I potty trained my son when he was a little over three years old. He caught on rather quickly & didn't have too many problems. He has never been able to stay dry all night. At five years old, he still goes to bed in diapers...sometimes, he still wakes up drenched in pee because he soaked through the diaper...one rare occasions, he wakes up dry. The problem is that he still has daytime accidents. I've had the doctor check to make sure there are no apparent medical issues & she doesn't believe there is (we've done a sonogram on his bladder area). We've done rewards & punishments. Nothing seems to help the daytime or nighttime accidents. During the day, he doesn't completely wet himself (usually) - it's more like small accidents where he pees on himself, then realizes it & stops. His underwear almost always smell like pee at the end of the day & many days, we have to change clothes at least once because he's peed enough that his shorts/pants are wet. I noticed this week that he was grabbing himself (his crotch) - I kept asking if he needed to pee - he said he was just checking to see if his underwear were wet. Upon further observation, it SEEMS like he honestly may not know when he's peeing on himself until his underwear are wet. So my question is...is it possible for him to be unable to tell when he needs to pee? Is there something else I should be talking to the doctor about looking into? Is it just laziness? I'd really like to find some resolution to this problem! Thanks for much for reading my novel! :)
My son is 5 also. We haven't had the daytime issues, but wanted to commiserate with you on the nighttime wetting. My son still wears a pull-up every night, and its wet every single morning. Pediatrician insists its just a function of bladder size and growth and there's no reason to worry, and no reason to push him on it. So for now that's what we're doing.
If you use the search on top you can search for bedtime wetting and see answer after answer that kids that wet during the night can't help it. There is nothing they can do to stop it.
It is a biological function. The brain turns on a chemical that stops the kidneys from producing urine when the child goes to sleep. Then when they wake up the kidneys start the production and they have to go pee.
Kids are not supposed to wake up to pee during the night. They're supposed to go to sleep then sleep all night.
If you wake a sleeping child to take them to the bathroom it only makes them clench the muscles up. Then they sit there and don't go or they simply dribble a bit. As soon as they go back to sleep they pee. They can't help it.
So really, put an overnight pull up on this child and put a plastic cover on his mattress then a mattress pad so the plastic won't be so hot. He'll leak occasionally but it won't be as bad. Diapers are just not meant to wear for that many hours. If the pillow gets wet go buy a new one because the time and effort to wash it and dry it costs more than it can be replaced for.
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As for the daytime stuff, he's a kid. He's still growing and working on stuff in his body so it's normal for him to leak a tiny bit. When he goes help him to bear down and get the bladder as empty as possible. Then try to get him to go every couple of hours.
I can tell you that in all my years in child care that almost every kid I have even known has issues around the time they turn 5-6, I think it's a growth thing and not anything they want to do on purpose.
Maybe you can try a potty watch. It can ring on whatever intervals you feel necessary to remind your son to go to the restroom before an accident happens.
Some kids take longer to not pee during the night. Sometimes until age 7. You could try using Underjams underwear. It's a bit bigger for the older kids, and isn't a diaper.
As for during the day, is it possible that he is a bit constipated? Sometimes when we are constipated, we can't empty our bladder fully, and then there are little leaks throughout the day as we move around.
Another 6 mths might make all the difference. Peer pressure may change him. If not, it's time for a urologist.
My 6yr old had daytime accidents for the longest time. He wouldn't even tell anyone he was wet when it was very obvious. I took him to the doctor who checked him out and said it could be constipation and that he is holding the stool back but the urine leaks out sometimes. He told us to do miralax to clear him out then tweak it to what his needs were. Now I give him a fiber gummy nearly everyday and rarely miralax. We also had his teachers working with us to make sure he was going to the bathroom every few hours. We had to tell him to go, not ask him if he had to. He's done really well over the summer, not sure how 1st grade will go. Right now it seems like he holds it till almost the last minute then has to run to the bathroom so I'm hoping he'll make it this year. And for what it's worth, my son never actually cared that he was wet - he's always been like that. He was like your son and smelled like urine, but if you asked him he'd either say he was dry or that he peed a little but it's dried up now. As for the night time, a friend of mine's son is 5 and going into 1st grade as well and still has frequent nighttime accidents, her pediatrician is not concerned sinced he's still so young. Hope that helps!
Sounds like he just doesn't pay attention to his body signals until it is too late....
As far as the overnight issues, that is very common and may not resolve itself for several years.
Will he be going to school this year?
Have you tried to set a timer and have him go to the bathroom and try every hour? It may be, that like many little boys, he just doesn't want to stop playing to go to the bathroom.
Rather than ASKING if he needs to pee, TELL him it is time to go in and try to pee.
Accidents are kind of common for some ids up through first grade.
My son is three and he grabs his crotch when he has to pee. He'll deny it at first when I tell him to go potty, but eventually If he hasn't gone on his own I have to make him go into the bathroom and go potty. If I don't I get the same kind of minor accidents during the day like you do. Where he is barely wet. So as soon as you see your son grab himself make him go even if he says he doesn't need to!
Hi
Let me start off by saying I am a 62 year old grandma and could not believe what I was reading . When my son was little he did the same thing we had the most wonderful dr. that used a lot of home remedies that really worked to the point he had my son take a tea spoon of honey every night before bed and to eat a oats and honey granola bar during the day the first day I did one spoon full in the sounds weird but believe me it works after he goes a couple of days and stays dry at night you go every other day morning and one at night this there fore stretches the bladder my son would only wear dark blue jeans as it did not show if wet trust me this works back than we had no disposal diapers and you were not getting a diaper on him than , this will work . Enjoy your day
Take him to go potty every half an hour and don't make a big deal out of it. Make sure he goes before bedtime.
