Bed Wetting (Night)

You could try using nighttime pull ups. I have heard that sometimes bladders don't grow and mature as fast as our children.
You could also set and alarm so he hears it and wakes up all the way to go potty.
Another thing we do is to make sure the children go pee before bed and drink very little after dinner or right at bedtime.
Hope this helps.
L.

hello,
I taught 4 & 5 year olds for two years and some of them still wore the pull ups at night time. that may help you. it is not a bad thing. they are still learning to hold their pee during the night at that age. he should befine by 5 or 6 years old. it is very common. some children, like your oldest, may not have had a problem but your younger may need a some more time.
try the pull ups. hope it helps
kim

Try putting a night light in the hallway and the bathroom. He might be afraid to get up in the dark alone.
Beyond that, I would NOT wake him up in the middle of the night... but I would limit his liquids two hours before bedtime... then make SURE he uses the potty RIGHT before bed (make it part of the bedtime story ritual)... then, just before YOU go to bed (I used to do this around 11:00 or 11:30) get him up and take him again. If he is going to bed around 8:00 that should be enough time for his body to process anything he's drank and get to where he can urinate and empty his bladder. Then the rest of the night should be dry... My son had a problem too, but he didn't wake up at all... he was and still is a VERY heavy sleeper.... He just didn't wake up and never felt the urge. He is just now getting where he will wake up when he starts to go (the sensation of going wakes him up)... and he's 9 !! Be patient with your son and make sure there isn't something inhibiting him from getting up -- has he been told "do not get out of bed... go to sleep".. or anything... my daughter is notorious for being a rule follower about stuff like ... she had a stomach bug and didn't get up to go to the bathroom to vomit on Christmas Eve because she was afraid Santa wouldn't come if she was out of the bed! (She's 6)...
Look for any reason he might feel it's wrong to get up, and eliminate it. And any reason he might be scared and try to make it not scary. While at the same time doing the physical: limit liquids before bed, wake him up after he's been asleep about 3-4 hrs to go to the bathroom. Good luck.

my niece did that for years-- have you tried not giving him anything to drink after 6. and then right before he goes to bed give him lie 1/8 or 1/4 cup water and make him go potty. try that.

also does he have a night light? is he near a bathroom? maybe he is scared of the dark and will not get up because of that fear and he may not want to let you know he is afraid of the dark.does your bathroom have a night light or the hally leading to it. he may fear the dark.

Children that age are very heavy sleepers and boys typically are behind girls developmentally. I wouldn't be getting up during the night to take him to the bathroom. I have a five year old who still wets the bed also. Rarely does she make it through the night but I have figured out that she is usually dry until about 3 a.m or later. I don't worry about it and let her sleep in a pull-up often. She will sleep in the wet without waking but eventually she will be able to make it through the night, so I'm not worried about it. Give him time and make sure that he isn't drinking anything for at least an hour before bed (except to brush his teeth) and make sure he gets in the habit of going to the bathroom immediately before getting into bed. Eventually, he'll be ok, but I wouldn't be forcing the issue now or getting up yourself! They develop when they are ready, not when we want them to be.

Hi S., I dealt with this also and solved the problem. But first a few questions you should think about. How many times do you go the bathroom at night? Next, white down what your 4 yr old is having for dinner or anything after 6 p.m. for that matter. Think about it. What goes in must come out. Cut back what liquid is going into him. And always have them empty their bladder right before jumping into bed, even if they say they don't have to go. Of course they don't have to go until their bladder is full and they can feel that. But they must empty their bladder. Now no soup for dinner, and only one cup of liquid to drink at dinner and nothing after that. But don't tell him what you're doing or else he'll pitch a fit saying he's thirsty. Just fill up his cup 1/2 way at dinner and if he wants more, put 1/4 in. But that's the problem. Plus, children sleep toooo sound to wake up at night to do anything about it and it's not their fault. And at night, he should be wearing pullups to protect him from this, not just underware. But make sure to take note how much he's drinking in liquid all day and then at 6 p.m. and nothing after. and definintely no soup for dinner.

I have to agree with the advice many others have given. I have 3 little boys. The two younger boys were staying dry all night by the time they were 2 or 2-1/2 years old. However, the oldest boy continued wetting at night until he was almost 6 years old. Rather than drag myself out of bed in the middle of the night, then fight with a sleeping, often whining child who was in a zombie state, here's what I did. I put a plastic mattress cover under the sheet, so in case of an accident the mattress would not get ruined. I limited the amount of liquids before bedtime, and I put him to bed at night in a pullup. At first he wet them everynight, but as time went on he wet them less and less. Until eventually he was staying dry all night, and we agreed (together) that it was time to ditch the pullups. Night-time should be restful and peaceful for both of you....so why make it stressful by trying to implement a routine that I have found to cause more "drama" than it helps. Letting your child sleep in a pullup allows you both the uninterrupted rest you deserve yet still alows your child to keep his dignity and self-esteem.

wow .....this sounds like my one son who did the same thing.
what i figured out was these kids sleep so sound they do not wake up. and my son when we would get him up he would not pee
but just stand by the toilet. it was many many years and i was reading about night frights and that was him.. he slept so deep when we got him up he was not even awake and would have these night frights when we tried to force him to pee.
it even got to a point where he would get up and pee in the waste paper basket or the hamper and not even know it.
sleepwalking? the doctor gave him some kind of pill to
keep him from sleeping so sound and he hated taking the pill.
we also put plastic under his mattress cover. one night while we were in a motel he begged me not to make him take the pill.
he said i promise i will not wet the bed..and he never did again. i think paying too much attention makes them more upset and nervous so best to just get the big rubber pants
even tho they are expensive and use cloth diapers and
let him go... when my brother wet the bed the doctor told my mother he himself stopped peeing the bed at age 12 and that my brother would not get married peeing the bed...i cannot tell you how many people i know whose boys peed the bed for many many years but they do stop before they get married.
do not get discouraged. love him and do not disgrace him
because he cannot help it. just buy extra sheets.

hello. my daughter had the same sort of problems. she was such a hard sleeper at that age that she just didn't wake up. cut off liquids about 1.5-2 hrs before bedtime. if you have to, set your alarm for around midnight to wake him up and make him go. you'll probably have to carry him and put him on the toilet yourself, as he might not wake up fully. i had to put the larger pullups on for a while. it seemed to be just a stage as my daughter got over it. it lasted about 6 months though. good luck!
M.

Hi S.,

I just went through this with my four-year-old and have finally had a stretch of three months with no nighttime accidents. Here is what I did.

1) Took him for a chiropractic adjustment once a week. EVERY time he received a (gentle) adjustment to his hips, he would go several nights with no accidents. If the hip bone is even slightly out of alignment, it can interrupt the nervous system's ability to send a message to the brain saying "wake up! your bladder is full."
2) At the chiropractor's suggestion, we also stopped letting him wear crocs for shoes. She said they didn't support his hips well enough. He needed to be in sneakers with good arch support.
3) We woke my son every night between 10:30-11 and again around 5am. We would take him to potty. If he just couldn't go (late evening), we would wake him 1-2 hours later.
4) We limited his drinking after 7pm.
5) We also eliminated dairy from his diet. For some reason, dairy effects certain kids. Eliminating it from the diet can sometimes take care of the bedwetting with no other intervention.

After a few months of this routine, we began eliminating the 5am potty run. Now we just take him before we go to bed. It's almost like we trained his body to go at a certain time. I also think that after the regular chiropractic adjustments, his hips began to stay in the correct position. He now goes every night around 11ish (we wake him). He does still sleep on a crib pad that is placed over his sheets, but he hasn't wet it in months.

I hope this helps. If you need a recommendation for a good, child-friendly chiropractor, let me know. I know several in Jax. :0)

Take care,

M.