Still Sleeping with Diapers

Updated on January 14, 2007
J.K. asks from South Weymouth, MA
9 answers

My daughter is almost 6 years old and she has been toilet trained since she was 2, but we could never get her out of a pull-up at bed time. I know exactly the problem: she sleeps very soundly and genuinely doesn't feel the urge or even the fact that she has wet herself. I know this because she has forgotten her pull-up on occassion, wets that night, and still sleeps through until morning without interruption. She even wakes up and has no idea she even had an accident. I really don't think this is a behavioral issue, but my concern is that she is getting older and more social. What kind of effect will it have when her friends start to find out? How can I help her? She's already getting disappointed because she's noticed that her 3 year old brother doesn't need a pull-up for bedtime.

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M.D.

answers from Providence on

I had a similar issue with my son. For about a year, we got him up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Finally, we just stopped waking him one night and he hasn't had an accident since (almost 3 years later). We probably could have stopped sooner....but didn't want to deal with any messes in the morning, so we just kept the middle of the night routine for awhile. My pediatrician said, it really depends on when their bladders are ready to handle it. Don't stress about it...she will outgrow it.

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R.G.

answers from Lewiston on

Hi...I didn't go through this personally, but my sister did. She wet the bed until she was about 11 or 12 years old. My parents tried everything, but nothing ever worked. In the end they just took every precaution to avoid the 'mess.' Eventually she stopped peeing or just remembered to wake up by herself. That is an idea. Set your alarm for about 4 hours after she goes to bed and wake her up to go...make her go. Maybe after doing this for a couple of weeks her body will do it on its own (wake up). As for sleepovers...I would tell the parents prior to the event so they can prepare. Good Luck!!

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E.B.

answers from Boston on

Hi, I can tell you that my cousin lived with us when he was a child and he use to wet the bed. He was 12 we he was still wettng the bed. My mother ask the doctor about it and he told her that kids grow out of it eventually. But he was going on 13 and like you said what if his friends found out. Plus he has a brother two years younger with no problem. My mother started to make wake up rounds for him at night. At least twice. She would wake him up even if he said he didn't need to go. He couldn't feel it. But it worked. Everytime he would get woken up. He would use the bathroom. I think maybe you should try this. You and your husband can take turns with her at night. Make sure she uses the bathroom before she goes to bed and no drinks before bedtime. I hope I was helpful. By the way what kind of business do you have. I am trying to have an online Dollar store but it seems to not be working. I twisting my mind to find a way to make some extra money at home.

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K.C.

answers from Boston on

My cousin is 9 and she still wears pull ups at night. Her ped also said it was a weak bladder. She has sleep overs and just tells her friends she has a weak bladder. My cousin "sounds" very smart when she talks and her friends just accept it now. I think what everyone else has already said is a good idea about bathroom runs in the night.

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J.P.

answers from Boston on

Hi J.--

I understand your concern. I have a 5-1/2 year old boy who still wets at night, a deep sleeper like yours. Everything I've read said this is pretty normal. Most pediatricians don't do anything about it until they pass age 7. If you want to DO SOMETHING about it, there are alarms you can sew into her underwear that will wake her up when she starts wetting so that she can get up and go to the bathroom. We told our son about this and he doesn't want to try that yet. Currently, we wake our son up once during the night and he doesn't wear pull ups any more. If your daughter needs to wear one, there are some that don't really look like diapers that she can wear in social situations like sleepovers.

Don't worry. It's normal for some kids to do this.

Jen

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C.M.

answers from Providence on

Hi J.,
I also had a son that was a very sound sleeper that took a long time to outgrow the bedwettting. It has a lot to do with sleep patterns I believe. There is a whole company that has some kind of alarm system that triggers them to wake up when they start to go at night, but that is really kind of radical. She will outgrow it, but try waking her at night to go, and for when she is away, i think they make a pullup that looks like underwear for older kids now. My youngest is 12, so I am not too "up" on this but I just wanted to let you know not to worry too much about it. Since she is concerned about it, that helps you do things to help her to get past it together.
happy new year, enjoy the kids!

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P.D.

answers from Boston on

Hello,
Just wanted to let you know you are not alone, my 6 Year old is still going at night as well, and my 4 year old has no problems.

My 6 year old gets very upset in the morning when she find out her little sister is dry.

All the advise her is great, I may try the wake up calls at night and see how that works.

Thanks and good luck!
P.

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N.F.

answers from Boston on

This happened to my little sister. She could sleep right through a train comming in the house and not even move. Her ped told my mom that she could have a week bladder and to get her up before you go to bed to use the bathroom. If she says that she does not have to go turn on the water. My mother spent alot of money on pads for the bed that did not leak through to the matress. The ped told her not o use a pull up because they can absorb alot and she will never feel wet. Unfortunatlly there is nothing else that you can do. My sister just stopped when she was about 8 years old. Sorry I wish I could help you better! Good Luck
N.

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D.B.

answers from Boston on

I don't think she will have a problem. My little sister is almost 11 years old and she has the same problem, it is just something that she has come to accept and goes with it. If she has a sleepover or something she just changes in the bathroom at night and in the morning, and her friends really don't know. I also had the same problem when I was little, until I was 13 actually. When I was little we didn't have pull-ups so I either had a good night or had to change evrything in the morning. My younger sister would tell everyone but I just said that she diudn't know what she was talking about and since she was younger, and I never gave people a reason not to believe me, they didn't question it. She will eventually out grow this, everyone in my family has so far, and as long as you let her know that it is not her fault she should be confident enough in herself not to let it bother her.

There are also different medications that they have that is supposed to help with the problem. I used some kind of nose drops that worked amazingly well when I was little. My sister has a pill that she takes. Just another thought. Good luck.

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