[KalamazooMom]

Our DD is 5 and has been potty trained since about 3.5 yrs. She really has not had an accident since then. However she has never had a dry diaper or pull up at night. I think this is mostly no big deal. I did talk to the ped about it and her advice was not to worry until she is 6. However she did suggest putting her in underpants at night rather than a pull up so she can feel the wetness, since this might give her some motivation to get up when she has to pee. My DH is also in favor of that idea. I really doubt that that's going to work since I think the problem is that she's a very heavy sleeper and just doesn't wake when she has to pee. What do you all think?

 

[onlyzombiecat]

I think it could be worth a try. I totally wouldn't stress if it doesn't work though.<br><br>
My dd made the move to underpants at night. She really wanted to wear underwear to sleep in. I thought she'd have a lot of accidents but she hasn't.<br><br>
If you think it is just because she is a heavy sleeper then maybe wake her up part way during the night and take her to the toilet to make it a habit for her.<br>
I read something about milk being connected with bedwetting also. That might be something to look into too if it doesn't stop with time.<br><br>
There are some books that might help if it continues.<br>
Dry All Night : The Picture Book Technique That Stops Bedwetting<br>
by Alison Mack<br><br>
Getting to Dry: How to Help Your Child Overcome Bedwetting<br>
by Max Maizels, Diane Rosenbaum, Barbara Keating

 

[TiredX2]

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<div style="font-style:italic;">Our DD is 5 and has been potty trained since about 3.5 yrs. She really has not had an accident since then. However she has never had a dry diaper or pull up at night. I think this is mostly no big deal. I did talk to the ped about it and her advice was not to worry until she is 6. However she did suggest putting her in underpants at night rather than a pull up so she can feel the wetness, since this might give her some motivation to get up when she has to pee. My DH is also in favor of that idea. I really doubt that that's going to work since I think the problem is that she's a very heavy sleeper and just doesn't wake when she has to pee. What do you all think?</div>
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My pediatrician said 12 years is when they start to worry. There are a LARGE number of children still in pull-ups at night in the 7-8 range, so I definately wouldn't worry until then.<br><br>
DD was day dry at 2.5 She only ever had a dry night (very rarely) probably after 5.5. After she turned six we decided to go cold turkey and it wasn't actually a problem. If it had been we would have gone back to night diapers. She is homeschooled (so not a *huge* group of same age peers) and we know at least two kids her age still now in night time pull ups.<br><br>
First, we said no more milk while reading at night. DP & DD read right before bed and she would often go through 2 large cups of milk.<br><br>
Then we really encouraged her to pee right before going to sleep.<br><br>
For awhile we would wake her up once during the night (now we dont). BUT if she sleeps in her own bed she is more likely to not have an accident because she usually gets up and gets in our bed mid-night and goes to the bathroom then.<br><br>
DS (3.5) went night dry at the same time.<br><br>
SO now instead of washing a load of diapers once or twice a week I get to wash sheets an extra time a week <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/shrug.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="shrug"> Oh, and don't foget getting peed on.

 

[Shonahsmom]

My dd was daytime potty leanred with no accidents since 2 years old.<br><br>
She woke up with a wet night time dipe every single night up until close to 5 1/2. I never made a thing of it and one day at bedtime she said "I'm going to wear panties to bed now." And she's woken up dry ever since.<br><br>
Like my ped said, you can make a big project out of it now and it'll take six months (or whatever time) or you can just let it be and it'll probably happen on its own in the same time frame.

 

[Parthenia]

Our ped recommended going cold turkey on the pull ups when dd was 5 and not night dry. I bought some Bummi's training pants, and we did the 11:00 shuffle to the bathroom. She's 6 and we still do it. She's just starting to get up on her own and go, usually when she sleeps in her own bed, and goes into our bed.<br><br>
I'm so glad we stopped with the pull ups. We plan not to use them for dd #2. Our ped is adamantly against them, and recommends using cloth underwear. She said something to the effect that they aren't worth their convenience. She really converted me when dd had a whole week dry within 2 weeks of stopping the pull ups.<br><br>
Good luck! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/thumb.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="thumbs up">

 

[AdoptChina]

one of my kids finally stopped bed wetting at age 10....it just happened all of the sudden..............I have another one who is still wetting (a lot!)....have tried a few different things (no drinks after a certain time, waking up every few hours to use the bathroom etc...hasnt made a difference)....just going to wait it out a little longer (the Dr said the alarm wouldnt do any good since DS is such a sound sleeper....and neither one of us wants to put him on medication)<br><br>
DD , otoh, has been diaper free at night for quite some time<br><br>
eta: DS wets in pull ups and in underwear...AND doesnt even wake up! Ive gone in to check on him at night and everything is soaked yet he is still snoozing away

 

[mommyschiff]

I was in your same boat just a few months ago! I was beginning to wonder if he would ever stop wetting at night. Honestly I just waited for him to express an interest in not wearing a pull up. I told him one night just very simply as I was helping him get is PJs on "you know some day you won't even need these pullups because you will go all night without going pee-pee." And then one night he asked to go to sleep without a pull up. And he woke up wet - we cheered for him for giving it such a good try. I absolutley did not want him to get emabarrassed. So we let him try on the nights he wanted to and pretty soon he was dry every night. I will aslo say this - our 3 yo got potty trained in January and was immediately dry all night. Then he started having accidents at night. I never put him back in a pull up because I wanted him to feel the difference. And since we co-sleep for most of the night that meant waking up with a warming sensation on my back a few times. But he stopped wetting after about a week and is fine now. I would just advise anyone whose 5-6yo is in that limbo stage of night wetting to just wait it out. If you don't feel like there is a problem and teh child isn;t bothered by it then just wait it out.<br>
Just my 2 cents<br>
Kelly

 

[mamaley]

op, my son sounds a lot like your dd--was 3.5 (very close to 4) when he was potty trained and hasn't had a dry night (he's almost 5). still in pull-ups.<br><br>
this thread is reassuring me...

 

[mrspeeper]

Hi! I'm from MI too...but anyway, I wet the bed until I was 8. Fully potty trained through the day by 2 1/2 but not at night. My mom took me to a urologist and tried all sorts of things...FYI my younger brother also wet the bed until he was 8 or 9. We both stopped suddenly with no obvious reason why. Aside from being embarassing at sleepovers, I turned out just fine! My bladder has been fine ever since. I wouldn't worry about it unless you suspect an underlying medical problem. :0 Good luck!

 

[chel]

my dd was day dry around 23m but it took her till now, 4.5yrs, to go down to 1 accident a month. dd was in cloth all her life and at 3.5yrs decided she didn't want a cloth diaper on at night. We tried sneaking a diaper on after she fell asleep but she would take it off durning the night. So from 3.5-4.5 she was diaper free and wetting about 2-3x a week. She never woke up after she peed. We co-sleep, and it was always me that woke up when I felt wet. Luckily Dh was far enough away that he could stay asleep in the bed and not get wet. dd and I had to find another place to sleep. For the past 6m I was getting dd up around midnight to pee, she would be sound asleep, but as soon as I sat he on the toilet she would pee, and never remember it in the morning. I've slowly gotten out of the habit of waking up and dd is staying dry more.<br>
Best of luck

 

[Losgann]

Just wanted to chime in. My ds is 8 and just recently started making progress with not bedwetting *after* we took away the pull ups and let him wear undies to bed.<br><br>
The first month was an accident or two every night, and piles of bedding in the laundry every day.<br><br>
The second month, it just sort of clicked all of a sudden. Where he used to just sleep through all night long, even in a puddle, he started waking up to change.<br><br>
The third month, more often than not, he'll wake up when he feels the need to go. We're working on it now, he's often so sleepy that he can't figure out he needs to go to the bathroom and will roam from room to room half asleep so we have to sleep *light* so we can get up and direct him to the potty. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> But he's making progress! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"><br><br>
He's probably dry 5 out of 7 nights now. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> I don't think he ever would have gotten this far if I hadn't taken out the pull ups. That was the first step for us..<br><br>
Good luck! It does happen! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile">

 

[FlickervilleMom]

I feel for you, KalamazooMom! I have a thread going in this forum about my DD privates making her squirm in kindergarten. My doctor suggested that it might be the "Goodnights" pants she wears at night that are making her itch. She suggested treating the bedwetting with DDAVP, a nasal spray, and I have to say that it is working. She gone from 6-7 wet nights a week to 1, maybe 2. My 6 yr. old DD is a heavy sleeper like yours. And, honestly, I have 4 small ones and I just can't wash all of her bedding EVERY DAY anymore. A person can only take so much... <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/irked.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="irked">: And I can't understand putting a bedwetter in underpants <b>on purpose</b> when, as a mom, you KNOW your heavy sleeper won't notice! I know mine wouldn't!<br><br>
But, more importantly than telling you about the medication, (because I'm trying it reluctantly) another poster said her mother used to give her honey at bedtime for bedwetting. I looked it up on the net and a couple of sites said that this isn't a new idea. Supposedly 1 tsp. of honey helps because it holds onto moisture and settles the child.<br><br>
I'm giving the med a try because my husband feels like I started down this route and I should continue until my follow up appointment in 3 weeks. But I would much rather try the honey! The less meds the better.<br><br>
Maybe it's worth a try for you...?

 

[lionandlamb]

We recently saw the urologist. DS had been potty trained in pre-school, having maybe one accident a week (and usually when he was running or playing outside). Once he started kindergarten, he started having more accidents. Then it became a daily thing. We took him to the doc and he had no bladder infection or anything he could find then. We purchased a "potty alarm" to help wake him up and remind him when he's wet. He sleeps right through it....we are up several times. The urologist said, being he often wets just little amounts or will wet right after going to the bathroom that he may have an overactive bladder. His explanation was the cells of the bladder are "over-reacting" to any sense of fullness, causing the involuntary wetting. He wanted DS to try ditropan as a way of helping it to relax. Has anyone else ever used this med? Anyone else been down this road? I want to help my son.

 

[AdoptChina]

we went through this with my 10 yr old (and still going through it with my 8 yr old). If I remember correctly, the Dr said something about my son not having an enzyme (or enough of one) that was needed for the bladder to be mature enough to not wet at night (ok, after typing that out, it doesnt sound like it makes any sense lol...but I swear it was something along the lines of his bladder just needed to mature more)<br><br>
Anyway, we discussed alarms and he said dont bother, my boys are heavy sleepers, pee right after falling asleep etc and it wouldnt help<br>
Also talked about meds and he said to wait to 12 before we went that route.<br><br>
Well right after turning 10 my older son just stopped wetting altogether....still waiting on my 8 yr old (he wets almost every night)

 

[acrathbun]

I have a 10 yr old who until recently had *never* had a dry night.<br><br>
I did a bit of research and found out some things that are interesting to me & perhaps to you too.<br><br>
Bedwetting isn't really an issue until the child is 6 yrs or older, simply because it is extremely prevalent prior to 6. So, wait until she's 6 and maybe evaluate the problem then.<br><br>
Bedwetting, even when parents are non-judgemental, non-critical can affect self esteem. Usually when an older child notices younger siblings or other younger children not using disposable pants at night. It is very true that 99% of children will eventually "grow out of it". But that may not be until their teens. I found my son avoiding situations where he would have to sleep out of our house. Either because he didn't want his extended family/friends to know he wore disposable pants OR because he was afraid they would leak - as they sometimes do. If your child wants to be dry at night, there are ways to help him/her.<br><br>
Alarms have a confusing reputation. Some parents think it's a "set the alarm & forget it" kind of thing. In the first few days & weeks of using an alarm the *Parents* not the child are the ones who hear it & wake their child & direct them to the bathroom. Eventually the child wakes on his/her own & can go to the bathroom by themselves, but that is not something that will happen the first night. It will take, on average, 10-12 weeks to dryness at nighttime.<br><br>
Here's a comparison of what percentage of children are dry at night one year after whatever method:<br>
Medications (all of them, used for 3-6 months) have about a 15% success rate. Waiting, Restricting Fluids, Waking your Child, Using alarm Clocks, all have a 15% Many children have wetting problems again when the meds are stopped/decreased. Alarms, when used properly, have a 70-80% success rate.<br><br>
Our favorite alarm is the Malem Ultimate. It has an audio alarm and it vibrates as well. It is very small. Here is also one of our favorite websites for bedwetting resources:<br><br><a href="http://www.bedwettingstore.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bedwettingstore.com/</a><br><br>
Your child is still a bit young to start trying most of these things, but perhaps it will be helpful information anyway.

 

[KalamazooMom]

Thanks everyone. I am thinking I will try to talk to DH and get him to agree not to take any action on this until she is 6. I myself was a bed wetter until age 12, and I wonder if there's any genetic component to this?

 

[acrathbun]

A study quoted in "7 Steps to Nighttime Dryness" showed the following.<br><br>
If both parents were bedwetters, each child had a 77% chance of being a bedwetter.<br><br>
If one parent was a bedwetter, each child had a 44% chance of being a bedwetter.<br><br>
If neither parent was a bedwetter, each child had a 15% chance of being a bedwetter.<br><br>
AND, they have, believe it or not, identified a "Bedwetting Gene" It is located at Chromosome 13q<br><br>
So, I would say that YES there is a genetic component to bedwetting.