wakes up soaking wet every single morning but occasionally I will ask if she wants to try to keep her big girl undies dry. It did not work, but we tried.

Don't rush it

My daughter is 3 almost 4 and I had the same problem. I decided to go ahead and just put her in panties. To start with I just did nap time but now its at night too and she does a lot better because she doesn't like the feeling of being wet. The pull ups absorb so much that they don't mind it. She does still have accidents at night every once in a while but never dirty just wet. And when she pees her pants its only because she's rebelling. Even then she doesn't like to sit in her wet panties. I would go ahead and try putting them in underwear and see how they do. It can be frustrating cleaning up the mess sometimes but I think it's the best thing I've done. I also took my old shower curtain and put it underneath the sheet on her bed to protect it when she does have accidents. Just an idea. I wish you the best of luck!

I would not put them in anything but pull-ups until they are waking up dry and not messy. Why on earth would you want to clean up the mess and do the laundry if you don't have to do it?

I know this is frustrating, but I , too, think it will pass.
My oldest (now 8) wore pull-ups for night time until half way through first grade. He was so conscious of it. It was even more frustrating for him than it was for us. He would ask why his younger brother (20 months younger) didn't wet his bed/pull-ups?
We explained that his body just wasn't ready and that it would soon develop. We never showed him any frustration if he tried to go without a pull up and wet the bed....we just waited it out, and soon enough he had the bladder control he needed.
I think our Dr said he wouldn't even be concerned until he was 7...or maybe even a bit older than that!
I also have twins , and can imagine the "double duty" of night time accidents.....give them some more time to physically mature. I bet it will happen before you know it! Good Luck

My son was the same way, potty trained except at night. We went to an urologist to make sure he had nothing wrong and he recommended to us the POtty Pager. They wear it with underwear at bedtime. When it senses wetness it vibrates...waking up the child to finigh in the bathroom. Eventually they stop wetting the bed. My son was completely cured in about a month. YOu can buy these online, just google the name. I paid about $65 about 5 years ago. I have recommended these to a few friends who have also had success.

I've tried it...twice now...for my soon to be 6 year old. I just woke up in the morning with a soaking wet kid that actually sleeps through peeing and then doesn't wake up at all to the wet bed :( I think I could have delt with the getting up and changing the bed and encouraging bathroom use but I can't STAND the the thought of the poor baby sleeping in his own pee and being cold when we can buy pull ups.
I was told to NOT try waking them once they are asleep by my sons ped. This can induce the sleep walking disorder if they are genetically inclined to get it. (BELIEVE ME, my brothers were sleep walkers...having the pee/poop contained to a bed/pullup is MUCH better than waking up each morning and finding your child sleeping in one place and pee in a random closet or in the corner of the stairwell!!! My poor mother--my sister ("small bladder") and I (kidney reflux disorder) were bedwetters til 8, and my brother was a sleep walker!)
Naptime got better...when he went to all day kindergarten and stopped taking them. Actually he was down to about an accident a month at naptime before that.
One of the ladies I work with just had a son turn 9. She said that her night time accidents got better around the age of 8.
As always, keep the ped. updated.

Funny you ask this question...I have just been dealing with it with my son. My son has continued to wake up wet every day that I have put a pull up on him. Well this past Friday we were out of pull ups and I had forgotten until bedtime. I decided let's just try and see and he slept in underwear. Well...he woke up dry Saturday, Sunday and today. I know there will be some accidents along the way, but he told me that pull ups make him pee on himself. I don't know why it is as he would wake up every single day wet with a pull up, but has been dry the past 3 days/nights in underwear. I say TRY IT!!! you may have some accidents and extra laundry along the way, but give it a try and see.

There used to be something called "wee alert" that you would put in the bed and it would alarm when the child started to wet the bed. Most of the kids were very sound sleepers, and this trained them to wake up when they needed to go. Some friends took their son to a doctor, and he prescribed a medication that worked, but it changed the child's personality and made him sad. His mom took him off it and used the wee alert.

I was having trouble daytime training my 3 yr. old, and took him to the doctor, just to make sure everything seemed okay. The doctor looked at him and said, "You need to use the potty for your Mom" and he did it from that day on!