Overnight Potty Trainging Help Needed

My daughter still wet the bed up until a few years ago (she's ten now). I also had the same problem, and still to this day sometimes don't wake until the last minute. It can make sleep over parties non accessible, but I wouldn't really worry about it. Like my eldest (and me) she'll outgrow it eventually.

J., if you are in the greater portland area, consider contacting Kathryn Malone, wholistic pediatric nurse practitioner at True North. ###-###-#### or ###-###-####

I know you are looking for help and am sorry to have to say this, but some kids just need more time. My daughter is 9 1/2 and just this past summer she stopped wetting the bed. When she did stop, it was very sudden. A few days in a row dry and boom, done, just like that. I tried all the same things as you, even tried medication and had tests run to make sure her bladder and kidneys were okay, she just slept too soundly. We took the pull ups off hoping she'd wake up and get tired of it, after a week of being up 3-5 times a night we all decided it was best to go back to pull ups. Be patient, she'll get it eventually.

Hi,
I have a daughter who will be 5 in Jan. She still wears pull-ups to bed, but it is only for her peace of mind and she knows she can wear undies anytime she wants. The trick to waking up dry was this: we put her piggy bank next to her bed and every morning she woke up dry she received a quarter...we had tried the whole no drinks after 7pm and found that this little incentive worked wonders. I also said that she could continue wearing the pull-ups...so there was no pressure. And, she can make the choice when she wears undies to bed. Having that little bit of control over the situation seems to work for her. Ideally, I'd like her to wear undies because it would be cheaper - but she'll get there soon. Anyways, the quarter in the bank worked wonders and I no longer have a spare change jar b/c she is consistently dry!!!

J., I wouldn't worry too much about this. Have you talked to your pediatrician about it? I have a neice who was about 9 years old before she was dry through the night. Her pediatrician told her mom that some children are very sound sleepers and do not feel the sensation of needing to go and don't even realize it until they wake up in the morning. Of course it can be difficult when they want to start having sleepovers. But it all worked out for my neice...she handled it very well. Hope this helps.

Hi J.!
I think this is much more common than you realize. I have a 6 year old and a 12 year old (both boys) that still have some issues with this. It is because they are such deep sleepers, that they do not even realize it is happening. I would just have her checked by your doctor to be sure it is not something more.

I have heard of people waking their kids to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I'm not sure if its effective or not, but its an idea.

Hi J., my son who is now 9 has woken up dry a handfull of times in his whole life. We've tried everything including limiting liquids, waking him up (very very hard to do), taking off the pullups and even letting him sleep naked (to feel when he's wet) nothing worked. So we're waiting it out. We just give a lot of praise when he does wake up dry. Your daughter will eventually grow out of it, probably sooner rather than later, seems boys take a bit longer.

J.:

I am glad you brought this issue up and all of the responses you have received has been helpful to me too. I, too, have a 5-year old boy who wets his bed most nights. At the beginning, after he was fully potty trained during the day, he stayed dry at night for about 3 months. Then it became very consistent. And my husband and I tried waking him up in the middle of the night to take him to the bathroom. But then we were all tired the next day. He is a deep sleeper and only twice has he gotten up to go to the bathroom. I have talked to my pediatrician about it and she was not worried about it. In the morning when he is dry I do acknowledge him for it and in the evenings we try to limit the amount he drinks after dinner, though that was very hard in the summer. I guess we just try to wait it out. I am sure he won't be going to college in pull-ups...at least I hope not.

first, she may not be ready to be overnight trained.. my 9 yr old still isn't.. you can try taking the pull ups off at night and see if peeing the bed is enough for her to wake up at night.. or she may be a deep sleeper and it won't matter if she pees or not.. every kid is different. Try stopping drinks earlier, like 5 pm.. I know that's hard with your schedule, but she does need to stop earlier.. also, you can try waking her up when you go to bed and making her go. or you can just wait it out. If her bladder isn't ready then everything you do is for nothing since she isn't ready to do it yet.

Dear J.,
The first and most important thing to know is that you are not alone, and at five years old, your daughter isn't either. Look at the statistics and you'll find that about 3 of every 10 kids at age 7 still wet at night. I have a 10 year old son who still wets every night. It's very frustrating. I have tried many many many different techniques. Truth is, the only one that's really worked for us is a wetting alarm. My son has used it several times with great success. (and you're saying, "so why does he still wet the bed? - long story). The alarm sounds at the slightest drop of wetness, and it sounds loudly. It wakes up the parents, which is key. The kids often don't wake up, but the parents do. When it sounds, the kid has to turn it off (which takes some alertness), get out of bed, go to the bathroom, put the alarm back on, and get back to bed. It's training. The body learns fairly quickly that at that sensation of having to pee, they need to get up. They can be a bit expensive. Expect to spend $100 (I know - seems like a lot). It's really worth it.
My daughter used this too, even though she really didn't wet her bed into later years, and it worked perfectly. She was trained in about 7 days. My son, well, we're still working on that one. He has had great success with the alarm. Trained in 14 days or so, and then dry for about a year at a time. Then something will change (season, new school, etc) and it starts up again. But, that's another story...
Good luck!

Don't worry. My daughter is 51/2 and she just started sleeping all night and staying dry. I used pull-ups, water-proof pads on the bottom sheet, limiting liquid intake, etc.... Nothing seemed to work until I ran out of pull-ups and all my water-proof pads were wet in the laundry. I told her she was just going to have to try and not wet the bed. That was all it took. She hasn't wet the bed since. That was 3 months ago. So far so good. I did the same thing with my son.(now 7 years) It took him 2 weeks before he was dry every night, but he did it. I just had to stop using pads and pull-ups. My daughter figured if she had a pad or pull-up on it didn't matter if she wet herself. Looking back, I wish I had done it sooner. It's worth the extra laundry. Good Luck!

HI J., my son will be five in june and I take him to pee evry night about 10-11pm so that he will wake up dry. I also tried stopping liquids it did not help. He has a plastic matress cover under his sheets w/ a set of clean sheets under that. We r dry on the nights i can stay awake to take him pee. And sometimes he will wake around 1am to use the bathroom by himself. I aslo noticed if he has not had a bowel movement in a few days this seems to make the accidents more frequent. SO it helps if they go daily or every other day. good luck@

I used to be a camp cousler for a resident camp. Any of the girls who had a history of bed wetting we would wake up around midnight and have them go to the bathroom. It normally worked well for them. Not sure if you could wake her up before you go to bed or maybe try to feed her dinner earlier so her body had a chance to digest before she goes to bed.

you don't need to worry both of my kids both 8 and 5 are still in pull ups at night. My daughter did go through a phase where she was in underwear but had to go back to pull ups can only wash the sheets so many times. Their doctor said the bladder is the last organ to mature it is perfectley fine. At her 7 year old check up I did bring it up to the Dr. and they said it is not abnormal. Maybe you could ask your dr. if you are concerned

If you can wake her up about 3 hours after she goes to sleep at night and take her potty then that should help. We have 10 children and out of the 10 only 2 had this problem and that is what we had to do and it worked.

When I was concerned that my 5 year old daughter was still wetting through the night, my Dr. told me I shouldn't be concerned at all until she is 6. She said that some kids bladders just aren't as mature, and still need time to work on holding the urine for so long. You could try waking her 2 or 3 times a night and putting her on the toilet, although this makes for a tired grouchy little girl, and doens't necessarily work. If her body isn't ready, there's nothing you can do to make it ready. I would say, Don't sweat it! Good luck.

Don't fret about this, and just let her keep wearing the pull-ups. My daughter also trained herself during the day (at 18 months!), but continued to wet every night -- until she aged out of this problem naturally at six. I fretted and bugged her about bedtime drinks, and tried not to, and got increasingly frustrated -- until I found this book: Getting to Dry: How to Help Your Child Overcome Bedwetting (Paperback)
by Max Maizels. The author makes it clear that at this age, it is truly a matter of their bladders not having matured yet; controlling her fluid intake is almost irrelevant, because she will still have SOME amount in her bladder, and her body simply hasn't reached the stage where she can control it when she's asleep. There is NOTHING a child in this situation can do about it re. training, so just back off. If the problem persists after a certain age, or if she starts to feel self-conscious about it later (re. sleeping over at a friend's house, etc.), then the author offers some very useful practical strategies. Good luck!