Help to Keep My Son's Bedding Dry from Accidents

My 5 yo still has the occasional accident. I finally broke down and bought the good nights pads. Get them on amazon and have them shipped to you if you can't find them. They are a lifesaver.
similar to the puppy pad, but they have adhesive on them and I just stick it on the sheet. He lays right on it. After an accident, I pull it up, toss it and put down another.
If he doesn't have one, I leave it there until he does - which is inevitable.

holding bladders at night is a tough thing. It will not happen until he is physiologically ready. My oldest was six, almost seven. My 5 yo is much better than his older brother, so all kids are different:)

Do they sell Goodnights there? They are like PullUps, but for older kids.

poor kiddo. i get it. we did pullups past age 5 as well for nighttime accidents.

just keep making it NO BIG DEAL. he'll get there. although it already sounds like he's gotten the idea that this is "bad" and feels awful about it, poor guy.

i was never a fan of waking the kid up, because that doesn't really solve the problem, only the symptom.. and then there's the potential for crappy sleep or lost sleep. we just accepted it as part of life,and moved on. he stopped on his own. although we did do a "chart" for dry nights...but in the end, i just don't think he had that much control over it. when he was done, he was done.

the only idea i had for you, was to order pullups online. you can access this website, i'm not sure how it works but have you looked into that?

and oh yeah, he's not as big as my son. maybe it feels worse because japanese kids are smaller...again...poor lil guy!

Aaah. You are doing a great job by telling your son not to worry about it. I do not agree with the poster that says to tell your son to "keep trying." Likely this is physiologically out of his control and the "keep trying" might make him feel guilty.

I would eat as early as possible and let him stay up a little later with hopes of emptying his bladder. See if they sell plastic mattress covers. They are fitted or zip onto the mattress. Then just deal with a bed change once or twice a week until your little guy's body matures, as you have been doing. Keep reminding him this is normal for many boys and he will grow out of it, but it may take awhile.

I would maybe put a waterproof crib mattress pad where he sleeps over his bedding. They are soft and then at least the bottom bedding wouldn't get wet. We deal with this too....sigh...

Don't know if they sell these where you are (but there is always the internet!). I got sick of washing blankets, sheets, etc... too, so I used extra large puppy training pads (about the size of a baby blanket) both underneath (on top of sheet) and on top (under blanket) of my daughter to help curb the mess until she got things under control. I got the idea by chance - had a box left over from the puppy & experimented. They are incredibly absorbant and soft, so both comfortable and helpful! Saved me much clean up time! Good luck!

My thought would be to order pull-ups on-line. Maybe order goodnights instead of pull-ups.

My son is only 3 1/2 and is over 40 pounds. I've been putting him in size 4T/5T pull-ups. That's the biggest size I've ever seen. After that I think you have to buy goodnights. I think I'm going to have to do that, because I really want him to know that it's really ok to not wake up dry.

Personally, I would not limit the liquids at all. Sounds like he doesn't ask for it, but if he did I would just let him have as much as he wants. Staying dry at night has to do with your body learning to produce less urine and the ability to wake you up when you get a full bladder. It will come with time.

I hope someone does have a cloth pull-up suggestion. These things sure do get expensive!

D., it's good that he is upset. There is no way for him to be successful if he doesn't want to have dry nights. So don't worry about that right now. Just hug him and say "I know you want dry nights, honey. Keep trying, okay?" (Btw, my ped told me to say that. It isn't about trying to make him feel bad. It's about helping him to continue to want to. There's a big difference there...) Be very kind and sympathetic when you say it.

I think that what might be happening is that he cannot wake up when he starts to pee. He sleeps very soundly, so he sleeps through the peeing. In the US, we can get little "alarms" that wake the child when it senses moisture, so that would help him stop peeing. He could get up and go to the potty. That's a little hard for a 5 year old unless you help him get his diaper back on. However, it would help train him to "feel" the wetness and stop peeing, if you could get him one of these alarms.

For right now, this is what I would do. Get up in the middle of the night and wake him enough to take him to the potty. Let's say that you put him to bed at 8:00. At 11:00 pm, you get him up and take him to the potty so that he can empty his bladder. I think that this will help.

I urge you not to limit his fluids during the day in anticipation of night time. It might sound a little strange, but our bodies RETAIN water if we don't drink enough to flush out fluids. He could be peeing out this retained water if you don't give him enough to drink. Your little bean pole (so cute!) needs milk - calcium. You need to determine how much a child of your RACE (not a Japanese child, in other words) needs. Don't just go by what your doctor says - find out how much YOUR child needs, and make sure he gets it. Water is great, but not enough in order to get FAT and calcium. He needs fat and protein for his brain development.

Anyway, talk to the doctor about getting one of these alarms. If he says they don't have them in Japan, see about ordering online. If you have a friend who lives on one of the bases, she can order APO and then she could mail it to where you live. Research the different ones before picking them. Read the remarks from moms who have used them. Determine what age they are usually used for.

Oh! And I just read what Diana said. They DO sell these in Japan! One of my friends has them for her dog. So do find those and get them for medium sized dogs.
Good luck!!
Dawn

I like the "puppy pads" ideas. You said he woke up with a dry pull up several nights a week typically? You could try putting him in undies at night. My son who is NOWHERE near ready to be night trained actually went from overflowing his pull-up every night to having a few dry nights and small wet nights in undies. If it doesn't work, you can always go back to pull-ups. It sounds like a lot of the problem is shape/position and not absorbency.

For cloth options... there aren't a LOT of cloth options out there for bigger kids. You could try looking for XL fuzzibunz, but I think he's getting near the top of that range. Happy Heinys are supposed to make a cloth trainer, too. There are some custom order places like on Etsy that you could try. I worked with a company on facebook called WunderUnders. They're a little tricky to measure for, but they were nice to work with.

Would it be possible to order products from another country online? I don't know how the shipping would be, but you might be able to find things that fit him better.

Have you tried going without the pullup. My daughter will automatically go in her pullup if she has one on; however, if she is in underwear she will go to the bathroom at night. She's had a couple of accidents, but she wakes up after the accident, so she doesn't have multiple accidents at night. But I use the crib waterproof pads under the sheets. I bought the disposible pads that they make for the elderly, but I haven't used them yet. I would suggest getting something made for older people as they maybe more absorbent.

My daughter has leaked out of diapers during the night most of her life. She will be 4 this weekend. If you can get access to them, I highly recommend Goodnights (pull ups for older children). They come in boy or girl colors and they come in 2 sizes, both of which are for older children. My daughter is on the tall side for her age but she is in the smaller size.

I also have a waterproof mattress cover over the entire mattress as well as a smaller pad (maybe 2' x 3') that I put under the fitted sheet in the prime area of her middle section. She NEVER leaks out of the Goodnights. Of course I have forgotten to put it on her occassionally and glad that I had back up protection.

My main goal was to find something that did not leak. Even if you are protecting the mattress, it is a big pain for both the adult and child to have to completely clean up, change clothes and change bedding in the middle of the night. Good luck!!