Still in Pull-ups at Night

Not to worry. She will out grow it on her own. My doctor told me not to worry util age 7. Some children's bladders are not large enough until 7. My daughter wore a night diaper until she was almost 6. She is now 28. A well adjusted successful mother of 1 stepmother to 4.
- J.

I'm not worried, my oldest was in pull-ups at night until about 4-5, my 5 year old is still in pull-ups, wet every night, and my 3 year old is ready to move to regular underwear. All kids are different, but both my husband and myself were bedwetters until about 7 for both. For me I had a milk allergy and when my mom took me to the doctor and found that out, she cut out all milk products and I quit bedwetting. My husband just grew out of it. It could be a problem, or she just needs more time. But don't make a big deal about it, incentives don't work because it isn't her fault and she'll feel bad when she can't make it and get the goodie. Please never make her feel ashamed. My daughter isn't bothered by it because we don't make it a big deal. Just tell her it's okay and move on. Because honestly, it is okay.

Take care!
D.

My daughter wore pullups until she was 14. We tried guilt and incentives. We also tried a medication and an alarm to wake her up in the middle of the night. I finally just let it run it's course. She did not seem to mind, so I let it go. Have your daughter checked out and try all the things the doctor suggests, but then you'll have to just let it go. Good luck!

Hi J.,

My son, who is also 4.5 and has been daytime potty trained since 3, had the same issue. I thought we'd never get him out of a nighttime pull-up because he fully saturated it every night and didn't ever wake up to use the bathroom. Then the other night his dad forgot to put a pull-up on him and he was at my bed at 2am saying he had to go - and he did, in the potty! Since then he's been going pull-up free at night and has only had one accident. That being said, you may just want to go without for one night and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised! Good luck...

Hello J.
Thanks for asking this question, my daughter is 5.5 years old and she too is in pull-ups at night. I understand your frustration. Hang in there, it has to get better.
-R.

Maybe take the pull ups away. If she feels the liquid in her bed and on her body, she might not like it and she will either begin waking up or hold it all night. Just an idea.

Hi J.,
First of all, I wouldn't worry about the age thing. I have a 4 year old who is completely potty trained day and night, and just the other night she had an accident for the first time in ages. The timing is different for every child and 4 1/2 years is not an unreasonable age to still be needing pull-ups at night. However, I would focus on why she is urinating so frequently day and night. The two things that come to my mind are some time of urinary issue that a urologist would have to diagnose, and the other is juvenile diabetes, which causes frequent urination and excessive thirst, among other things. So I would have her checked for those things. If those are clear, then it's just a waiting game. I would wake my children up 2-3 times through the night to pee while I was potty training them and that helped. Good luck to you and I hope everything is okay with your precious girl.

I would take her to the Doc. for a check up. If she is going every 45 min. she more than likely has some kind of urinary block or something is going on. At 4.5 years of age she should not be going every 45 min. Once you solve why she is going so often, then she will be able to make it through the night. If she truly goes this often during the day, then there is no way she can make it through the night. She needs checked by a good urologist.
L.

I'm not a specialist, but it sure seems odd she needs to urinate so frequently ... unless she's just drinking A LOT all the time. Have you ever thought to see a child urologist? Other than that, kids mature at different stages, both emotionally and physically. It's not that big a deal at her age that she's still not dry at night, but ... it may become one as she gets older. I would first make sure she doesn't have any physical problem causing this, then move on from there. Good luck.

You have a lot of advice here but I just wanted to add that my son is 6 and still in pull-ups. He will even pees enough to wet thru the pull up. We have been to a urologist and talked with his pediatrician and they both say there is nothing to worry about. Sometimes their bladders take a little longer to develop than the rest of thier bodies. As they mature and groe so will their bladder. Try not to worry about it.

Most children who don't wet the bed at night have the ability to hold it all night or else they get up and use the bathroom. So it makes sense that a child who is unable to hold it all night MUST be potty trained for nighttime. Following are instructions on what worked with my oldest when he was about this age...he was a heavy sleeper:

At bedtime, have her lay down in the dark with all bathroom and hallway lights off just as if it is the middle of the night. Ask her to pretend to be asleep and then think about how she feels when she needs to go during the day and pretend she is having that feeling while she is pretending to sleep. Ask her what she does when she feels the urge during the day and have her practice "waking up", going into the bathroom, pulling her pants/panties down, sitting on the potty, pretending to go and then dressing, flushing and getting back to bed. Have her do this visualization and practice routine 5-6 times in the evening at bedtime. Within a week or two she will probably be getting up in the middle of the night to go and most likely will not even recall doing it. My son, now 14 still "sleepwalks" to the bathroom to use the toilet in the middle of the night. I read about and tried this technique right before we tried the sheet alarm or putting him back in diapers...no pull ups at the time.

I hope it works as well for you. Good luck!

It sounds like she needs to increase the holding capacity of her bladder. Try www.nobedwetting.com

L.

i would suggest you take her to the doctor and make sure she isnt diabetic. going to the bathroom every 45 minutes is not normal. like the others said, it could be she has a underdeveloped or just plain small bladder, but it could be an indication of something else. i strongly believe in "better safe than sorry" and as i only have one child, i take him to the doctor whenever something is amiss. poor kid !! good luck!!

My daughter worn her diaper at night till 5-1/2! She was potty trained in the day time since she was 3-1/2, but for night time, she always need a diaper, and almost everymorning, they were wet. At one time she was staying dry for a week, but then started wetting the bed or diaper again. I stopped fighting over that just gave her the diaper. One day she started waking up at night to go to the bahtroom, and she told me she don't need thme anymore. And her we are now, 6 months later, not a single time she has a wet bed!
I think it just a matter of time for them to grow out of it. As for the day time 45 mins bathroom run, I am not sure about that, my kids don't go to bathroom that often.

Hi J.

I just wanted to relay my experience to you since I was exactly where you are one year ago. My daughter wore pull-ups until a few months ago (she just turned 5-1/2). She is the oldest of 3. My son, who is 18 months younger than her has always been able to hold it longer, and was out of nighttime pull-ups before she was. We tried limiting water intake in the evening, but it didn't make a difference. Here's how the progression worked for us...at age 4-1/2 I started waking her up around 10pm to pee (many times she had already wet at this point) then she would typically still be wet again in the morning. Around age 5, I was able to go in sometime between 10-midnight and have her go, and she began waking up dry. Then, just recently, I realized that I no longer have to go in for that nighttime pee ~ she does not wake up on her own, but apparently her body has caught up and she has the bladder control to hold it all night now. I am so relieved, as I was prepared for this pull-up thing to go on for years.

Hang in there, and know that this is completely normal and when their bodies do mature it can happen very quickly (in a matter of months for us).
Good luck!

Your poor daughter - what a pain! I had 4th grade girl in my daycare who had to urinate every half hour os so - I cannot imagine that being too much fun at school. I believe she had a problem with her bladder - I don't recall, but i think it was that her bladder was just too small. definitely check out what her pediatrician has to say.

Take care,
S.

Th pull-ups/ bed wetting sound completely normal to me, but I would be concerned about the going every 45 minutes during the day. That seems extreme! My son is 5 and pees every 2-3 hours depending on how much he is drinking. I think I would ask to see a urologist to rule out anatomical problems and/or development issues (physical development) and illness. Was she a preemie? Maybe her mentality is there, but the bladder size and muscle control are lagging? I am sure that the incentives won't help her through the night: she isn't doing it willfully. Best wishes for your search for answers! I hope it's nothing serious.

J.,
My daughter is 4 1/2 also and still wears underjams to bed. I did try to wake her up at night to go and that was miserable. I would have to fight her to get up and go to the bathroom, she would be kicking and screaming and then I'd have to fight her for about an hour afterwards to get her to go back to sleep. It wasn't doing either one of us any good. Often times when she is sleeping she will kick and thrash around like she is fighting the blankets. At her last appointment I mentioned this and was told that those are classic symptoms of night terrors. She is such a deep sleeper that it isn't enough to wake her up, but it does cause her to release her bladder. He informed me that it is hereditary and someone on either side of our family probably had the same issue in the past. That is when my mom told me she wet the bed until she was 8. He also said that she will outgrow it, but in one case the child was 16 before that happened. He said not to let anyone make me feel bad about her wearing underjams at night and to not make her feel bad about it. Since she has no control over it, I don't agree with just letting her wet the bed and lay in it in the hopes that she will stop, it's not something she is choosing to do.
Good Luck!

Hi J., my daughter is almost 6 and still wears a pull-up to bed. I had started to try and night train her (waking her up every 2-3 hours to take her to the bathroom) when my husband found an article online about this. You'll want to ask her pediatrician to be sure but apparently there's a hormone that develops at different ages for different kids. Once they develop this hormone, their body will be able to either wake up to go to the bathroom or hold it through the night. Different kids get them at different ages and you just have to wait it out.

I figure as long as it's not bothering her and nobody is teasing her about it there's no reason to rush it. Eventually she'll be ready.

Hang in there!
S.

I was reading this and it sounded just like my daughter. right down to the same age. We just went to the doctor(her 4 year check up little late) and they said not to be concerned she is still young. I have read about the hormone having to be developed and it makes since. Also we put her to bed one night with out a pull-up (totally by accident) and she went pee and slept the whole night. So it didn't seem to bug her that she was sleeping in pee. We have tried to wake her and pee that was impossible she fought it i couldn't even get her pajamas off. At this point I think it will just happen when it happens

My advice is to take her to a urologist to find out if there is a physical problem. If it is - no training or rewards are going to help. My daugher was finally correctly diagnosed after years of daytime wetting and night time wet diapers. It was such a relief to get the medicine. It worked from the first dose and the maturing of the function will still happen at the same time as without medicine. The problem is the amount of a certain hormone and if your daughter has that, there is nothing she or you can do about it, so give yourselves the peace of mind to find out what is really going on. It will save you so much frustration, embaressment, laundry and so forth. I hope you find you answers.
C.

Hi! I would encourage you to call your pediatrician or read a little online. My son was 6 when he finally made it through the night, and while it is more common for boys to develop nightine bladder control more slowly, it can be the case for any child. Particularly if you see that she goes often during the day it is most likely bladder size and development and not something she has control over or chooses. Try to be patient and to give her a few more months. We finally decided to use an alarm, but feel strongly that it only worked because he was ready. Please check with a Dr. First to make sure there are no other issues. She probably just needs to grow a little more. I know you want to be rid of the pull-ups, but she isn't doing it on purpose!