Bedwetting at 4

Bedwetting at 4 is not unusual.
But in any case, explain that if he continues there's no other choice than to wear a nappy or pull up. Tell him it wakes you up out of sleep which isn't good. And that he isn't learning to get up himself. If he doesn't want to wear a nappy or pull up, then he has to stop.
Explain that he only has so many sheets available and you can' t keep up with the wash. same with jammies

You have to eliminate the liquids before bedtime. Even if it's from dinner time onwards. Milk is fine. That will help him sleep.

I also have a 4 1/2 and he wet the bed ever night, but instead of telling me he would just change his clothes. What I did was I stopped all liquids at 6:00 p.m. Had him go to the bathroom before he would go to bed at 8:30. Told him if he didn't wet the bed he would get to do something special with Mommy the next day. And for my son it seem to work, now it took him about 2 weeks on this schedule to stop wetting the bed all together. Some kids just have a harder time with bedwetting. I also have a 6 year old that never had this issue, all kids are different. I hope this will help you as it did for me.

Tell him he has to wear pull ups to bed. Try not letting him drink anything past a certain time at night, and wake him up to go potty when you go to bed.

I was starting to have that issue but I noticed (as I was gettign ready for work very early) that he would "talk" in his sleep before he would wake up crying that he was wet, so if I heard him "talking" in his sleep I would wake him part of the way up and carry him to the bathroom, pull his undies down and he would go, now I am in the habit of talking to him before I go to bed, I ask if he needs to go if he says yes we go if he says no we are fine (I ask if he needs to go if mommy carries him and i will get more yesses), listen for a sign in the night and be patient he is either a very deep sleeper or his bladder isn't big enough yet......good luck

Yes, I have had this experience and on some occassions continue to have it, with my 12 yr old step son. The doctors say that there's a signal between the bladder, kidneys and brain that is not always sending the signal to produce less urine during sleep. It used to be a HUGE problem when he was much younger, nearly every night. Cut back on the liquids at night, very small drink before going to bed, no sippy cups in bed, and remind him to use the potty before going to bed. As frustrating as it is, you have to usually wait it out. If he would wear pull-ups at night, it would make it easier on you obviously. But if he's not wanting to, then it's just a waiting game.

This could go on for years so I'd talk to him and decide together to use pull-ups until this passes. I don't want to discourage you but 2 of my 4 did this till puberty, and some of the grandkids. It's annoying and extra work but you will live through it. Maybe he'll grow out of it in the next couple of years. Some do.

I agree with everyone about kids just needing to grow out of it, personally I wet the bed when I was younger and realized I had to train myself to touch something before I started to pee. I would dream so realisticly that I had walked to the bathroom and was sitting on the toliet, so I being a girl just grabbed the toliet paper prier to going to the bathroom and would wake myself up if I could not feel anything in my hands, I still to this day grab toliet paper first, just in case lol. Being a boy maybe he can lift the seat up or touch the wall or somthing, just enough to triger his mind to realize he is not actually in front of the toliet. This may not help but may be worth a try. Good luck :)

I think that this is pretty normal in some kids. If you have had him checked and your doctor doesn't think it is being caused by any problem (ie infection) then don't worry about it. Please talk to him about it as if it weren't a problem and let him know how proud you are of him and that you know that he is a good boy and that he can't help it.

They have some underwear for kids that look like regular boxers
http://www.goodnites.com/NA/Bedwetting-Products/Boxers.as...

www.orgsites.com/oh/bedwetting/

I have found some information that refers to this as more of a sleep disorder and some that say that around age 4 or 5 kids sleep patterns change in some kids and they have less REM and more of a deeper sleep. If he is still doing it at age 7 or 8 then they say to look into treatment, I am not sure what they means, except that it isn't a concern at age 4, just normal. I personally would think taht maybe he is busier outside and more tired at night, and maybe an earlier bedtime would help (although it would probably take a week or two, to see any help).

Good luck.

That is very frustrating. I've had two children go through that at that age. If he drinks pop or juice (anything with sugar) he'll probably wet the bed.

Also, as tired as you are, if you can wake up and put him on the potty in the middle of the night (or before you go to bed if he goes to bed a couple hours before you) then it's worth it so you don't have to end up getting up anyway and then do all the cleaning up as well.

Have him take care of his blankets. If he is going to wet the bed at his age then he can also carry his blankets to the laundry room.

Maybe he needs practice holding it. When he is going during the day you could have him stop mid-spray and hold it and then release it again. Do this a couple times each time he goes and this will exercise his bladder control.

And, not sure if you mentioned this or know this, but you can also purchase those mattress covers real cheap so you don't ruin your mattress.

Best of luck!

My son is a little over 5, and still wears pull-ups to bed. He really doesn't like wearing them to bed, but changing sheets/pj's every night gets old. We told him that when he wakes up with dry pull-ups 3 mornings in a row, that he could try sleeping in underwear. The reverse rule then applied -- if he woke up wet 3 days in a row (wearing underwear to bed), he would have to go back to pull-ups. I also love the suggestion of waking him up before you go to bed to go to the bathroom. We have come to realize that this is something neither he nor we have control over.

For our daughter, she did not stop nighttime wetting until 5 years old. Our compromise was that she had to wear Pull Ups to bed. If she had three dry nights, we'd take the pull up off. If she wet the bed, they were back on until three dry nights. Often, I would come in in the morning, and a wet pull up would be on the floor (she'd wet, wake up, take it off and go back to bed).

He will come around on his own, but be patient:)

R.,
My daughter wet the bed up until just before her 10th birthday. She wore "goodnights" for bed, and we called them her sleep underwear. She was and still is a very deep sleeper. I found out through our pediatrician that it is a genetic disorder passed on from her dad's side. I later found out that my husband, his sister, and his father all had the same problem. You can go to an Anuresis clinic which may prescribe meds (which didn't help my daughter), my hubby had an alarm attached to a sheet on his bed that was liquid sensitive...he told me he hated it.
I think your best bet is time. My daughter outgrew it on her own.
Good luck.

My son turned 4 in Feb and still wears night time pull-ups. His ped. says that it is still developmental until after he turns 5 and not to worry about it yet. Some children just don't wake up (and it seems to be more common with boys!)

ok if he goes to bed at 9 and you go to bed at 11 wake him up to go potty after hes been sleeping before you go to sleep. If that doesn't work you need to get him use to an alarm. or you. Either you or an alarm has to be set for 3 am so that he gets up and pees before he pees the bed. Plus is there anything happeneing that he feels hes needing attention? Like a new baby coming or is he doing preschool in the fall? That could be something hes worried about or needing more attention on. Other than that try those things. My five year old I am sick of buying good nights and we started at 5 am I set his alarm and he wakes and goes and than goes back to bed.

My 5 almost 6 year old still has to wear "bedtime" underwear to bed because my dr said his bladder just hasn't caught up and he's a heavy sleeper. Nothing wrong with it. One thing you can do is wake him at 11 pm or whenever you go to bed and take him to the toilet to go potty. I had to do this with my now 11 year old till he was almost five. He would most of the time sleep right through it.

What is happening is 100% age appropriate. He's 4...he's going to have accidents, and he might have accidents for several years more, it's all part of the process. chances are very good that he'll grow out of it by the time he's 6. If at 6 he's still wetting the bed it would be a good idea to talk to your Dr. about it.

Hi R.,
I don't think that is abnormal. My first son wore Underjams to bed until about 4 and a half. They are like pullups but they are more like underware. You should try those out. I got sick of changing and doing the sheets every morning so that's why we tried those. Good luck.
Chris

Other than waking him up at some point to go to the bathroom at nighttime, I'm not sure what else is out there. 4.5 is still young in terms of nightime bedwetting. If getting you up is a problem in the middle of the night, let him keep a sleeping bag under his bed already laid out, and he can pull it out if he wets his bed without waking you, take his pajamas off, and climb in it and go back to sleep on his own until he outgrows it.

Like everyone has said it could be any number of resons for him not being alrted to get up and go. The pullup that my boys used were the good nights. They knew it was so we didn't have to change the sheets and all when they had wetting at night. We tryed everything to help keep my oldest son dry at night when he was between 5 and 8. He finly just out grew it. hope things work out for you.

It's usually just a matter of giving him time to grow up. It's very common, more common with boys, to sleep through wetting.

Since he was able to get up before going in his pants in the past, you might want to check with the Dr to be sure he doesn't have a bladder infection etc.

My son did the nighttime wetting thing for a while, but eventually outgrew it. He was just a very deep sleeper. HTH

Dear R. S.,

Our oldest daughter and granddaughter were bed wetters and the doctors said that it is really a matter of being a very deep sleeper and don't hear when the brain says to get up and go pee. They eventually out grow it so we put a pull up on the granddaughter and allowed her to outgrow it on her own. It allows both of you to get a good night's sleep and saves on all the extra laundering. You can go to the expense of buying a bed alarm but it is costly and much cheaper to buy pull ups and get your rest and allow him to get some sleep as well.

The child feels terrible about wetting the bed on its own later when older anyway and will be glad to outgrow it on his own.

Hope this helps a little.

L. C.

Although most of the parents are probably right, that he will outgrow it, if he doesn't, I can personally recommend the Eneuresis Treatment Center. My youngest son was still wetting the bed in 4th grade. We had tried EVERYTHING else, including alarms, DDAVP, limiting drinks before bedtime. ETC was our last resort and worked like a charm. It was a little expensive and not covered by insurance, but I wish we'd have contacted them sooner. Their no-guilt, no-counseling, no-medication approach was just right for our son who is 23 now.

R., We are going through the same thing with our son who just turned 5. But I found the more I nag about it then he is more likely to wet the bed. When I just leave him alone, give him a high 5 in the morning when he is dry we seem to do much better. Even when he wakes me up to tell me he has to go to the bathroom, I don't get upset anymore. At least he's getting up. We need to learn to let them just be and give them encouragement and they too will grow out of it.

Hi R.,
I have the same problem. Both of my daughters they are 6 and 4 still wet the bed. I stop giving them fluids after 7pm. and then i wake them up about 12:30 to use the bathrrom. This has worked successfully with us. I have done this for 4 weeks now and the bed wetting has stopped. ok i hope this helps!

With my step-daughter we restricted fluids about 1-2 hours before bedtime and then we'd wake her up before we went to bed to go one last time. It worked really well. Now that she's seven she's not wetting the bed anymore.

I wake my daughter up to go to the bathroom before I go to bed. She is never fully awake... If she needs to go, she does. If not, she doesn't. I literally pick her up and carry her to the potty. Set her on it and she goes. I wipe her. Pick her back up and place her back in bed. Some times, she even gives me a little kiss (not knowing that she is doing so). :)

Hi R., check out this site, they are out of Farmington Hills...

http://www.nobedwetting.com/