Bedtime Accidents

LOTS of kids just don't have the physical ability to hold it all night! It might not be a "physical" issue, but a physiological issue. Many, many children wear pull ups or Good Nites until they are 5, 6 or even 7!
If I were you, I would make MY life easier by using the Pull Ups, or layering sheets, waterproof pads so sheet changing is easier.
Most likely she can't help this. No kids would want to wet the bed!

It is well within normal limits for night time dryness not to be achieved until up to age 6 so she is still within that range.

I never equated diapers or pull-ups with being a baby so my son never had a problem using them even at your daughter's age. When he was her age we simply talked about using them for protection at night until his body was completely ready. Easy conversation.

If she had problems in the past using them I would look into using a moisture barrier cream to help against the wetness. You might even look at something more geared toward incontinent adults to provide the most protection for her skin. The pharmacist would be able to direct you to the right thing. When I worked in a nursing home it was common for the nursing staff to use a moisture barrier cream to help maintain the skin integrity of our residents who were incontinent.

You could also try using a wetness alarm but she is still within the normal range and her body is still getting there.

We use the layering pads. My son is 4 and will go for long stretches with no accidents, but then he'll hit a stretch where he pees the bed every night. He started PreK on Monday, so he's in a big transition and I've chalked this week up to that. I get very frustrated with it, but I try to remind myself that he's still very young, and it's a really common thing. I have done a lot of research, and I refuse to go back to pull ups. I would NOT do that if I were you -especially if this is only happening once or twice a week. She will eventually grow out of it and get older and better able to control it.

The 2 things I thought of that may be worth looking into:
* Having parents take turns getting her up halfway through the night for a potty break (its no fun, for sure, but maybe it's more "fun" than changing wet sheets, pajamas, etc.)
* and/or getting a couple of waterproof pads to lay over or under the sheet. They can absorb a lot of liquid. (http://bedwettingstore.com/Bedding/category_WaterProofPad...)

She'll grow out of it, but it's no fun to deal with, that's for sure.

Personally, I don't have a problem with kids who are potty trained during the day wearing Pull ups at night. Waking up from a deep sleep to go potty is a hard skill to master. My youngest is 3 and is totally potty trained during the day. 5 out of 7 nights he wakes up with a dry pull up, accidents the other 2. And like I said, I'm ok with that.

That being said, I understand not wanting your daughter's skin to be irritated and have to go back to steroid creams so maybe a skin barrier ointment with a pull up? She shouldn't feel like she's being punished for needing a little extra protection at night, probably you know some other kids who needed pull ups a little longer and could use them as an example to her?

Also, I believe they make something that will sound an alarm or a beep if a child starts to have an accident in the bed. I think it's a pad that goes over the sheets. My sister looked into it for my nephew a few years ago. It's geared for kids who are very hard sleepers and just can't wake up in time to go so if the pad registers any moisture it will sound a beep to wake the child up to go and help their bodies recognize the signals.

Good luck to you and her!

You should have a plastic cover on the matress. Then keep clean sheets nearby for a quick change. It will get better as she gets older. The bladder muscles and control are still developing.

The bed time accidents may be hereditary.

I know of one family in particular that has had bed wetting problems for 4 generations in a row.

Ask questions to see if this is a possible problem here. She will eventually out grow it.

Good luck to you and yours.

Hi. I have the same problem. We now wake up our 4.5yo son when we go up to bed and bring him to the bathroom. It's not a long term solution but it does stop the accidents. Good luck!

My son has been potty trained for about 3 years now and I noticed that when he did have the occasional accident, it's because he's too hot. I have no idea why this. So I make sure that he doesn't wear very much to bed (even in the winter) that way, he can easily kick off the blankets if he starts while he sleeps. Maybe this would work for your daughter too?

The fact that she sometimes wakes up to pee means that the urge strikes while she's in one of the lighter-sleep cycles that occur during everyone's sleep. That doesn't mean she can hold it long enough to make it through a heavy-sleep cycle.

You could try waking her for a potty-run during the night, but that's hard to do if you land on a deep-sleep period, and could seriously disrupt her sleep. But experiment, and find out whether there's an optimal time after she falls asleep (perhaps your bedtime will work). That may be enough to get her through the rest of the night. Or not.
I'm glad you don't want to punish her for something she really can't yet control. Some kids don't gain that control until well into grade school. How about letting her sleep on absorbent, waterproof bed pads and see how she does with that? They're easy to change if you discover her wet while she's dead asleep, and will keep her bed dry.

There may not be a "medical" issue in terms of infection or anatomy, but there is a condition called nocturnal enuresis (meaning simply nighttime bedwetting) that is not possible to "train" a child out of! My son had it and took medication until he was about 12. He tried to stop it at around 9 or 10 but the problem came back. We spoke to the pedi as well as a noted pediatric urologist, and learned that many kids (more often boys, but not exclusively) have this problem and take the medications well into teenage years, even up to 18. I'm not a big fan of medication when you can avoid it, believe me, but this absolutely changed our lives for the better! There were no side effects and it was just taken once at night.

Waking him up caused nothing but sleep disruption for everyone - a really really bad thing. Changing sheets is a nightmare - and yes, we used waterproof pads in between 2 fitted sheets so we could quickly strip the bed. But he was still wet and it was disruptive in the middle of the night. We used those terrible alarms which were awful and didn't work anyway.

By 7, he wanted to go on sleepovers, and at 9 he wanted to go to camp - none of this would have been possible without the medication. When he went to a friend's house, we simply sent a single pill in a plain bottle and told the other parent either the truth or that it was an allergy pill. All the kids thought it was an allergy pill. No embarrassment, no TMI. At camp, all the kids were (unfortunately) taking meds for one thing or another, so it was a non-issue. The nurses just gave him his pill since kids couldn't keep meds in their bunks for obvious reasons.

Your daughter could grow out of this in 6 months, or she could have it for years. You should talk to your doctor and at least discuss all the possibilities.

I agree with others as well as you that she should not think she is being punished with pull-ups or thought less of because she can't control it. And she needs her sleep. So do you.

Good luck!

One good thing to do is when she falls asleep, let her sleep for about an hour and then wake her up and make her go potty. This will reset her brain waves and she will ot have accidents. I have a 6 year old little boy who does the same thing. It is very very common in her age. Nothing to worry about and if you are doing everything you can thats all you can do. Cut off drinks after 7pm, wake her up an hour after she is sleeping. Try that and let me know if it helps. J.

My mom used to get my brothers up one more time when she was finally heading to bed, effectively cutting the time almost in half before they had to get up. The boys often barely remembered being roused so it did not seem to really effect their sleep. Good luck.