4 Year Old Wets Pull-ups Every Night. Normal? and Goodnights Vs. Pull-ups

Updated on November 23, 2010
A.K. asks from Minneapolis, MN
13 answers

Hi Moms,

I have a two part question:

My daughter turned 4 in September. She has been potty trained for a LONG time, but does potty in her pull-ups during her naps and nights. I had tried to encourage no pull-ups during naps (yes she still naps most of the time, and she needs it!), but she always woke up crying because she had wet herself. My pediatrician says it isn't a big deal, and to just continue use of pull-ups for nighttime until she stops peeing in them for a month straight, in which case she will probably be done wetting at night for good.

I'm just wondering how common this is at this age, does your 4 year old consistently wet her pull-ups during nights?

Also, the dang things have been leaking a lot of nights, so of course she is waking us all up to change jammies and sheets. Do Goodnights disposable underwears work better than Pull-ups?

THANKS!

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R.K.

answers from Boston on

If she is soaking through a pull up then you need to get her the goodnights they are made to hold more liquid then a pullup. And yes bedwetting at 4 is normal.

Updated

If she is soaking through a pull up then you need to get her the goodnights they are made to hold more liquid then a pullup. And yes bedwetting at 4 is normal.

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M.S.

answers from Columbus on

I'm not sure on how to stop the wetting through the pull-ups, but I can say that it's normal...completely.
My kids were such heavy sleepers, they wore them until at least age 8. All three - two boys and a girl. No matter how much liquid I would limit, or if they went to the bathroom right before bed.....wet at night. These kids slept through fire alarms, our house alarm - I'm sure they'd sleep through a tornado.
He will outgrow the night wetness sooner or later. No amount of bribing, pleading, etc will probably help. Just to put this out there.....I never made my kids help me change their sheets if we tried underwear at night, which we did. They cannot help it. They aren't playing some mind game or anything. Also, once they started overnights at friends houses, I made sure the mom knew , so that if my kid needed to be discreet, she was aware. It could be very embarrassing and luckily, my kid's friends were cool with it. I know some parents think that forcing the child to wet themselves at night in order to wake themselves to pee is the way to go. I, personally, do not believe in this approach. Sure, there could be some kids who are playing control games, but you'll know. This has been an issue for all my kids, so I guess it's close to my heart. Didn't mean to write a novel, here. LOL! Good luck!

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M.R.

answers from Columbus on

Common, very common and nothing to worry about.

Good nights hold more, in my opinion.

M.

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K.S.

answers from Kansas City on

Yes, very normal. We always did the huggies nighttime pull-up and they do hold a lot more than regular pull-ups.
With that said, my daughter just now stopped wetting at night at 4 1/2 yrs. and it wasn't the just waiting until she started having dry pull-ups like your dr. said. My second daughter potty trained the day before her second birthday even throught the night. When my 4 year old saw her "baby" sister wearing panties at night it really hit her. She asked to wear panties. I was a little nerous at first as I would of perfured her to stop wetting the pull-ups first, but I let her try. She would wear the panties to bed & I would wake her up at 2am every night to go potty. Sometimes she would wake up on her own before 2am and I would take her to the bathroom and then back to bed. We did this for about two months, then two weeks ago I "oversleep" and didn't wake her at 2am and she made it though! So I have quit waking her. She still wakes up some nights, but not all. I think some kids just can't make it all night & we need to teach them how to "wake-up" and go in the potty and not in the pull-ups. I know if we won't have tried the 2am waking, we would still be in pull-ups now.

On another note - my girlfriend has a daughter the same age as my girl. She also wet thought her pull-up almost everynight at 4 yrs. old. She took her to a ear/nose/throat dr and apparently large tonsils can casue bed wetting. Her daughter had large tonsils and had trouble breathing while sleeping. She got her tonsils out and the bed wetting stoped that same night.

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C.J.

answers from Dallas on

Normal. I have a seven year old who is a hard sleeper and even when we make him go right before bed, he still has an accident about two times a week.
I would not use goodnights, though. They are not any more absorbant from my experience with the "boy" version (got him the ones that look like boxershorts) just look different. If the leaking is a problem and depending on her size, you could use overnight diapers. I know, I know do you really want to do that. . . Just a thought.

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M.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

Night time dryness shouldn't be expected until sometime between the ages of 5-7. At 7 - talk to your Dr.

My kids are 5 and 8 and wear pull ups. BUT, here is the thing... my Grandparents, Uncle, Mom, Inlaws, myself and my two siblings ALL wet the bed until we were teenagers - UGH... My daughter was checked out when she was 7 and her Dr. said, all is fine, she'll grow out of it. Both of my kids are VERY deep sleepers. So - they wear pull ups and sometimes they leak. One thing I've noticed with my daughter is her pull ups aren't as wet and she even has dry ones every now and then. I could wake the kids in the middle of the night and have them go but right now my Dr. and I both agree - sleep is more important.

I just read Mom4s's response - ditto everything she just said.

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S.W.

answers from Minneapolis on

VERY normal at 4. And even when you go a month without a wet night, it can still happen. My 8 year-old hadn't had a wet night for maybe 6 months (I lost track), then she had one this week. She just sleeps so deeply that sometimes she doesn't wake up when she needs to.

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P.C.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi Allison- I have a 4 yrs old son,he is potty trained and I always make him wear a pull up at night just in case. He gets very little to drink before he goes to bed and goes to the bathroom before bed as well. Other than that he is pretty good about getting up at night to go to the bathroom on his own. Late at night i hear his little feet rushing to the bathroom, he makes me so proud because he makes his effort to get up instead of peeing on himself knowing that he is wearing a pull up. In the morning when he wakes up he tells me " mommy I didn't pee in my pull up"

Both brands have worked for him, but I'm not a fan of Pampers.

GOOD LUCK!!!

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M.J.

answers from Sacramento on

Very normal. Our four year old potty trained at two but has yet to master night time. If we try panties, she pees the bed and wakes up traumatized about the whole thing. Our oldest didn't master night time until he was 5 1/2. He just started having dry GoodNights pullups and that was it.

The GoodNights are not even in the same ball park as PullUps -- SO much better! They hold a ton. Our daughter fills those things up and they hold it all. We found even the nighttime PullUps just aren't as absorbent as the GoodNights.

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J.K.

answers from Phoenix on

I use Goodnights. My kids all wet their pull ups until very late. My 7 year old still wets. good luck!

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J.L.

answers from Chicago on

Very normal!!!! This was the same for my daughter...Then in a week's time it all clicked. She was half way through her 4th year :)

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S.W.

answers from Detroit on

very normal, my 5 1/2 year old still wears the goodnights. yes goodnights are better than pullups.

C.B.

answers from Kansas City on

i gave up on regular pullups about the same time i came to the conclusion that my son, while fully day trained, was nowhere near night trained. i opted for the night time pants over regular pullups - they are a bit more expensive, but i was using two pullups a night, every night, because he would wake up soaked halfway through the night. still cheaper! and no, they haven't leaked once. i think it's normal at this age. don't make a big deal about it. mine turned 4 in september also. OH and yes, i am a huge fan of naps - my son gets one almost every day. you're doing fine mom! this is literally one of those fights that you can't win...so just let her go. she'll stay dry when she's ready.

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