4 1/2 Year Old Daughter Still Wearing Pull-ups to Bed.

I used a "peepee alarm" when my son was almost 5. You can buy them from www.bedwettingstore.com. My son wasn't making the normal progression to being dry at night even though he had been potty trained since 2 1/2. Everyone has listed great ideas below but some kids need help training their brain to wake them instead of peeing the bed. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

My 5 year old son is in the same boat. The dr. said don't worry about it - give him time. He wants to have a dry pull-up so bad that he was hiding the wet ones behind his dresser and showing me a brand new pull-up in the morning. I've let him put underpants on underneath his pull-up so that maybe when he wets he'll feel it and wake up, but that doesn't seem to be making a difference. For now, we are trying not to stress about it, and making light of it for him. (I think he's very conscious of the fact that his little 3 year old sister wears underpants to bed.) Different kids are made up differently, and it will happen when it's supposed to. The Dr. said we'll talk more about it if he's still in pull-ups at 6, but even then it won't be much cause for concern. Good luck!
J.

I learned that no milk in the hour or two before bed helps.

Having been through this twice with a child from each gender, I'll bet it's not a bladder issue, but a reliance on Pull-Ups. Yes, you'll be dealing with wet sheets for awhile, but it won't be for long. Make sure she pees before bed. Wake her up an hour or two after she goes to sleep and have her pee again. In a week, you should have a happy young lady who doesn't wet her bed every night.

A tip for dealing with a wet bed in the middle of the night: Put a plastic cover over your child's mattress. Put on a fitted sheet. Over that, put a waterproof mattress sheet (cotton on one side, plastic on the other). Then put on another fitted sheet, flat sheet, and blanket. If your daughter wakes up in a wet bed, you can strip the first fitted sheet and mattress pad. Underneath it you will have a clean, dry fitted sheet ready for a sleepy child. Saves some time and frustration.

My daughter is 4 and just got out of pull-ups about 6 months ago. You may have already tried this but, here's my advice. Cut her liquids off about an hour or so before she goes to bed, and make sure she goes to the bathroom before she gets in bed. If she wakes up wet once (meaning wet sheets) it might freak her out enough to where she'll start going to the bathroom on her own. I had to try this approach w/ my daughter. It took some patience, but it worked. Good luck!

Having the same problem. Looking to see the responses.

K.

I don't actually have any advice for you, but I wanted you to know that you're not alone. My daughter is 5 1/2 and still wears a pull-up at night. She urinates frequently during the day also though, so her doctor told me that maybe her body is just not ready yet. Just last night she went to the bathroom right before bed (8 p.m.) and I checked her at 11 p.m. and her pull-up was wet. I've tried waking her up to use the potty in the middle of the night, but in order for it to work fully, I'd have to do it like 3 times a night and I'd rather her be rested and wear pull-ups until her body is ready than see her exhausted and grouchy the whole next day. And I'm with you on the whole not wanting to wash sheets every day (or in the middle of the night).

Hi there - I just got me 3 year old out of pull-ups at night. I had the exact same issues as you. She was dry during the day and I didn't want to deal with wet bedding. I made a deal with her though. 5 nights with a dry didee and she would get a "special present" AND she would be able to wear fancy panties to bed. She was sooo excited. Kept asking what the present was. Every day we would count down how many days were left. She was so proud of herself - kept telling everyone how many days she had been dry. We got to the fifth night and allowed her to wear fancy panties to bed and she woke dry. We noticed her getting up and going to the bathroom in the night too. She accomplished her goal and received a specail present - ne nightgown and toy. She has not worn a pull-up since. I believe she was being lazy and just knew she had a pull-up on so went because she knew it was safe. It really amazes me how quickly children CAN do learn new patterns and how often it is OUR insecurities that hold them back. WE still make a big deal about it. I am thrilled too - one out of diapers and one to go!!!

Hope this helps!

Your friends are right. My son was still wetting when I left his pullup on. Then when I ran out, I said enough and put him in underwear at night. He had accidents for about a week. He still has occassional accidents, he is almost 3, but doing great.

My advice if you haven't done so already. Is to cut out liquids a couple hours before bed. Make her use th epotty before bed, and wake her up to use the potty before you go to bed. It might be hard at first but that is what has worked for my kids so far. My rule has always been no drinks after dinner, but I allow a few sips of water here and there. If you are using a sippy cup, I would stop. My kids alway plenty to drink during the day so I don't wory about dehydration. Hope this helps.

as others have suggested to you, make sure you cut her off all liquids about 2 hours before bed. have her go potty before bed, wake her up before you go to bed to go again. also, like someone else suggested, try training her at night by waking her up once or twice to go.

and also, as mean as it sounds....taking the pull ups away altogether may be just the thing she needs. when i was potty training my son...it didn't matter what we did, how we "bribed" him...if we put him in a pullup, he was going to use it. it took taking the pullups away during the day and letting him wet himself a couple of times for him to finally get it all figured out. we kept him in pullups at night for awhile after that, and had the same problem. we finally just had to do the same thing. we got a plastic sheet, and took away the pullups. yes, i got up a couple of nights and had to change everything because the wetness woke him up...and i did laundry alot during that time....but it definitely helped alot. a couple of wet nights....and he stopped wetting the bed. for awhile after, if he was really really tired, went to bed late, or had any major change in his nightly routine, he might wed the bed a little...but we haven't had any major problems in a long time now.
good luck!

Hi S.,

You know your daughter may have a medical condition. My son is 6 yrs old and I battled with him on this for a looong time now. Well I recently took him to the doctor as my husband began to get worried. The DR checked his blood sugar etc- did blood work which he hated... but anywho the dr ended up prescribing him a couple of medications, DDAVP and oxybutynin. Some kids just cant control it. Her bladder may even be too small for her body- if thats the case she will need the medicine until her bladder catches up with her. Ithink she really wants to stay dry because you are giving her the incentive too by rewarding her and she knows that. Id suggest taking her into the dr though. Well hope all works out well!
God Bless!

Hello Sam

When my daughter was younger she was potty trained during the day but not at night. It basically boiled down to the fact that I wasn't ready to potty train her at night for the exact same reason.....wet sheets, changng clothes, laundry. So I had to be like ok it is time as frustrating as it is in the begining the outcome of it is so much better.

You can continue to do the pullup thing but then transition her to undies once you see that she is staying dry a lot more. I literally had to set my alarm clock at night so that I would remember to wake her up and take her to the bathroom. I did this every night until it got to the point that she would wake up herself to go potty. Make sure she doesn't have anything to drink at least an hour before bedtime and have her go potty before bedtime. If she is peeing more than once a night wake her up twice in the night. Trust me there will be times where you don't feel like getting up, but it shoud train her to wake up on her own.

S.,
My 6 year old boy still wears pullups to bed. I have talked to his peditrician about it, and he assures me there is nothing we should do and it is VERY common. My son is such a sound sleeper that he just never wakes up. And an "immature bladder" is the problem. The doctor has told me not to make a "big deal" about it, just realize that this problem will go away with age. There are many 9,10,11 year old children with the same issue. My doc also said that if he would like to spend the night out with a friend in the future, that there is medication that will stop the urine production for 12-24 hours so he wont have to wear the pullup out, and save the "embarassment" We haven't gotten there yet.
So, my advice is, don't try to reward her with toys or stickers, just realize that it is something she will outgrow with time. She will feel as though she let you down and ashamed if she wakes up wet, when it is really not her in her control. Keep buying the pullups and don't frustrate yourself or her with the wet bed. It will only make the situation worse. And I will also mention, my son was trained at 2 without any daytime accidents...ever. Because they can hold it during the day, doesn't have any bearing on their ability to keep dry at night.

My daughter was night trained at 2. So this concerned me at first as well, but really, the only ones that it worries is the parents, not the doctors or the children.

I have learned that it is normal to wet the bed until five years old and even occaisionally after that. She has no control over wetting the bed, so a sticker most likely won't work. This is a phisiological thing- some children's bladders have not grown as fast as the rest of them, also there is a mechanism in the brain which prevents us from urinating, and this also may not be developed as fast as the rest of her. My doctor's office says to keep them in some kind of protection at night so they don't feel ashamed.

Hi, the only thing that worked for my son when he was 3 was to stop using pull ups. He did wet the bed occassionally but not for long. Kids don't want to sleep in a wet bed any more than we do so they wake up. The only other thing we do that still works is no drinks for at least an hour before bed. Good luck!

I talked to my pediatrician about this because I was dealing with the same thing. He said that they don't worry about kids still being in pull-ups at night until they're older, around 7. I've also heard that kids are usually not ready to be without pull-ups at night until they can wake up for a month without being wet.

My daughter was starting to wake up dry more and more when I decided to push it. She was 5. First, I cut out all drinks for a few hours before bed. I'd also still wake her up to go before I went to bed. If dh or I woke up in the middle of the night, we'd get her up. We didnt' do it all the time though.

She didn't have too many accidents so she must have been ready. To help with the accidents, a friend did this. She put down a mattress cover, then a sheet, another mattress cover, and a sheet. So if her child had an accident, she would quickly remove the top sheet and mattress cover and her bed was ready again. Of course she'd also have to change her.

I don't think it's a matter of effort on your daughter. I think kids at this age sleep soooooo hard that it just doesn't wake them up. My dd just turned 7 and she never has accidents. But, there's an occasional night where she'll go just a little bit and she quickly wakes up and runs to the bathroom. When she was 4 1/2, she would completely sleep through it all and didn't know until she woke up the next morning.

Well, she has had accidents when she was sick. If I gave her something with antihistamine in it, it would make her sleep harder and she had a few accidents.

L.

I know that it is frustrating for you because I to have a 4 yr old who wears pull ups to bed at night. There are some nights she wants to just wear her panties so we try it but most nights she wears a pull up. I have a 13 yr old daughter that used to wet the bed because of a condition she had and I to had that same condition growing up where my daughter had to take medication when she went to bed. So stop and think did you wet the bed when you were little if not then did your husband. If no to both of those then you need to check with a pediatrician to see if you should be worried, but as already stated I wouldn't worry to much at this age. I know that as parents we all want our children to be perfect but sad to say they don't all progress like each other otherwise they would print up a manual on raising kids. Just hang in there and don't stress out to much about it.

First, did you or your husband or either one of your siblings wet the bed at night? That is the first question, because it COULD be a sleeping disorder called enuresis. You might want to make sure first if its her bladder size. A test you should be able to do at home- just count how long she pees. Since she is 4, she should be able to pee for at least 4 seconds (if she has held her pee). If your daughter is wetting through the pull-ups you might want to try Good-nights. Having her remember to pee [it all out] right before bed, can also help.