I have a 4 your old daughter who is completely potty trained during the day, yet she still wets in her pull up at night. She is such a heavy sleeper that when we try panties, she still doesn't wake up if she is wet. We do the no water before bed and even tried waking her up in the middle of the night to go. When we try this she may wake up dry, yet she doesn't even wake up really when we do it in the middle of the night. We've done this for 2 weeks now. It's not getting an better. I'm tired of washing sheets!!! Any suggestions?????
A. -
My husband has spent over 20 years in the field of sleep. Dealing with disorders and such, I asked him about this and he had the same problem until he was about 10 or 11. It is more common in boys but he says this is completely normal. She will outgrow it. With him, it had to take something new to get him to stop, for example, his parents got him a new bed and told him it was a 'special' bed, from one day to the next he stopped.
Most children are not ready to stay dry through the night until they are five years old and sometime older. They are just not ready neurologically. Be patient and try again in a few months. She will get it, after all how many adults do you see walking around in diapers or pull-ups?
Hey A.,
I feel your frustration. My son struggled with this for eight months!!! And now he is wearing night time pull ups again because we went on vacation and I couldn't take the chance of him having an accident. We'll start again soon. What did help was making a reward chart of when he was dry in the morning he got a quarter for his piggy bank. I know he is a heavy sleeper and will sleep right through it! If you figure it out let me know!
Hi A..
Your daughter might be having a problem with sugar and that is the reason she is wetting her bed. Try not letting her have anything that might have sugar in it past mid-afternoon, including juice. If the problem still persists, she might need to go on a digestive enzyme for about 2 weeks. But, you'll still need to watch the sugar. There is a Martha H. Bergner, DC in Tucson who does this type of digestive enzyme work.
Good luck.
Some kids just don't stay dry during the night for quite a while. I have a nefew who is 10 and still wets the bed. There is a hormone that we have that wakes us up to go to the bathroom, different kids start producing this hormone at different times. Just be patient. Good luck.
Hi A., you sound like my sister-in-law. She has a 5yr gir and a 7yr boy who do the same thing. She finally got this vibrating thing, I think she found it online. it somehow attaches to the underware and if they start to go pee it vibrates and wakes them up so they can go to the bathroom. I know a couple people it worked for but you have to give it a couple weeks. Be consistant with it if you only do it some nights and not others it doesn't work out so well according to what my sister-in-law says. I'm not sure exactly what it's called but I'm sure you can google it. Good Luck!
Mommy of 2 little girls!
As a physician, I'd like to confirm what others have shared here; that four is way too young to panic and that nighttime bladder maturity differs between individuals. Even though your daughter is dry during the day, it's quite normal for her still wet the bed at night. Most girls achieve night-dryness by age six and most boys by age seven. Bedwetting is the most common pediatric-health issue and studies show that the reason for this is because parents expect children to stay dry way before bladder maturity is reached and therefore begin to worry before there's a true issue. Just as we all learn to walk, talk, read, and snap our fingers at different ages, potty training (both day and night training) is also mastered at different ages. Nocturnal enuresis (the technical term for nighttime bedwetting) is only diagnosed well after the average age of nighttime bladder control should have been achieved. Current treatment guidelines now recommend that parents be counseled about the psychological damage caused by pressure, shaming, or punishment for something that their child *honestly* cannot control. The actor Michael Landon spoke very publicly about the fact that he did not stop wetting the bed until his early teens and his openness did a lot to break the stigma that bedwetting brings to older children.
"This too will pass", so just hang in there and know that your daughter is well within the normal time frame for bedwetting.
Warm regards,
Dr. Tamara
Sounds just like my daughter. She was a good, heavy sleeper and wasn't consistently dry at night until well past her fourth birthday. Even today, she half wakes up and sleep walks when she has to go at night. I would suggest getting out of pullups and into reusable training pants. For my daughter's full nighttime peeing, we used Mother of Eden's Overnight Undies. Never had a leak with those. Gradually, the wetness would wake her up more and more and no sheets to wash. They are not cheap, but either are pullups for months and months. They are cheaper than that and your time washing.
She is normal. I didn't withhold liquids and did not wake up to go at night and she eventually got better and better. Good luck!
Many, Many kids wet while sleeping and it is no fault of their own it just means their bladder is not ready to hold it all night. There is a book called Dry All Night that has some suggestions for parents as well as a story that helps the kids try to have more control over their bladder while sleeping but many health professionals will tell you that there should not be any concern until the child is 6 or 7 years of age!
Some kids are heavy sleepers and some even have the bed-wetting problem until they are up to 14 years old. The best thing to do is to have them go to sleep with a diaper or other waterproofing and tell them that when they have matured enough to be dry at night, then they won't have to do that. It is probably stressing her out that she has to feel bad about it. If she is diligent enough to be dry in the daytime, it may not be her fault if she isn't at nighttime. Let it not be a big deal. Then, when she relaxes and matures, it will happen.
A.,
Some children's bodies just have more difficult time waking at night to go to the bathroom. The reasons vary. I suggest just buying overnight pull-ups. They aren't cheap and it could take a while before SHE is in control of her own night time waking, but it WILL happen. It will be a little financial sacrifice, but the payoff is more sleep for you, less washing, and your daughter will feel better as well. Remember, though she may seem like a big girl she is only 4. Her body just needs time to grow into it's own. Be patient...I promise it will get better, and as frustrating as it can be, remember to just take a deep breath and look at it from her perspective, so as not to make her feel bad about it.
Good luck and may you all have dry and restful nights.
A.
mom of 4.....3 of which waited until the age of 5, 6, and 7 to stay dry during the night:)
It's not really unusual for a 4 year old to still wet the bed. The best bet for right now is to put her in pull ups at night and give it some time. She will most likely outgrow it. It's something in the brain that hasn't quite made the connection that the urge to pee means wake up. You could also look into a bed wetting alarm. This is a thing that pins to her jammies (by her ear) and then clips between her legs to her panties (we started with panties under pull ups to avoid changing the sheets). When the sensor gets wet the thing on her jammies makes a loud noise. Ours vibrates as well. The kid then wakes up and goes potty and then changes. This helps the brain associate the urge to pee with waking up and going. If you still have your baby monitor that helps so it would wake you up too. We started this when my step-daughter was 6. We've been using it for a year now and she's dry most of the time. She doesn't have one at her mother's house so we can't be totaly consistant. The instructions say that the more consistant you are the more helpful the alarm is. We bought a book on bed wetting that said not to start too early and that 5 or 6 was the best time to start. Either way, it could take some time. Not seeing a change in 2 weeks is probably not a reason to worry.
Hi A.,
My son just turned 5 in December and we were dealing with the same issue. I brought it up to his dr and the dr suggested when he goes to the bathroom have him stop in the middle and then start again... stop and start. It will build up his/her ability to hold it and it really has helped. He suggested doing this a few times per day. Not everytime he/she goes to the bathroom. He hasn't had an accident since we started having him do it and he thinks it is a pretty cool game. I hope this helps... I tried tons of other things as I am sure you have but this is the first thing that really seemed to help for us.
Good luck!!
