[jkl123]

I don't really know if this is a problem. My 5 year old was still in overnight pull-ups til about a month ago. We tried off and on to go a night withou them, but he always woke up wet. Well, I found out I was pregant about a month ago, and stopped the pull-ups cold turkey. My husband and I both feel he is too old to be in them. However, he still wets the bed EVERY NIGHT. I am constantly doing laundry and washing his blankets every day. He sleeps soundly for about 12 hours, so I know that is a long time to go without emptying his bladder. Someone suggested to me that I should wake him up in the middle of the night to pee, but I'd hate for him to develop that habit long-term. Also, we never, ever scold him for being wet, but do make a big deal out of it when he is dry (this has happened only 2-3 times in the past month). So, now I don't know what else to do and really need some opinions!!! Thank you in advance!

[twinzplus3]

Well you asked for opinions so here's mine: you and your husband are wrong on this and by stopping the pull ups cold turkey actually may have made the issue worse. I am wondering if you've really talked to your pediatrician on this?

Unlike day time dryness, night time dryness is generally a developmental and physical issue. Really, it's likely his endocrine system has just not started producing the hormones necessary to stop urine production at night. Because most night time wetting is a hormone issue, there is no such thing as "too old". It's really just a matter of his body doing what it needs to do--in it's own time. Further more, if he's a particularly deep sleeper, he's not going to wake up on a stimulus from the bladder. (And it sounds like if he's sleeping 12 hours at night--he's a pretty deep sleeper.)

I would encourage you to readjust your thinking on the issue and do some research on night time bed wetting. This is mostly likely a medical thing and you washing sheets constantly bc you think he's too old to be in pull ups isn't going to get him where you'd like him to be any faster. In fact, it could really be making him feel badly bc he "can't" fix the problem. (Kudos to you for not scolding him though--I know lots of parents who do.) My best advice is to go ahead and put him back in pull ups, or night time underwear as we called them. It's not a step backwards--it's a step forwards in terms of helping him understand that this is just the way his body is and he'll outgrow it. Obviously if you're giving him tons of liquids to drink before bed--you should stop that. (But somehow, I doubt you're doing that.)

The condition tends to be hereditary (although isn't always) so a child is more likely to be a bed wetter if one of his parents were. Definitely have a conversation with his pedi about this as well in case the pedi wants to run tests.

[jkl123]

To be honest, I have never really had an issue about the pull-ups - our neighbor runs a daycare and she and her daycare friends (we go to playgroup together ) have been telling me for a year that he is too old. In fact, he just got potty-trained last year right before he turned 4 and she thought there was something wrong with US for waiting too long. Because she is a daycare provider, I kinda listened to what she was saying. She's also the one who said to wake him in the middle of the night, but again, I don't really want to establish that pattern.
I have no problem whatsover putting him back in pull-ups and am actually glad someone supports that! I just felt like I was the only one with a 5 year old still in pull-ups! My neighbor will say things to him in playgroup like "You're going to be a big brother now. Big boys don't need pull-ups at night." My older son was completely potty-trained by 3, so I have no experience with this.
As for liquids, he doesn't usually drink before bed, but he does almost always have a snack. Snacktime is 7:30 and bedtime is always 8:00.
I'm glad to know I won't be making a mistake by using pull-ups again - thanks for the reply!
BTW, around what age are they usually developed enough???

[KR258]

I've just got to say that I remember having dreams that I was in the bathroom going on the potty and then waking up and being so upset when I found out I wasn't on the potty and I had wet my bed! I don't know how old till it stopped but I know I must have been at least in first grade.

[twinzplus3]

Isn't it funny how we can be so easily influenced by stuff like that? I'm the same way so don't feel badly. . .but as a daycare provider she should know better. On the other hand, while night time wetting is "common", it's not that common. With our son (who I think was dry consistently at night at almost 6) I just used to tell people that his endocrine system needed to catch up with the rest of him! (It was my pedi that told me that by the way but I've since read quite a bit to support that.)

So I take back my original statement! It's not you and dh who are wrong but your friend the day care worker! When they tend to get out of diapers at night really depends on them, IMO. My pedi said most kids out grow it by age 7 or 8 with a few exceptions. . .ours was almost 6. So yep, when the twins were born I actually had 4 kids wearing diapers! (But he only wore pull ups at night.)

[deedee1231]

My son was in night time pull-ups until he was 7 years old, and he just eventually outgrew it on his own. Our pedi told us that if he was still having a problem by his 8th birthday we would try him on a prescription medicine that would help him stop the bedwetting but we wanted to avoid that if at all possible and luckily, we did not end up needing to go that route.

I just wanted to second the already stated opinions that you should keep him in pull-ups as long as he needs them and talk to your pedi.

[fostermommy]

My son had a terrible time with bedwetting. We saw many specialists, tried the medication (which my insurance wouldn't pay for - so we stopped), and eventually he stopped wetting the bed --------at age 16. We kept him in pull-ups until he outgrew them. Then had him wear Depends at night. Believe it or not - he has no special needs. No medical explanation for the problem. What cured him was to eliminate the Depends, have him change his own wet bed without insult or punishment, wake him up at 2 am to pee, and have him use a bedwetting alarm. Waking up in a wet bed was not nearly as irritating to him as waking up to a screeching bedwetting alarm. He eventually learned to set his own alarm clock for 2 am. Then, eventually learned to wake up on his own at 2 am. Now, he still wakes up every night to pee, then goes right back to sleep. The doctor told us this is not uncommon - some males still wet the bed into their 20's!!!! The age of 5 is still quite young, and I agree to continue with the pull-ups. However, if it continues on as he gets older, I believe it is best cured by having him take on some personal responsibility for helping himself. Good luck to you.

[LeanyBean]

My oldest son was wetting the bed every night until November 2007. He's 8. Recently ~just last week~ he started doing it again. He wasn't fully potty-trained for daytime hours until he was almost 4. Many many factors can come into play involving bedwetting. I recommend doing lots of research. Noah's most likely cause was mind over matter. When I started discussing options to treat him for it he just stopped just like that. Our family doc wasn't going to worry about any treatment for it until he was 10 and then we were going to first try an alarm. He's also had problems with stress related bowel issues. (I'm just awaiting their return.) We're buying a house and the last 2 weeks have been really tense. Looking at properties, meeting with the realtor, getting information to and from the bank. So he's feeling our stress and it comes out with him having going issues.

I think you should continue using Pull-ups or Good-Nites or what have you and also praise him for dry nights. Maybe even a reward for so many dry nights in a row. Limiting his liquid intake really won't help either way but limit what kind of liquid intake to just water or milk. Juices and sodas will cause too much sugar and can likely make the problem worse.

I understand why you stopped the usage cold turkey but it really isn't that bad to have one wearing Good-nites and another in diapers. If Noah hadn't gotten himself to not using Good-Nites I'd have 3 out of 4 of my boys using some sort of diaper. Noah was in Good-Nites, Charlie wears Pull-Ups and Gabriel of course is in diapers.

Just remember that everything will work itself out the way it was meant to.

[Samual]

You can get pull ups that allow the child to feel wet, so he wont make a mess but he will know he has wet himself. Our oldest is four and he occasionally wets the bed at night, we don't put him in pull-ups, he has a washable wetting pad, a bit like puppy training pads. So they let him know hes done a wee but keep the bed clean.
Have you tried waking him up when you go to bed to ask him if he needs a wee? I could never go twelve hours without going to the toilet, that is a very long time for a bladder not to release and could be damaging if the bladder is full, so his bed wetting could be due fully saturated bladder.
To be dry at night at five is quite early especially as he has only been day toilet trained for the day for around a year.

[2BoysMomma]

I also have a 5 year old and have almost the exact same problem as you do. My son wets the bed at least 4 out of 7 nights each week, many times more. We were using pullups until his cousins (the 2 main ones, both boys, only 2 years older and had the same problems when they were his age) started teasing him and my son refuses to wear pullups because he doesn't want to be a "baby"; therefore we don't make him wear them. If the pullups help your son, let him wear them at night. I tried waking my son up in the middle of the night but this got difficult for all of us as he wasn't getting enough sleep. I use the absorbent pads under his sheet to help save the mattress, but it does require stripping the sheet in the middle of the night. Luckily if he pees once during the night, he usually doesn't do it again.

My pediatrician told us that this was normal for some children and he is not seeming abnormal (wetting his pants during the day, during naptime). It is just he sleeps too hard to wake up during the night when he has to go. Also, there is a difference in if they have bowel incontinence at night or just urine. Also, we cut out all drinks except 100% fruit juice, milk, water and gatorade. He does not drink anything past dinner except water and only gets water until 7:30. He goes to bed between 8:30 and 9. When we can really enforce this (i.e. if he's not at his grandmothers or we don't have a late night), it really helps and many times will wake up dry. We don't make a big issue about him wetting the bed, we just strip the sheets and change clothes, but like you we do make a big issue out of him waking up dry. Our pedi also said he woule most likely be out of this by age 9 and it was commonly hereditary (I didn't find out until a few weeks ago that hubby actually had the same problem until about first grade).

Overall, my suggestion is, tell the daycare people to shut up and quit hurting your child's selfesteem by making him feel like a baby because in fact he is not. Also, put him back in the pullups at night if he will wear them and save your sanity because it may not be much longer until he chooses not to wear them and still wets the bed.