My son just turned 5 and has been potty trained for a little more than a year now. He still has to use pull-ups every night. He hardly ever has a "dry night", some mornings the pull-up is superwet or even leaking. He goes to the toilet before going to bed. From your experience, is that still "normal" or should we do something?
Most of his friends are dry at night and he has asked a few times when he'll be able to sleep without pull-up. I'd love to ditch them --- considering the costs and impact on the environment...
It just takes some kids longer to stay dry at night. I have a friend whose son did not stay dry until he was 12 yrs. The drs. said he was fine and his body would take over when it was time. It is a hassle, but the more stress he feels, the longer it will take.
Can I recommend to all of you with older kids still in Pull-Ups to consider switching them to cloth "pull-ups"? They come in larger sizes or can be custom made for older children by some stay-at-home mom's who do cloth diapers and trainers. You can get them already water-proofed, or add a waterproof cover until no longer needed. Some even come as pocket-style that allows you to custom stuff it according to your child's needs. (For the record, I don't make or sell cloth diapers or trainers, but do cloth diaper my own children.)
There are a couple reasons for this suggestion:
1. It will feel more like underwear to the child and may encourage eventual night dryness.
2. Because it's not a "Pull-up" you can tell your child it's their new "special night-time underwear", thus hopefully taking away some of the embarrassment. Pull-ups, or even the big kid disposable "undies" still feel a lot like diapers.
3. When wet, they will feel the wetness all over, not just in the wet zones (that often have feel-dry liners) of the pull-ups. Again, encouraging dryness.
4. It's better on the environment, and if your child would be one of those long-term night wetters, it's better on your pocket book.
Since wetting is the only issue at night, you can very easily train your child to remove their wet undies in the morning and place them in the laundry or a bucket, and they can be washed in your regular wash. (Rinse first in the sink if desired, especially if you go more than 2 days between wash loads.)
Hope that helps.
My son is 6 1/2 and still in pull-ups at night. My doctor didn't seem concerned about it at his last check-up. She basically said that each child's bladder control is individual and we know he can control it during the day, and that he is a heavy sleeper. I am trying to get my son to figure out a reward he wants to earn once he is night trained, but I think a lot of it depends on when his body is ready. I know it seems like a long road but I am just grateful I have pull ups and don't have to wash sheets every day.
I am a grandmother of 3 babies, 4 years, 3 years, and 1 years. My suggestion to you is to stop using Pullup immediately. You get a mattress cover so that he does not hurt the mattress and put panties on him at night. Children will stop potting if they feel discomfort and I did not realize that for a long time either. I spent a lot of money on pull ups and was told this little secret and my 3 year old and 4 year old did not like being wet at night and stopped wetting. It took a couple of weeks but they got it. Norco sells little devices that you can use that will wake your child when they start to wet and that helps your child to learn how to wake up on his own. If that does not work then you can talk to his pediatrician. My daughter could not wake up at night and she was 7 years old so I talked to her pediatrician and he gave her a nose spray that worked.
My little boy is 6 and he still needs a pull up at night. My sister's little boy had to wear one until he was almost 8. I think it is normal, especially for boys, to have trouble at night. My little guy hates it!! He feels like he is wearing a diaper. I have heard there is a medicine they can take to help the problem. I am making an appointment with my doctor to talk about it!
I hear that it's more common for boys to take longer at night. I haven't had a boy be potty trained yet (my 2 1/2 year old twins are working on it), and my oldest girl didn't have much problem with nights. But I do remember my little brother wearing pull ups for a very long time. He was daytime potty trained fairly early, and had no problems with that. But he was in pull ups at night until at least 9 years old. My girl cousin had to eventually be on medication (this was years ago) because she was still having issues wetting the bed at night when she was 12. I don't think those examples are the "norm" per se. But I know it's not uncommon for nighttime potty training to take quite a while. It will eventually happen though. Good luck.
I think every child is different especially boys. My little girl as soon as she was potty trained at about 2 1/2 she did not wet the bed. On the other had my two boys, older and daddy's of there own now used pull-ups until they were 11 years old. They slept so hard they could not wake up. ON there 11th birthday they both quite and never did it again. I think you have to go by each child and not what every one else is doing.
Night time varies, it has more to do with how deeply he sleeps, how well his bladder is to hold it. It isn't anything you can "train" him to do and putting him in underwear too soon can cause stress for you and sleepless nights if he wets the bed.
If he still has wet pullups in the morning I see no reason not to keep night time pullups on him.
What I did for my son while the training process is I did get him up a few nights when I went to bed to go in and pee, it isn't great as they wake from a sound sleep and are all out of it, but it helped him start training his bladder, then eventually went all night long.
Once he had a week of dry pullups I put him in underwear at night.
Don't compare him to his friends, all kids do this at their own pace and it is more being ready with his body then him being potty trained or not.
Have him evaluated to make sure there are no bladder issues going on maybe but otherwise I wouldn't worry too much. Some kids just take longer for night time.
Take him to the potty before you go to bed - if he's wet, change the pullup. sometimes they don't realize they need to go when they're heavily asleep. Getting them in the habit of a middle of the night bathroom break sometimes does the trick. You don't even have to fully wake them - just walk them to the potty, pull down the pullup if it's dry and remind them to go. Change them if it's wet. Then steer them back to bed. After a few days they'll be able to do it with just a little steering. It took about three weeks for my son to get the hang of it.
hello i been having the same problem with my 7 yr. grandson
i raise i finally took him to doctor that deal with kiddenys
and bladders and other things well he is aurology for adults
and for pediatrics the dr told me it a common thing that some times the bladder just stays small but it can be fixed so you might find your self a good urology and if every thing is ok with the child can you please try imipramine that med is is for this type of problem our Dr has put my grandson on this and it is helping the Dr told my grandson that he is in charge and this was his plan no caffinee of any kind drink lots water durring the day so the bladder can fill when he has to go to the bathroom hold it as long as he can so the bladder can strech then go to the bathroom he then takes this pill before he go to bed he do this for 3 months and it should take care of the problem the Dr said so far the little pill is working he have dry nights it pretty nice if you need more info please call ###-###-#### or email me at ____@____.com i thiught for a long time we olny had that trouble but it very common. also you might want to know that wet beds also is found with kids that have adhd. Shirl hays
My daughter will be 5 in April, and she still wears a pull-up at night. We tried letting her sleep without one for about a month, but she had an accident about every other night (even though I would wake her up to go around 10pm before I went to sleep). I think some kids don't have the physical maturity to stay dry at night. Don't worry, it will happen someday...that's what I have to keep telling myself.
My oldest was over five before he trained completely. His bladder just wasn't mature enough to stay dry at night. Give it a little more time. Good luck!!!
Well, this IS normal, at least for some kids. Some kids just sleep more deeply and don't wake up when they need to go. For others it happens right away. With my oldest, I consulted with my ped. for ideas, which I tried with limited success. My middle child didn't have this issue. My third I didn't worry about it, and she was dry at night at about the same age as my oldest without my stressing over it. It'll come. Good luck!
My brothers had the same problem. Their bladders didn't grow as fast as they did. He will grow out of it. One of my brothers had to wear pulls ups to bed untill he was 11. The other untill he was 13 my mom did take him to the dr about it and they gave him a medication to help with it. Don't get discouraged he's just growing faster then his bladder can keep up.
Good Luck to you!
B.
I wish someone would have told me when my son was 5 to take him to a chiropractor. My son peed every night until he turned 13. On his 13th birthday was his first dry night. Right after his 2nd adjustment. I was told that when he laid down to sleep, the nerve telling his brain to stop all bladder activity was pinched, thus, he peed. I hope you give this a try. No drugs, no embarassment.
I am so glad someone else is going thru it has well. I wonder if he will ever be out of pull ups. good luck if you find something that works let me know k.
some kids just don't have a big enough bladder to make it through the night dry until they are quite a bit older. my ten and eleven year old nieces still have to get up 2-3 times a night to use the bathroom. my nephew has been potty trained for a year and a half and still wears a pull up at night while his two year old brother hasn't used a pull up in several months. each kid is different. as long as you think it's just an accident and not because he doesn't want to get up at night, just keep using the pull ups for now. try not to give him drinks after 6 pm. too.
