Staying Dry Through the Night - Stamford, CT

I have raised my two girls and helped with my granddaughter and grandson. my sister is raising 3 boys and my mom raised 3 girls. there has been a bedwetter in every group. i would not worry about it, they all seem to grow out of it, honestly it is worth it to buy the pull ups, and let both of you sleep through the night. my uncle wet the bed till he was a young adult, my sister until she was in her early teens, my daughter until she was 8 or 9, my nephew is now 7 and still does, my grandchildren still have accidents. they are 4 and 5. all of these that have since outgrown it are well adjusted adults, and the little ones, when we focus on the problem, they get worried about wetting, they wake up crying in the night if they have to go, makes it traumatic. we just praise them when they are dry and go forward. sometimes it is what we eat that day versus what we drink. tea, celery, cucumbers, and the list goes on are like diaretics. they make you pee. just like beans make you toot. some children get cold and pee, some children have bad dreams and don't remember the dreams. i save myself the agrivation, buy the pullups and sleep well. Food for thought. T.

Hi S.!
I was in the same situation when my daughter was the same age. The doctor told me that because of her deep sleep, she was unable to wake herself up until it was too late. I wound up making her cut off time for drinking at 6 pm. Her bedtime was approximately 7:30, and by that time, she was usually able to empty her bladder completely before going to bed. If she was very thirsty, I'd let her have a sip of water only because it doesn't have to be digested, so it goes through your system faster. Good luck....it will improve with time.
L.

First I would not make her change the sheets. Its not her fault. I would try to wake her one more time at night before you go to bed. She may be half asleep but she'll go potty. A great book is (Getting to Dry, by Maizels, Rosenbaum, and Keating). A friend once told me if there wasn't a market there wouldn't be pull ups. There are millions of American families with this problem. Our pediatrician said that 75% of the time it is an underdeveloped bladder. Good Luck.

Mom,

I would suggest rubber pants for the nights, with 2 prefold cloth diapers inserted inside to absorb the pee,

She just needs more time, don't argue dont' chart,
don't get angry.

and when she is dry good, if not toss everything into the washer. Nothing wrong with that.

My son is 11 and ON occasion has an accident, but up til he was about 8 he had one every NIGHT.

Doctor said he had a small bladder AND slept too hard.

What works for hard sleepers, is putting them to bed earlier,
no later than 8 pm 830 MAX,

Thne wake then at 12 30 Am to pee by setting a ALARM for your self as a reminder

Bring her to the potty, and then go back to bed.

this is the only way until she is older.

M

Some kids need extra help training their bodies to wake up when they feel the urge to pee. You have to wake her up every night before you go to bed, and take her to the bathroom. You may even have to do it twice a night. Be consistent and she'll eventually get used to waking up. Also, don't just limit her drinks, stop them. Nothing to drink once dinner is over. If she absolutely insists she's thirsty, you put only a sip in a cup and hand it to her. Don't give her the opportunity to cheat and drink more. Kids don't understand the consequences. Good luck!

Definitely get her to a doctor or consult a chiropractor. My mom had this problem with me, bedwetting going on forever, turns out i had a pinched nerve right above my bladder and couldn't control it while i was sleeping.

Our Dr recommended a bedwetting alarm for our daughter. She was 5 at the time and is a very heavy sleeper. The one we used was made by company called Malem. You clip a sensor to the out side of the panties. Any moisture sets off the alarm. It's very loud and not a fun way to wake up but it works! It's training the brain to associate a full bladder with waking up. It took less than week with our daughter.

Good luck

The wetting in the bed is a very old problem. Children and adults who are vivid dreamers are the most likely to wet the bed. They cannot always distinquish between the dream they are in and what is happening in the real world. They are also, usually very sound sleepers. Have you noticed if when she does not wet the bed, if she exhibit signs of not sleeping well? Usually because of the soundness of their sleeping and or their vivid dreaming, they are not receiving the signal that their bladder is full.

When my son had this problem, I never made a fuss about it, because I did not believe there was anything he could do about it. To help him out, I would wake him late at night and have him go to the bathroom, which helped.

My 4yr old daughter is having the same problem. She is just a really sound sleeper. That might be all it is with your little girl too. We still use pullups at night because it's easier on everyone. If she is still using / frequently having wet pullups by her next scheduled Doctors appointment I would bring it up but otherwise I wouldn't worry. She will most likely grow out of it soon.

The only advise that i can give you is no drinking at least 2 hours b/4 she goes to sleep and make sure she goes b/4 she goes to sleep

S., try not to give her anything to drink after she had her dinner. That's what I did with my son at her age he has just turn 7 on 3/3/08. Once I give him dinner I will not give him any liquids after that time and I'll make sure he uses the bathroom before bedtime and it works out pretty good for me. Whenever I'm home with him I use to put him in underwear so that when he wants to go it makes it easy for him and it works out great. Try this way and see how it works.

Good luck,

R. M.

Hi, My daughter had a time were she would sleep so soundly that she would have accidents . I would get her up before I was going to bed and take her to the bathroom. . She would not really wake up but would go on the pot. I would put her back to bed and that helped her to stay dry. She did out grow it. Could you use pull ups until she is staying dry at night? Some children and even adults sleep so soundly that it causes them to have trouble staying dry at night. GHood luck and God bless, K.-- My daughter is now a mother of 3 beautiful children.

This is something that I do with my kids. Before they go to bed, I make sure that they go potty. I also dont allow them to have more than a sip of a drink before bed. This helped my 2. You can also try the night-time pull-ups. They feel like underwear when they are put on. This might help as well. It also keeps the sheets dry even if she does have an accident. Hope that helps.

-V.

Hello, my son would wet the bed twice a night,for six months until I realize he had too much to drink before bed.I taught him, 1.) he was not to drink anything an hour before bed, 2.) he used the bathroom before bed, 3.)And I would wake up four hours after he went to bed every night for one month,I made him use the bathroom even if he is too tired. I made that effort and it worked for us. Guess what? after the month my son would get up in the middle of the night on his own to use the potty.

BEST OF LUCK, HOPE IT WORKS FOR YOUR FAMILY.

She may not be ready to make it thru the nite and stay dry.
I definitely wouldn't push her or punish her for this. It will come with time. I would put her in a pull up or maybe even try a cloth training pant. My first DD took much longer to be dry at nite than my second. Might just be that her bladder is smaller or she just isn't developmentally ready. Good Luck!

C.
Mommy to Jessie, Katie and Julia
www.TimetoChangetheDiapers.com
Adorable, affordable cloth diapers and reusable items for babies, kids and Moms!

Changing sheets is the worst! I put my little girl in pull-ups just for nighttime. Once she matured enough that she wasn't wetting every night, we then let her leave them off. She actually wet early this morning, the first time in a couple weeks. The pull-up route worked well. That way she's not in "diapers" (in her mind) but you don't have to always be changing sheets when she wets. I'm not sure that i'd go to the doctor this early tho. If she was six and still wetting then probably. She's still maturing. I don't think that they have alot of control when they're sleeping, so i don't know how much reinforcing her during the day is going to help. If she's a sound sleeper like most children, she just can't think through the process of getting up and going to the toilet. Put on the pull-ups and don't stress about it, either to her or yourself. It'll come as she gets older.

Be careful how much pressure you are putting on her. When I was around 25 years old I went to visit my great aunt several states away from home. She was so happy that I was there and insisted we sleep together in her large bed. During the night I woke up to find myself peeing my pants. I was mortified and was able to hide it because I woke before any was on the bed. I stopped drinking anything after our supper. Nothing seemed to make a difference. Every night it was the same. I went to bed each night so stressed. When I went home the problem was gone. the only explanation I can figure is stress. I have watched a little girl so soundly asleep that she made a large puddle where she had fallen asleep. It was not laziness at all, she had no choice what her body would do in her sleep. Like telling a child not to sleep walk. When one of my nieces spent time with us she told me of her problem (11 yrs old) I bought some "night time undies" for her. Showed her where they were and what to do with them in the morning. Her problem was not made public with even her sister who would tease her. I am sure she slept better not having to worry each night. Hope it helps.
ps If a child sleeps dry consistently and then begins to wet the bed out of nowhere, it can be a sign of UTI.

Hi S.-
There will come a day when she'll be dry at night but until then, don't worry about it. My little girl is 5 1/2 and just two months ago was able to wear underwear to bed and stay dry.
You can help your daughter down this road by having her take a big drink of water three hours before bed and nothing after that. We used the "dry fairy" who would leave a small- think 25 cents- present for being dry. There would be no penalty for being wet. Just, I know the dry fairy will come tomorrow night! We let her wear underwear to bed with a pull-up over it. This way you can reuse the dry pull-ups. Have her use the bathroom RIGHT BEFORE going to bed.
All you can do is gently encourage her and wait for her body to be ready. I NEVER woke my girl up to go in the middle of the night. I know some people do but I believe the night is for sleeping and keeping good sleeping habits going is important. When her body is ready, you'll see a big change. Good luck.

J.

Don't worry about it. That is what Pull-Ups are for. When she can stay dry she will. My daughter is five (she and many of her friends in preschool still wear/wore them)and just about four months ago started waking up in the middle of the night to go potty by herself. She has been dry since. Some children just sleep to hard to wake up and others really can hold it all night.

Take the pressure off of both of you...you'll both feel better.

Some kids just can't stay dry until their body is more mature. I would not worry until age six or seven.

I have a three year old daughter and she is also potty trained except for the night. I do not give her anything to drink after dinner, which is around 6 pm and I make her go to the bathroom a couple times before she goes to bed at 8:30. It does not work, she still has almost a full diaper. I talked to the doctor and he said not to worry about it until she is 6 or 7. I was a bed wetter when i was young and so was my dad. I think it just runs in our family!!! I have a 7 year old son who was potty trained through the night at 2 1/2. So my advice to you is to put a pull up on her at night and wait it out. My nephew wore a pull up until he was almost 6 and now he is fine. Hope this helps!

My daughter is also 4 and is in pullups at night(peeing out quick frequently). She tries her best, but she gets into these really deep sleeps(I can almost tell when she will pee out completely if she has had a really active/tiring day). She just isn't fully capable of waking up to pee at night, right now.(we have also limited drinking, etc). I know it can be hereditary(I had to wear one of those beeper things that alerts you to being wet when I was 6 years old, and my husband and almost all of his 6 siblings had problems for a long time-in fact my hubby will even leak a little when he has pulled several all nighters and is exhausted-good ole' NY lawyer hours...). I hope this helps. I know that 4 years old isn't early enough to really be concerned. I would just say to not get mad at her, since I doubt she's doing it on purpose.

Hang in. Some kids just go into a deep sleep and just
do not realize what they are doing. She will not get
married wetting the bed. Just be patient with her. Good
luck.

Hi S. K I am a mother of a beautiful 4 year old daughter as well. She has been fully potty-trained since the age of 2 and a half but sometimes she still continued to wet her bed.

After different approaches I tried no liquid after a certain time, take her to the bathroom just before bedtime and then at least once in the middle of the night.

It has worked for me so far. I don't have trouble with her going back to sleep cause she drops back off when she hits the bed. I hope this will be a little help.

Hi S.,

There is no need for a doctor despite some of the other advice you have gotten. She is THREE years old. She is not bedwetting. She is simply not dry at night yet. Incentives will simply not work. She isn't peeing the bed on purpose. Her bladder is not yet mature enough to hold urine all night. A 3 year old in a diaper at night is not a terrible thing. Doctors won't treat "bedwetting" til age 6. Why keep her in underwear at night when she isn't ready? It's not going to do anything but make you have to wake up and resheet the bed, etc - much easier to have a wet diaper cleanup in the morning. The ideal night "training" is not to wake up to pee, but for the bladder to mature to the point that it doesn't need to empty during the night.

Can you relax + take it easy on her? She's only 4. Some kids have bed wetting problems into their tweens....

Don't act so upset when she does wet the bed....you may be giving her more of a Psychological complex that will only cause more problems later in this area.

How about just put her in a PULL UP or something for the nights that she can't make it the whole night (or every night until she does go dry through the night)?

How do you think she can control this if she is peeing in her sleep?

You can try cutting down on the drinking. You can try getting her up to go to the bathroom when you go to bed. Neither of these will teach your daughter how to wake herself up to go to the bathroom during the night, but may prevent changing sheets in the middle of the night.

My younger daughter also day potty trained very young but could not stay dry through the night. Our pediatrician told us that physiologically she just could not stay dry -- her bladder was too small, she slept too soundly. She wears a pull-up to bed. We reward her when she stays dry, but we decided not to stress out too much about it. She'll get there eventually.

With both of my daughters we would wake them up at 11 pm everynight before my husband and I went to bed. They would be half asleep, but we would put them on the toilet, they would pee, and then stay dry the rest of the night. We did this until they were about 4 1/2. It worked well for them, but not all kids. We have tried it with our son now, and he's either wet by the time we get to him, or just stand there and can't pee and is wet later in the night. Some kids just take longer for mnighttime training. Their bladder needs to be able to hold more than during the day, and some kids are in too deep a sleep to wake up. Me neice who is 10 still has problems with this. Good Luck!

I feel for you and your sleeping! I would suggest putting her in Overnights or pull-ups that fit until she is dry all the time. Why change and clean sheets every night? Take the pressure off, forget the charts, and just matter-of-factly say that when she is dry through the night, you can go back to underpants. Some children have bladders that are not capable of going through the night, and it resolves when they get a little older. I know plenty of 8 year olds who need training pants or for their moms to wake them up once through the night to put them on the potty. Also, ask your pediatrician how common it is. It won't last forever!

get a mattress cover, at least then the bed won't stink! that's what we do, my daughter won't wear pull ups at night and i don't want to confuse her by making her-she's little and night time is still such a vulnerable time for her, sometimes she just pees and that's okay, you know?

You should probably talk to ur pedatrician, it might be bedwetting if she has been potty trained for some time and nothing wrong. Try and chart what kinds of things are happening on the days she is wetting as opposed to the days she's not. For Instance, if it's only happening on days she's at Daycare...maybe something is going on during class and u need to speak to the teacher - just an example.