How old before child should be dry through the night?

[boobyfeeder]

DD2 turned 4 in August. She has been day PLd since just before she turned 3, so over a year now. She wakes up with a soaked pullup nearly every day, however. I have asked her if she wants to wear underwear to bed, and she says yes. She gets up most nights at least once, for bad dreams or to be tucked in or whatever, and if I remember (I'm half asleep), I will take her to the bathroom. She is still waking up wet. I thought that children weren't developmentally ready to be dry at night until at least age 5, but her older sister (6) was consistently dry shortly after she PLd. Her friend (3) and her cousins (3.5 and 4.5) have also been dry at night since they PLd. It's not a huge deal, I know if she's not ready it will happen eventually, but is there anything I can do to help facilitate a quicker readiness? Pullups aren't cheap!

[boobyfeeder]

Sorry, just realized I probably posted in the wrong forum. Feel free to move it, Mods.

[southernmommie]

Some kids are dry through the night as early as 3. My old neighbor's boy is 12 and still wears a pull up at night. I know that's extreme but I've been hearing more and more of "older" (boys mainly) that are still having trouble staying dry at night. My DD4 turns 5 next month and she's consistently been dry at night, although waking up to go pee during the night sometimes, for almost a year now. Maybe shorter, like 9 months. But my DD2 is not even trying to go potty on her own. If she's wearing a pullup its to pee in, not to go to the potty and pull it down. But if she's not wearing one, she'll go on her own no problem. She's just not wanting to do it full time. So I have no idea when we'll get to the night portion of potty training. She's also a super heavy wetter. We're talking a soaked through night time pull up every night.

[Alyantavid]

Depends on the kid. My oldest was potty trained at 2 and wore a diaper at night for a couple weeks. He's 8 now and has wet the bed maybe 5 times since then?

My younger son is 4.5 and still wears a pull up to bed. He was also potty trained at 2, but he just isn't ready. He does stay dry most night now, but he still wears it because once a week or so he won't wake up in time.

[2xy]

DS1 was potty trained at age 2 and had virtually no daytime accidents. He wet the bed nightly until he was 11. He was diagnosed with sleep apnea at 13, so we're thinking that might have had something to do with it. However, my mom says her brothers wet the bed for many years, too.

DS2 didn't figure out the potty until he was nearly 4. He wet at night occasionally (maybe once a month) until he was about 6.

They're all very different.

[prothyraia]

My son turns 4 in a few weeks, has been out of daytime diapers since he was around 2 1/2, and is dry at night about half the time. Sometimes he wakes up and needs to pee, mostly he sleeps through it. He *hates* wearing diapers, so we let him fall asleep without one and then put one on him when we go to bed. If he wakes up and fusses about it, we send him to the bathroom to pee and then let him sleep the rest of the night without a diaper.

We co-sleep, though, so I'm in no rush to push the issue. *I* do not like waking up wet

[Drummer's Wife]

Totally depends on the kid. My oldest was dry all night by her 2nd birthday; my next child was out of diapers at night when he was 3 (eh, or maybe he was 4, I really can't recall). My third and fourth children (now ages 3 and 5) wake up soaked most mornings; the 3 yo is more likely to be dry than the 5 yo. I just make sure they have diapers on, and it saves on washing bedding frequently. I figure they won't be wetting the bed when they go off to college, so it's not a big deal to me.

[Minxie]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

I figure they won't be wetting the bed when they go off to college, so it's not a big deal to me.

My DS (age 4.5) was good to go during the day at age 2 but it wasn't until this year that we got the nighttime handled and even then, there are occasional accidents. He goes to bed at 7; I go around 11 so I wake him to pee then. We co-sleep so I have a vested interest in making sure he gets up to pee.

The other thing I noticed is that days when he has a lot of dairy, he tends to sleep harder and an accident is almost guaranteed. This happens especially if he has milk with dinner so I try to keep his milk intake to earlier in the day. It seems to be a common problem with boys.

But just like Drummer's Wife, I reasoned he won't be going off to college wetting the bed.

[mama2cal&darby]

Just to confirm the huge range in ages- my neighbour is 9 and still wears PUs to bed. She wakes up soaked every single morning!

[JudiAU]

We started pl'ing because our son was dry through the night at age 2y2m . And then the flood when we work. Instead, we moved him to the potty. He will sometimes wake to pee now or more likely wakes up and then realizes he has to pee. He has been out of diapers at night for at least 8 months. Maybe one wet bed (and not even the whole bladder) ever 3-4 months.

I have a cousin who still has frequently night accidents at 16 . They finally switched her to a non-dairy diet and that helped some.

[benandmarensmom]

My DD turned 5 in August and has been in panties durring the day since just before her third b-day, she has only been out of pull-ups since the week before her b-day. (we tried to continue with cloth but she was waking up in a puddle every night). My son who is now 15 was night and day dry at 2.5. Every kid is different, I had always assumed that girls were easier than boys but my little one really just needed to go at her own pace, she still will not wipe her own bottom with mom or dad double-checking.

[2xy]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

I figure they won't be wetting the bed when they go off to college, so it's not a big deal to me.

Years ago when I was doing a lot of research about bed wetting for my older child, I read that approximately 1% of adults wet the bed.

If you Google "adult bed wetting," there are lots of hits.

[meemee]

my dd was dry from 20 months old. yeah 20 months. had me freaked out enough to call the doctor. both night and day. started with night which is when the nurse actually pointed out perhaps she is ready to be pt. and she was.

and me? not until i was 12 or 13. i was day dry young. but not night. and i am not as rare as people think i am.

[SpottedFoxx]

Staying dry at night isn't behavioral - it's hormonal. Until the hormone comes in that wakes a child when they need to use the bathroom, they will continue to be wet at night.

DS is 5.5 and no signs of night time dryness. We addressed it with 3 pediatricians (his regular, his developmental and my SIL who's a ped) and they all said the same thing. We'll worry/talk about it when he's 8.

[limette]

i don't think there is a should.

my two dd's were fully trained (night and day) by 24 months.

[boobyfeeder]

Originally Posted by SpottedFoxx

Staying dry at night isn't behavioral - it's hormonal. Until the hormone comes in that wakes a child when they need to use the bathroom, they will continue to be wet at night.

That's what I had thought, something about a mature bladder. But then I found out about all these other kids (and her sister) that were staying dry, I wasn't sure if it was something off with her or if she was normal. I appreciate all the replies, it is easing my mind a bit. The dairy theory is interesting, they always have milk with dinner. Maybe if I change it to lunch. Thanks everyone!

[paxye]

My 8 year old still has accidents... he just doesn't wake up... he was PT at 3...

I EC'd my other three...

DS#2 was dry at night before a year...
DS#3 around 18 months...
DD is 9 months and has been dry at night since she was 3 months old. If she needs to pee she'll tell us and we'll potty her... but she sleeps though most nights and stays dry..

[SubliminalDarkness]

I also don't think there's a "should." My older son sometimes wet at night until he was nearly 5. We just put him in a diaper at night, and whatever happened happened.
My younger son is almost 4, and he wakes up wet every single day. I'm not worried about it. It's a physical development thing in almost all cases, not behavioral.

[KJoslyn78]

my oldest still pees (usually not IN bed, but on her way to the bathroom - she wakes up as she needs to go, rather then before)... this happens nearly nightly. Though from about 8 until recently (at age 11) she had no issues, and i chalk it up to her hitting some rapid puberty growing that either her body or hormones just have not catch up with her yet.

My 7 yr old has been night dry for over a year now... she has the rare accident (maybe 3 times in the last year)

My youngest is 4 and still has to wear protection at night, it's RARE if he is dry.

I had learned that night wetting is more common if there is a family history of it happening.. my dh was 11 before he was dry all night, every night, and while i didn't bed wet, both my brothers did well into their teen years.

[Llyra]

My older DD is six and still wets at night, about four days out of seven.

My DD2, on the other hand, is 3 1/2 and mostly dry in the mornings. DS is that same age, and still wets copiously at night.

I think there's a huge range on this.

And I don't think there are "shoulds." Certainly at four years old I wouldn't give it a second thought. And I wouldn't put pressure on the child-- for most kids it's not something that can be learned. It's a biological transition that happens, and it happens at a huge range of different ages.

I might look into cloth options for nighttime protection, though, if the disposables are bugging you. We've got Starbunz Super Undies, and we like them a lot.