Hello,
This topic is in the toilet training arena. My son has been willingly using the potty to pee-pee since October (6 months). He still wears diapers full-time and has not progressed to keeping the diaper dry for a significant period of time (i.e. he uses the diaper and potty equally for pee-pee). He has done a couple poops in the potty (accidentally I think), but is not ready to tell us "before" the poo-poo comes so that we can start putting it in the potty. I figure this is all pretty normal and we are not pushing him (he'll be three in two months).
Issue/problem:
He wears extra absorbent night-time diapers and we also change him once in the night ...that routine used to keep his jammies and bed dry, not any more! I have changed to giving him his last liquids about 2 and a 1/2 hours before bedtime, and he uses the potty before bed. Still, when I go to change his diaper he has soaked through it and I change diaper and jammies ...and by morning time, soaked again! I don't know how or why he may be able to hold so much liquid for so long to flood his diaper twice?! There has been no increase in his fluids intake. In total he has three cups of milk and one cup of juice per day (9 am, 12 pm, 5 pm, and 6 pm), bedtime is at 8:30 pm.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thank you so much for all of the helpful responses.
We did check with our pediatrician, who said it wasn't any medical concern. My next step was to try diaper "doublers" (...hard to find the product; it has been "updated" and so not in stores yet). I purchased a large pack online. Even with the doublers, he was still wetting through ...until I happened to put him in his one-piece, zip-up footed jammies. Magically, in the one-piece jammies he hasn't flooded out of his diaper even once! It has been two weeks. I now suspect that he had been pulling on and playing around with his diaper when he could get to it in his two-piece jammies, thus leading to gaps and leaking. Mystery solved!
You need to reduce the dairy intake. Change to 1.5 cups milk a day. the rest should be water. I would avoid juice, because without the pulp, it's just sugar water. Give the whole fruit instead.
He can get his calcium from brocoli. it's better for him anyway.
We used to put two diapers on--literally one on top of the other. By age 4 he didn't need anything at night. Good luck!
I would suggest you look up the signs of diabetes. Just to be on the safe side becuase I have read that is a sign and they are finding type2 diabetes more in younger kids now. Im not trying to frighten you I just had the same type of situation and I checked with my Dr.about it.
C.,
After taking him to the Dr. I would buy diaper inserts. You can find them online. It goes into the diaper like a maxi-pad.
Good luck!
Hi C.,
I agree with you that that level of soaking seems excessive. I think I would take him to the doctor and cover you bases. Especially if he's only drinking 3 cups of milk and 1 cup of juice.
This may sound strange, but maybe he isn't getting enough to drink. You mention the three cups of milk and one cup of juice per day. How much water does he drink? It may be that his body is needing more water in order to function better and that's why he's holding so much liquid in his system. Then, when he's asleep and relaxed it all releases.
I have this problem with my son... and with my daughter, looking back. I just went up a size in the nighttime pullups and it seems to do the trick... sometimes they might be in the middle of a range, but a slightly larger diaper can hold more pee and so works better? It worked for us! Good luck!!!
Consider allergies... my boys are always heavier wetters when they've gotten introduced to something their system doesn't agree with... consider it a "fast track exit" stragegy. Salicylics seem to be culprits in our case... here's a link showing which foods are high in salicylic acid... you might identify one he's recently been eating more than before:
http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-fi27.htm
My older daughter used to have problems with fruits. Whenever she has had them, she would hold her pee. Almost like a bladder infection? After laying off fruits, she was okay with peeing and her pull ups would stay drier at night. Has he been eating different foods? Check his diet...it could be the problem. Unless he needs more than one or two pees before bedtime. Our 2 yr old needs at least 4 pees before bedtime. It takes her a whole hour before she feels okay to sleep.
Good luck!
I second the goodnites. Still use with both my kids (son 6 adn daughter 4), started my daughter around age 2 because regular diapers wouldn't cut it. Note for boys - when my son was younger, we had to check position before sleeping, otherwise he would still leak out the side or top of the diaper (not a problem for girls!). Both my kids are on the thin side, and well under the minimum weight, but still the best option we could find.
I agree that you need to go to a dr. That is not much fluid at all, especially to have that issue!!
If you aren't using cloth diapers, I would say try a different brand to see if they absorb more. If you are using cloth, try a diaper doubler and sprinkle corn starch between the dipe and the doubler to add to the absorbancy.
Have you tried the GoodNights brand of overnight diapers? (they're designed for older kids but do have a small size). They're much, much more absorbent than the regular overnight diapers. You may have to look around for the size smalls because they clear out quickly. We found this brand kept our son dry when other overnight brands wouldn't.
Good luck!
