Night-time Potty Training- I NEED HELP!!!

Hi, G.! I would stop all drinks after 7:30 at night. If she needs a drink, give her a sip and nothing more to quench her thirst or even give her a small cup of crushed ice to suck on. End the drinks at night, and that should help tremendously! I wish you luck!

A couple of things came to mind. First, like some others have indicated, cut off drinks about 2 hours before bedtime.

Of course, make sure she goes potty before going to bed.

Over the course of a weekend, go in every few hours and get her up to go potty.

With my (now 6 year old) daughter, she was in pull-ups for a long time too. We still have the monitor in her bedroom because her 3 year old sister sleeps in there with her, and I guess it's more of a security issue for us too. BUT I could hear her in there getting restless/uncomfortable. It was because she'd have to go potty. It only took a couple of times to realize that that was what was going on.

SO, I started letting her outgrow the pull-ups. She complained that she wanted to wear "big girl panties". I told her that was fine, but that would mean she'd actually have to get up and go potty in the middle of the night. She yelled, "I use YOUR potty!!" I told her I didn't care which potty she used, as long as she went potty. From then on, we haven't had a problem.

For what it's worth, and good luck!

There is a solution! It is called time. When her body matures enough, she will be dry at night. If you think it is a physical problem, talk to the doctor, but odds are, it is a simple maturation issue. If this is the only problem you have, consider youself blessed.

M.

Of course cut her drinks an hour or so before bed, make sure she goes before bed. You might have to use a breastfeeding routine (if you aren't already on one), waking her up ever few hours to potty in the night. Try to figure out how long in between her visits is, she should be able to wait an hour or so between visits. Also find out if she dreams about going to the bathroom, if so, tell her that that's her body telling her she needs to go. You can try making her clean up herself, that sometimes gets the point across about how important it is for her to get up and go and just how unpleasant it is for you. Good luck.

My step son is the same exact way. I am
not sure if its stress, or being a heavy sleeper?
I know that stress from going to back and forth to his mom's every weekend is stressful on him.
The pull ups started after maybe a year after I met him (he was 4)and fully potty trained. I know there had been quite a lot of change going on in his life. His mom got evicted from an apartment and had to move back home to her mom....they went from 5 on 5 off with the shared parenting to just seeing their mom on the weekends...his mom also had a sick baby in the hospital too. At 4 he was going in his pants during the day at pre-school. Now its just through the night. Someone told me that they really do just grow out of it.
I feel your pain!

Not what you want to hear, but most likely, she just needs time. You can check with your Peds, but if you or your husband had family members who wet the bed, it's most likely a bladder maturation thing, or she sleeps too soundly. Time will help either problem. Bedwetting tends to be genetic and run in families. To this day, I am shocked I don't wet the bed because I will have dreams where all I am doing is using the restroom. I have heard that if she does dream of using the bathroom, to dream about kicking the toilet first. That action worked for this person to actually wake up so they could use the restroom.
good luck, be patient. I have 4 children. Two were dry at night, one wet most nights until she was 12, and one wets 1-2x/week. that is almost worse because you hate to spend the money on pull-ups that will be wasted. The other alternative is doing laundry extra times/week.
For my daughter who wet until she was 12, we did get a prescription for DDAVP from the doctor to use whenever she went on an overnight somewhere.
R.

As a former bed-wetter myself, I ask that you please not refuse your child beverages. If a person feels thirst, that is the body telling them that dehydration has already begun.

As a parent of a (7 1/2 yr old) bed-wetter, I really do understand your position. It doesn't matter what we do, as the parents, to get him to NOT wet the bed. It is a physical thing, when he enters a deep sleep, his bladder releases-Dr says maybe because the rest of his body is so relaxed, possibly his bladder just relaxes as well.

If your child was unable to stand on their head by a certain age, would you want to 'fix' that? Inability to stand on one's head and inability to have a dry night are BOTH physical things that will sort themselves out with time. I don't know if this is a very good analogy (having a feeling it probably isn't, but can't think of anything else at this time of night, lol) but maybe you get the point?

BTW-I wet the bed until I was 10 and the worst part of it, for me, was being denied drinks after dinner for years-I remember some nights being SO thirsty I could hardly get to sleep, even sneaking in to the bathroom and getting sips of water from the sink after my parents went to bed. I feel it is cruel to punish a child for something that is beyond their control, and I've never met anyone who WANTED to wet the bed, so I feel it's safe to assume that wet nights are out of one's control.

Buy pull ups, try reusable (or disposable) bed liners, teach her to clean up after herself-just because she can't help it doesn't mean she shouldn't clean up after it (it IS her body after all) but PLEASE don't punish her by disrupting her sleep or dehydrating her, it's not her fault.

We have friends (2 sets actually) that have exactly the same problem. I honestly don't know if there is a solution.

Have you spoken with the pediatrician and asked what they recommend?

Do you get her up? You have to train them to get up and use the bathroom. I get my 3-year-old son up every night when I go to bed (11:00) and my husband gets him every morning (5:30-6:00) before he gets ready for work.
Eat an early dinner and don't let her have any liquids for at least 2 hours before bed.

Hi G.
I came across this in my info file Hope you find it useful.
S.

B- Complex & Bed-Wetting
Reported by Janet White

The only thing this family did for their 10 year old son who is a bed wetter (usually every night) was to add Shaklee B Complex 1- 3 times a day.

"The B-Complex appears to be working. My son has only gone twice since we last spoke. It was two nights in a row after he forgot to take the afternoon dose. He had been drinking pop in the evening, as well , which he normally doesn't do. I haven't had any problems with side affects. My daughter will be 12 and my son will be 10 this coming Fall. It has been the first time in our lives that I haven't had to deal with sheets on a daily basis! She quit on her own around 10 , but I knew my son was going to need some extra help.

Thank you for making my life so mush easier! THANKS! I still can't believe that a basic vitamin, like Shaklee’s B-Complex could make such a difference.

Jordan is excited about going to summer camp."

One suggestion that we were given by a friend was to push fluids early in the day. This helps with several things -- it strengthens the bladder because it's filled (and emptied) more often, it keeps the child from "holding it" all day since they're drinking more, and it keeps the child from being as thirsty in the evening (so they naturally drink less).

I don't know if all of those things are true, but I know that we've had success with my kids by pushing fluids earlier in the day (up until 3-4pm or so). After that, they still have their normal milk at dinner and a sip of water before bed, but they drink the majority of their fluids with b'fast, lunch, and snacks.

That being said, my husband remembers wetting the bed probably until he was 7 or 8 (maybe older? He's not sure.). He wanted so desperately to stop, but couldn't. He never had anything to drink after 5pm, his parents made him clean up his own sheets, and his dad once even told him that they couldn't go to the amusement park the next day if his sheets were wet in the morning. All that taught my husband was how to hide his wet sheets and change them before his parents noticed. He said he doesn't remember anything magical happening either -- he just quit wetting the bed. I think some people just have to grow into it, and their bodies/bladders simply aren't ready to make it through the night yet.

I figure it doesn't hurt to try pushing the early fluids for a while. It causes no harm, and you have nothing to lose. Also, if you haven't already, you may want to check with your doctor to rule out a medical problem. Good luck!

I agree, talk to her doctor. But, some kids just need more time. Leave her in pull-ups. My brother was 9 or 10 before he quit wetting the bed. He is now over 35 & dry. It won't last forever.

There is a Homeopathic that is for bedwetting. In fact if you go to the health food store and ask they can help you. Homeopathic has saved us many doctor bills. Amazing stuff! In fact I think the name of it is "Bedwetting". The companies name is "Hylands Brand". Little timy pills that you put under your tongue. Only dump them into your bottle cap and never into your hand and back in the bottle. If you do they are not any good any more.