5-Year-old Still Wetting Bed at Night - Is This Normal?

I have twin boys (almost 6). When 1st starting the training, I was told to take them to the potty 2-3 hrs after they go to sleep. This was usually about the time I was going to sleep. IT WORKED for us! Now they get up each night about 3-4 hrs into their sleep, go potty, flush & return to bed.
Details...pick them up and walk them to the bathroom (be sure there is a night light so they can see even though they're sleeping). If he continues to sleep and not go, talk to him in a soft voice telling him it's time to go potty. He'll she go w/in a minute. When done, walk him back to bed. We did this for about 2 weeks, every night.

A funny...they have walked into other rooms that have lights on and p'd in the garbage can or right on the floor thinking they were in the bathroom! So be careful.

I agree w/ Jess G. I have step daughter who from time to time well wet the bed because she is also a heavy sleeper. Me and my husband just get her up at least twice a night and no drinks about an hour or two before bed. Yes it can be a pain in the but at times especially when your dead tired yourself. But you will see lots of improvement down the line and like Jess G. said you'll save alot of money from not buying pull-ups.

I just had this conversation with a friend about her son. My daughter will be six this month and still wears a pull-up to bed every night. She was pooty trained before her twin brother but doesn't have the same blatter control. This is normal. If she is still having trouble at 7 I will probably look into it more, but for now I don't want her to be embarrased and create an entirely different problem.

Hi J., I would not worry at all about this. I have 2 boys that are bed wetters. My Daughter, I am not sure if she is cause we just recently potty trained her. My oldest just stopped about a year ago. I was a bed wetter as a child till the age of 9 and they say that it is heraditary (I know I didnt spell that right, lol) and that the bladder just isnt fully developed yet.
Your son will out grow this and like we do in our family, and I remember my Mom doing with me, is reassure him that it is not his fault, and before you know it, it will end.
What I do is go on Ebay and purchase pull-ups in bulk. Saves a ton of money. I even have used other brands of pull-ups other than Goodnights and have had luck with them too.
All I can say is thank goodness for pull-ups, cause 30 years ago, they never had those and it was worst for me as a child especially when I so wanted to go spend the night somewhere. Now, my boys change discretly in a bathroom and no one knows, so it makes it alot easier for thier confidence.
Good luck and just hang in there.

N.

Mom of 3 great kids, Ryan 12, Troy 8 and Audrey 3. Wife to an awesome husband for 18 years.

I don't have boys but my oldest daughter is a heavy sleeper too. We would have her go right before she went to bed, then we would take her before we went to bed. If I knew she had a lot to drink that night I would get her out of bed around midnight and have her go again. She was 6 or 7 when we noticed that she would get up on her own (finally), and even at 10 she will get up and go a few times a night.
I really wouldn't worry. Keep reassuring him that he hasn't anything to be sorry about if and when he does have an accident. Good Luck!

my son is 4 and is still having accidents. he also is a sound sleeper and can't wake himself up. we have been taking control of this problem which is very embarrasing for the child and a pain in the butt for parents. i gave up on the whole pull ups thing because they are very expensive and sometimes was changing them 1 or twice a night everynight. we use the plastic sheets under his regular sheets and since i get home from work about 1030pm we started the routine of me going in and getting him up to try and use the bathroom. the number of accidents has gone down dramatically and we are definately saving the money from not buying pull ups. i also don't give him anything to drink about 1hr or so before bed time. you might want to set your alarm to wake him to use the bathroom at about 10 or 11pm so that he can have a truly empty bladder during the night. just make sure he is awake and knows you are taking him to the bathroom otherwise it will seem like a dream to him and he might still not be able to wake himself and take control on his own. good luck and hope this helps

Worry not. My 9 year son old still has this problem. I've done all of the mentioned above, tried the bed-wetting alarm all to no avail. Last year we saw a pediatric urologist and were told he will grow out of it. The percentage of kids that still wet the bed does go down as they get older, but there are still kids that will wet until ADOLESCENCE.

For a while we used the Prescribed DDAVP (anti-diuretic) that the Urologist provided and it worked pretty well, but the cost of our prescription went up significantly with our insurance change, so our 9 year old is in Good-Nights. We don't make anything out of it, and he does not mind. If he ever has or goes to a sleep over, he is very careful and private about it, but in no way does it set him back. We just patiently wait.

Our 3 year old son has been a dry sleeper for a long time already, so it's just those genectic traits that one kid gets and another does not.

Personally, I would not even bother with the waking the child up at night. It does not teach them anything, it's probably a pain for you. If they are willing to wear a pullup/Goodnights then stick with that. Most important thing is that you keep it a private matter, and no one in the home or otherwise makes the child feel badly in any way.

Be patient!

K. G