5-1/2 yr old still wears dipes at night

[mendocino]

Anyone else have an "older" child still in nighttime dipes?

My philosophy - and it's worked so far on everything from daytime potty, to talking, to riding a 2-wheeler - is that he'll do it when he's ready. Pretty much no amount of my interference in his learning/discovery schedule has ever worked. He does it when he's ready.

He's never been able to wake up at night to go. His dipes are almost never dry in the morning - and infrequently he soaks through them. Daytime potty was a BREEZE. I just took the dipe off one day (around 3 - I know that's "late" too) and never put it back on. In 2 days he had no more accidents.

He doesn't mind the dipes. He's not embarrassed when his friends notice them in the bathroom. I'd rather put them on him than wash his sheets every day. 

So I guess I'm just asking for support. Anyone have a similar story?

[Alyantavid]

My son's only 4.5 but he still mostly wears a diaper at night.  He just can't last all night long and always feels bad when he wets the bed.  When he's ready, he's ready, it's not a big deal at our house.

[pbjmama]

I don't have a similar story but I do know plenty of other people who do. I think I would give it until 7 or 8 before it concerned me too much. Some kids just are not ready. 

[Red Pajama]

Of my twins, one has been dry at night since 3.5, the other is still in pull ups at night now, two years later. Little sister has been dry at night since a little older than 2, so for at least a year now.

It isn't a big deal here, it's just what happens.  I've told him (and believe) that he'll be dry at night when his body is ready. 

A friend of mine with three boys said all three have struggled with night dryness, and only the eldest (3rd grade) is out of pullups.

[CallMeMommy]

My six-year-old is still in pull-ups at night.  Sometimes he's dry, sometimes he soaks them.  I know it's because he's such a heavy sleeper that he can't feel that he has to go and doesn't wake up.  DH gets irritated but what can we do?  It's not his fault, he's not doing it on purpose, and I know it's not unusual for kids to still wet the bed at 8 so I'm not going to stress about it.

[Drummer's Wife]

My 5.5 yo is also in diapers at night (as is my 3.5 yo).  He tends to soak them, too, so I have no desire to try to go without and have to change sheets and mattress protectors on a daily basis.  I know he won't be peeing at night forever, and so it's just not a big deal to me.  I have a DD who was dry at night right around her 2nd birthday.  All kids are different, and it's really only the inconvenience of making sure they have a diaper/pull-up on each night before they fall asleep (or in my case, I am usually putting one on DS after he is already sleeping). 

[AllyRae]

My little guy will be 7 next week and still wears Goodnights to bed, and wets them every night. :(  His ped says that's still within the realm of normal for little boys, so he's not too worried.  He just sleeps so deeply that he doesn't notice that he has to go, and he can't hold it in (even during the day he has trouble holding it in once he knows he has to go.  He's always had that problem...his occupational therapist thinks it's part of his low muscle tone and sensory issues).

[mich]

My oldest was easy to potty train, but could not wake up at night to pee. He wore Goodnights Pull ups until he was 8.5. We did reach a point where I felt he could try harder. He mentioned to me he was waking up, needing to pee but not wanting to get up, so using the pull up.  But he was still reluctant to give them up.

Then I came up with an idea. I knew he was saving up for a DS, so I told him when he was pull up free, the next 3 times I would have bought a box of Goodnights at BJ's I would give the money to him instead. At $20 a box this was a big incentive! This worked like a charm. It took just 2 or 3 nights to wake up dry, and he has been dry ever since. I really try to avoid bribery, but I was so sick of spending the money Goodnights, and would much rather give it to him.

All that said, I really do believe that he was not ready for that step until around 8yo.

[MoonStarFalling]

My son is a really deep sleeper and wet the bed until he was 7.  It became less frequent as time went on.  We tried limiting fluids, waking him up to go and a family member gifted him an alarm (which he absolutely hated and didn't work anyway).  It's a pain to deal with but lots of kids wet until 8. 

[KyleAnn]

Ds, who will be 8 in March, was also a super-deep sleeper.  He was cd'd and out of diapers regularly at 21 months after several days of pl'ing.

He continued to wet at night (heavily) until last November at 6 3/4 yrs old. 

For a while we did try bringing him potty during the night-never helped.  We cut off drinks after a certain time-never helped.  We tried taking him out of the night time undies (GoodNights were the only thing that didn't leak at that point)-he just continued wetting the bed.

He just wasn't ready.  When he stopped wetting it was about a two week stretch of waking up more & more mornings dry and then stopping...and boy was he proud!

He'll get there when he's ready!

[CariOfOz]

uote:

Originally Posted by AllyRae 

My little guy will be 7 next week and still wears Goodnights to bed, and wets them every night. :(  His ped says that's still within the realm of normal for little boys, so he's not too worried.  He just sleeps so deeply that he doesn't notice that he has to go, and he can't hold it in (even during the day he has trouble holding it in once he knows he has to go.  He's always had that problem...his occupational therapist thinks it's part of his low muscle tone and sensory issues).

This is us too... Little guy turns 7 in March and *sometimes* wakes up dry, but is very upset if he wets the bed.. so he chooses to use Drynights and I'm cool with that.  He will once in a while wake up and go to the toilet during the night, so I'm hoping that's him starting to hit the stage of maturity where he can toss the drynights away :)  He's not really bothered with wearing them though. 

[berry987]

My DS will be 6 in December and still wets at night. His 4 year old brother has been dry every night since about 3.5. I stopped putting him in pullups about 6 months ago - hoping that the sensation of becoming wet would somehow wake him and help train him. But after 6 months of soaked sheets, I bought Goodnights again. At first he was horrified - cried, said they were for babies, etc. We didn't make him wear them, but explained he would probably sleep better because he wouldn't wake up at 3am to change his PJs (which is what he was doing). After a week or so he started asking to wear them. Anyway, so yes, we're right with you. I figure he just needs more time. But I do admit I'm a little nervous about how long this will last - I have a friend whose 11 year old still wets the bed every night. 

[MO_Bookwyrm]

My son wet the bed until he was 6.  He had had his adnoids and tonsils removed about 6 months earlier due to health reasons.  We had hoped that would help with his bed wetting (as it did his father), but it didn't. 

At this point, we decided to try a bed wetting alarm.  We did a bit of research and settled on the Potty Pager.  It wasn't the cheapest out there.  And we liked it because it vibrates only.  We also liked the money back guarantee.  In less than 1 week he had quit wetting the bed.  We did this right before school started.  Since then, he has had maybe 2 or 3 night time accidents.

[IsaFrench]

DS is 9 1/2 , has been trying to stop using pull ups at night but is not dry for more than a few nights in a row, so I tend to give in and ask him to start using them again (especially on days when I've had to wash the pillow and the duvet as well ...)

He IS a bit small for his age & I read that it's both a question of size of the bladder and a certain hormon that will only be secreted when he'll be bigger overall ....

in restrospect, I wish I had baught the washable night pull ups years ago, it would have certainly saved a lot of money !

[mendocino]

Thank you everyone for your stories. I knew I'd be waiting awhile but had no idea it could be 7 or 8! I'm glad I now know, I can relax a bit.

[MamaMamaMama!]

My son was still wetting the bed by 6 1/2 and it started being an issue for him because he couldn't sleep over at anyone's house (he was embarrassed about the diapers). We tried waking him up and we tried an alarm but he was wetting the bed like three times a night and it was just too much.

What worked...sesame seeds. Seriously. I don't know why or how it works, but giving him a teaspoonful of sesame seeds and swallowing it down with water had him completely dry within a month. He just turned seven recently and is dry every single night.

An herbalist friend of mine suggested this remedy to me and said she has known many other children that it has worked for. We are now in the process of trying it with our almost-5 year old and again it is working. It isn't 100% surefire all of the time in the beginning; it takes a few weeks and sometimes there are accidents. But I would say it is definitely worth a try!

[IsaFrench]

sesame seeds ? I'd like to try .... do you grind them or do you give them whole ?????

[MamaMamaMama!]

I just give them whole--about a teaspoonful and you just swallow it down with some water. I'm sure grinding would work, too (or you could even try tahini?) but they don't have much taste whole so my kids didn't have a problem with it, so I tried not to complicate things as much as possible.

[darcytrue]

Originally Posted by pbjmama 

I don't have a similar story but I do know plenty of other people who do. I think I would give it until 7 or 8 before it concerned me too much. Some kids just are not ready. 

Yes! this. My daughter is 8 1/2 and she was still wearing Goodnites on her 8th birthday earlier this year. Finally, she stopped wearing those at night. I stopped letting her drink after about 2-3 hours before her bedtime and I made her go potty before bed. I also put a really good padding underneath her sheet to catch it if she does have an accident. But ever since I did all the above, she has had maybe a hand full of accidents in the last 6 months.

[mendocino]

Originally Posted by MamaMamaMama! 

I just give them whole--about a teaspoonful and you just swallow it down with some water. I'm sure grinding would work, too (or you could even try tahini?) but they don't have much taste whole so my kids didn't have a problem with it, so I tried not to complicate things as much as possible.

INTERESTING.

I wouldn't be willing at all to wake him up every night to sit him on the potty, or get a bed-wet alarm - but sesame seeds...even if they don't work for him, they can't hurt.

I will definitely try this. :)

Thanks again!