Night Time Potty Training - Westminster, MD

He may just not be ready for nighttime training. Boys can take a lot longer to develop this control. My friend's little boy was in nighttime pull-ups until he was 6. He just couldn't control his bladder when sleeping and there's really nothing you can do to increase that. My son is also 4 and we had the same issue. I went back to pull-ups at night. We tried having him go to the bathroom before bed, limiting his evening fluid intake, getting him up to pee when we went to bed... he still wet the bed every night! He's just not ready, but he'll get there.

I found a great website (the URL escapes me now, but Google "bedwetting") that explains why kids wet the bed. Studies have been conducted which prove what parents have been saying all along, "My child is a very sound sleeper, that is why they don't wake up to go potty." They put headphones on kids, who then went to sleep. The researchers sent loud sounds through the headphones, and the kids slept right through them.

Also, your body has to start producing a hormone called anti-diruretic hormone. Some kids start producing ADH right when they achieve daytime control. Most kids take a lot longer. Doctors aren't even interested until the child is 6 years old and still wetting at night. Unfortunately, prescribing ADH only has a 20-30% success rate, and doctors don't like prescribing hormones at such a young age.

That said, my daughter was daytime trained at 2 1//2. She achieved nighttime dryness at 4 1/2 when her ADH finally kicked in. We used pull-ups (which she started keeping dry in August)until last November when she asked to wear her big girl panties to bed. She has had only two accidents since then, one because she couldn't get out of bed fast enough because of her bed rail. Than was a blessing in disguise because it convinced her to give up her bed rail. I keep a little potty in her bedroom with a very low wattage night-light nearby so she can find it, and she can get herself up at night to use it.

Starting last August, I would take her potty before going to bed, around 11:00 pm (some nights it was tough staying up that late) and my husband would take her at 5:00 am when he got up. In November, I started getting up at 2:00 am to take her potty. I could tell the ADH was starting because she wouldn't produce a lot of urine. This March, I decided she could make it through the whole night, and she has. She even gets up herself when she needs to go, and goes back to bed. The ADH has really kicked in, sometimes its 45 minutes before she has to relieve herself after she gets up in the morning.

I restrict her fluids after dinner (unless she's been running about and is obviously thirsty),but she can drink what she needs during the day. When i was a kid, I think the method was to keep kids slightly dehydrated. I swear my mom wouldn't let me drink more than 12 oz of fluids a day, even during the summer with no air conditioning.

Some will say never go back to the pull-ups, but if you and your son are frustrated every morning with the bedwetting, I say use the pull-ups at night (honestly, they didn't confuse my daughter. She knew to use the potty during the day). Anything that helps ease even a bit of frustration is worth it. If anyone says you shouldn't use the pull-ups, invite them to come over and change your son's bed and wash the bedclothes everyday. They'll change their tune. .

Hope this helps. He'll get it eventually.

Hi A.,

This is a very common problem but if it were me, I would consult with a Pediatric Urologist. The alarm in the child's brain is not waking him up because he is sleeping so soundly. Have the Doctor explain to you about this condition and what can be done for it.

Good luck. D.

Hey A.!! Thank you for sharing your story!! I have a 6 year old daughter with the same issue. You may want to try to have your son wear pull ups during the night while he's sleeping so you wouldn't be washing a lot of sheets and night clothes. I also would set my alarm to wake me up about every 3 to 3 1/2 hours during the night and would take my daughter to the bathroom in her sleep. This way this would help her to get into a routine of getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. I also wouldn't give her anything to drink after 6:00 at night and that really helps!!! A., I stand in agreement and pray that every day your child will be potty trained during sleep time at night and that God will give you the strength to help you accomplish this!!
Take care and be blessed girl!!
P. :)

I just went (and am still going) through a similar situation. Our 4 year old began wetting in her sleep when I became pregnant and id it consistently once the baby arrived. I believe that it was due to anxiety. But she too would sleep through her accident, waking cold, wet and upset.

None the less, I posted a question on this site and got a lot of wonderful ideas. The best that has worked for us is to bring her to the bathroom in the middle of the night (a friend of mine was also recommended to do this by her pediatrician for her 4 year old). My daughter goes to bed around 8pm. I do not go to bed until 11 or 12midnight.
Before I call it a night, I carry her to the bathroom, put her on the toilet, run the faucet (so she unconsciously empties her bladder) and put her back into her bed. It really works. I was apprehensive at first to do this, because I thought she would wake up and we would have to do bed time all over again, but she does not even remember it in the morning and goes right back to sleep at night. I was also afraid to start this and then have her rely on us taking her to go in the night and would NEVER be dry on her own. But we have "experimented" with not taking her a few times, and she stays dry for the most part.

And of course the usual, cut off liquids early enough before bed, start a reward system: we did 5 dry nights and she got to choose something fun to do (went to the movie, got ice cream, go to McDonalds play place, etc.)

I also invested in some good mattress protectors because I was getting frustrated with the ones we had that were not keeping her new "big-girl" mattress dry. The laundry is exhausting, but I know she will outgrow this.

Good Luck!

My son had the same issue. Fully potty trained when he was just over 3 years old, but still in pull-ups at night. I asked my pediatrician if there was anything we could do to actively train him at night, and she said to just wait until he was staying dry consistently through the night. We did this, and by about 4 1/2 he was sleeping in underwear. I was really in no rush for this, as I didn't see much of a disadvantage to putting him in pull-ups for sleeping.

I've read about how some parents wake their child in the middle of the night and sit him/her on the toilet for nighttime potty training.

Nighttime potty training doesn't necessarily coincide with daytime training at all. It could be quite a long time before he can stay dry at night. Go ahead and let him use a pullup at night, and don't shame him for having nighttime accidents, because he really can't help it. I'd first check with your pediatrician to see what s/he says, to make sure there's no medical reason he's wetting at night. Then the next step is to make sure he doesn't drink anything within 2 hours of bedtime, and for the first couple of weeks or so wake him up once or twice in the night to go to the bathroom. If that works and he stays dry, then you can work on trials without the pullups. If it doesn't work and he still wets, then it's best to give him a break from training for a couple of weeks, just use the pullups, and try again later. This is a common problem, particularly with boys, and it may just take his body a while to catch up to where he can sense the urge to go and wake up. Good luck!

A.,
I too, have a 4 yr old son who has been totally potty trained since he was just over 3, and had very few day time accidents. I had been waiting for him to start waking up dry in pull-ups before attempting to sleep in underwear. He recently had his 4th birthday, and I decided even though he is not yet waking up dry, I would attempt letting him sleep without pull-ups. After about a week of waking up several times to change him and the entire bed, or finding him totally wet and still asleep, I have given up and gone back to pull-ups at night. I'm sorry I don't have any solutions to offer, but I thought it would help to hear its not uncommon. I will be watching your replies for suggestions from other moms. I actually had planned to post the same question today!! Good luck!

Hi A., I am in the same situation. My son will be 5 next month, he still pee's the bed at night. Every once in awhile he'll have a dry night, but at least 5 out of 7 he's had a wet night. I have been trying to stop giving him any liquids by 7:00 pm (2 hours before bedtime) and lately...as hard as it is on me, I've been waking up in the middle of the night & going to his room and waking him to see if he has to go to the bathroom. I'm hoping this will get him in some type of frame to wake himself up if he feels he has to go. I've just started doing this, so I can't say for sure if it's going to work. I'll have to get back with you on that. But don't worry or feel bad, your not alone. Good luck, with time hopefully it will get better for both of us.
K.

Hi A.,

I don't have any really good advice on this subject, I just wanted to share my experience because my daughter was the same way. She had been fully potty trained during the day since she was 2 1/2 years old, but still slept in a pull- up at night until she was 4 1/2. Similarly to your son, she was a very sound sleeper, and she woke up soaked every morning. We never tried waking her up in the middle of the night to go, because we didn't want to disrupt her sleep. And, if she didn't have the pull-up on, she would just sleep through wetting herself and the bed. Just when we thought she was going to wear pull-ups at night forever, all of a sudden she started waking up dry. Seriously, it was like flipping a switch. And once began staying dry, that was it--no relapses, just dry every night. I don't know how it happened, I think sometimes these things can just work themselves out.

--C.

Nighttime is not the same--it's a neurological thing, so not under their conscious control like the daytime thing. My daughter was potty-trained at 3 1/2, and is still in pull-ups at 6. The doctor said not to even worry about it until after Kindergarten, and even then, it's not a big thing. Thinking back, I think I also had similar issues when I was young. Talk to your pediatrician for ideas, but honestly, it's their brain not getting the message from the bladder that it's full, and then sending the message back to hold it. Don't fret. Good luck! Beverly.

A.,

Talk to your pediatrician, but keep in mind that nighttime enuresis is very common. Most doctors don't "worry" about it until a child is 6 years old, and even then they just tell you that he/she will grow out of it eventually.

The key is to keep your child from feeling bad about it. I know this because I was a bed-wetter. I have to say, the worst feeling in the world was waking up wet when I was hoping to be dry. I would watch my mom's face for signs of anger. Thank God she never showed it. I could not control the bed-wetting any more than someone can control a sneeze. I eventually grew out of it (at about age 11 - just when my body started to prepare for puberty).

Now, I have three kids, two (who are twins) are still wetting the bed at age 7. They are occasionally dry, but think it's no big deal to be wet. In fact, they just realized, a year ago, that most kids their age do not wet the bed!

I am trying to be as patient as my mom was. We are lucky that we have products like "Goodnights" nowadays. I certainly didn't have them in the 70s!
Good luck!
L.