Drinking Before Bed

My son had a problem with wetting thru his diapers no matter when he drank it seemed. They have overnight diapers that are really good for this. I can't even tell you how many times I would have had to change the sheets if we did not use these diapers. I would not take that last drink away maybe just cut it in half.

Have you tried Nighttime (Huggies) diapers or try going up a diaper size in whatever brand you use. I wouldn't cut out her drinks before bed. She may not sleep well if she is hungry. HTH

When my first daughter was little, I was giving her a bottle of milk at bedtime. We had a lot of trouble with wetting the bed. My sister, who has three older kids and a lot of experience, told me that there is an enzyme or something in milk that makes them urinate. We immediately switched to water and the problem was solved. (We made sure she always had a potty break right before bed and still do even now that she's 6 1/2)

Good luck

Go up to the next size diaper during bedtime.

Hi C.,
I was dealing with the same problem, even if I limited my son's intake of liquids in the afternoon. I don't think he's ready for potty training yet, so I asked around. I found that Huggies makes an overnight diaper (who knew?), called Huggies Overnights (I think)...they are in a purple package. They have more absorbent material up front, and, while he sometimes may leak through, it's maybe once every couple of weeks rather than ever morning waking up soaked. Good luck!

I also have a 14 month old (and a 4 year old). We don't limit his drinking at all. I actually notice that he drinks a lot in the evening and I often have to bring a cup to his crib and let him have a sip before he will lay down his head. We also had some leaking diaper issues and here is what I have done: buy some diapers that are one size too big just for bedtime and put them on as tight as you can-they will hold more. If you have extras, put a pad in the crib, a sheet over, then another pad and another sheet. That way, you can take off the top pad and sheet and there is still another dry set underneath. I did this because Alex was waking up wet in the night and I didn't want to have to remake the bed half asleep. Good luck!

Try to give her water instead of milk before bed. When my daughters were younger I heard (maybe it's an old wives tale, but it did help), that milk makes a child urinate more than if you gave them water. I had my child eat and drink like normal at least 3 hours before bedtime. I would only give like 2 oz. of water before bedtime (but not immediatly before)...just like to quench your thirst before bed. Not in a bottle, but out of a cup. Changed into a clean diaper (a size above her normal) and I had much success with the no milk before bed thing. Not sure why, but it really helped. If that doesn't work, give her most of her milk in the first 3/4 of the day , and give water or watered down juice in the remaining 1/3 of the day....slowing down till the same. Dinner and usual, and a quenching of thirst 2 oz of water before bedtime.

Hi C.,

I also have a 14 month old, and she is very busy. So, with her finishing dinner also around 6:00ish, she is thirsty before bed. I usually give her a glass of milk about 1/2 hour before she goes to sleep. I began using Pampers Baby Dry in a size bigger with no leaks in the morning. Her diaper weighs a ton in the morning, but she wakes up happy without wet sheets.

Good luck! And do what heart tells you, you know your child better than anyone! :) By the way, I love the name Meredith.

Sounds like she's drinking 2 cups right before bed, which is a lot, but I can't tell from your request how much she drinks in total during the day. With my son, we would give him milk in the morning when he woke up. He'd have some water with/before lunch. He'd then get a cup of milk when he woke up from his afternoon nap (between 3 and 4:30 pm). I think then we didn't give him too much to drink with dinner at all, and then he'd have a cup of milk before bed... He, too, sometimes soaked the sheets. At night, we started to use Huggies Overnights - what a life-saver (sheet-saver)!!

But the other thing is, if you can, I would spread out the liquid-drinking so that it's not mostly right before bed. Try giving the cup of milk that you normally give with dinner after nap-time instead. That way it's earlier, AND she's not filling herself up with milk during dinner either (making more room for veggies, etc!)... Then just give her the milk after dinner/before bed. ...and use those Huggies Overnights!

Of course, this all changes when you potty-train her! My son is now 3 1/2 and potty-trained, but in order to keep him dry at night, we have to cut off most liquid drinking after his afternoon cup of milk. At dinner or after dinner, he only gets 2-3 oz of water. It seems to work well, but we just have to make sure we offer water/milk more often in the earlier parts of the day to make up for it.

Anyway, others have probably given you similar advice, so I'm sorry if this is a repeat! Good luck.

Have you considered using the next size up diaper for her at night? This has always aleviated my kids nighttime problems. My 15 month old is very much like this, but I dont ever cut her off at a certain time. I dont see it as making a difference and if she wants to have a drink, I'd rather let her. Changing sheets can get to be a pain though. Been there, done that.......
I'd give the bigger diaper a try before giving her a drink cut off time.

When this started to happen with my daughter, it turned out we just needed to increase her diaper size at night (even though she was well within the weight range for the size). So try an overnight diaper or have her wear larger diapers at night and see if it helps with the leaking.

I think it is great that your daughter is drinking milk from a cup. I'm not an expert on this but I would say to keep up the milk and find some more absorbent diapers. Or if you or your husband wake up before her to get ready for work, try changing her then if she'll stay asleep, just change her in her crib. Or when you go to bed.

Try diaper doublers. My son is almost 19 months and this is what I use with him to keep him from soaking through every night.

Whenever my daughter woke up super soaked, I would just buy diapers one size larger. It really helps.

Maybe try bumping her up to the next diaper size. It worked really well for me.

C.,
I too don't want my kids to go to bed thirsty or hungry. All of my kids were heavy soakers so I always had to get the huggies overnights. They worked really well for us and sometimes I even had to put medical pads down underneath the sheets or you can place them on top to soak up anything. I would try the huggies overnights first and see if that helps. I am totally with you on not wanting to limit her on drinking but if the more absorbent diapers don't work you may have to try 1/2 c. instead. HTH. Good Luck
J.

I've never limited night time drinks. In fact, we normally have to give our daughter at least one drink during the middle of the night to get her to go back to sleep. Try diaper doulbers - we found them at the local Babies R Us store. They are great & very inexpensive!!

Try moving up a size in diaper. I found that the leak was the first sign that you need more absorption.

I wouldn't try to limit her fluid intake to fix the problem because she wouldn't drink if her body didn't need it (you can lead a horse to water....). Let her decide how much fluid to intake and figure out how to best control the leak.

Good luck!!

Instead of giving her something to drink right before she goes to bed, try giving her something 2 hours before. That way you'll be able to change her diaper before she goes to sleep. It's alright to give her a snack, but don't give her any liquids before bedtime. One thing I do with my kids is I have a certain cut off time for any foods or snacks they want. It they ask after the cut off time then I tell them that the kichen is closed.

Huggies Overnight work great!

Try cutting down on much you give her -- maybe just a half cup instead of a whole cup. We had problems with both are kids around that age for at least a year soaking through their diapers. We use the Huggies night time diapers and make sure to change them immediately in the morning and that seems to take care of it.

Don't forget to brush her teeth before bed -- *after* she gets her cup if she's drinking milk or juice.

Good luck -- you're doing great!
J.

The general rule of thumb is 2 hours before bed. Obviously this is part of her routine - maybe try giving it to her an hour before bed, and maybe try giving her half the amount you usually give her. You can also try putting her in overnight diapers or possibly try a larger size diaper (at least for nighttime). Whenever our kids would start leaking through daipers, we knew that it was time for a new size, so maybe that will help also. Good Luck!

i don't give my older daughter anything to drink after dinner. she whined the first few nights when i started this, but she's fine with it now. it's really helped with not having soaked pj's in the morning or wet bed sheets because she's peed thru her diaper.