Night Time Potty Training Help!

[STLDisney_Freak]

My daughter is going to be 5 this coming October. She has been potty trained for a while now except at night. She wears goodnights to bed. She is my first child so I'm quite clueless when it comes to potty training. Quite frankly I'm tired of buying goodnights. Is this something that just naturally happens? At what age should I start being concerned?

 

[ilovejack02]

She wets the goodnights every night?

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

She wets the goodnights every night?

I'd say out of a week, she probably wets in them 4 or 5 nights.

 

[jbmom]

My ds just turned 5 also and is still wetting his bed 3-4 nights a week. There is never very much in his pull up so I think he does it and it kind of wakes him up. I asked the dr. and he said it was still normal and to keep him in pullups for now. My older ds never had a problem with this and I was getting worried. He also gave me a website with different products like alarms if the child starts wetting the bed. The website is www.bedwettingstore.com I think I'm just going to wait it out for now.

 

[LISAVWL]

My DD will be 5 in April and she wears pull ups to bed at night too & wets them every night. She's been potty trained for quite a while now. When I asked her new DR at her 4 y/o check up he didn't think it was a problem and said to keep her in them. Our old DR suggested that we wake her just before we go to bed (she goes to bed around 8pm and we go up around 10pm) to use the potty and then put her back to bed.
I think enough is enough and I'm about to go cold turkey. I'm sick of buying them too! I think she's gotten so used to them and has gotten lazy! I know it will be a week (or more!) of changing bedding and PJ in the middle of the night but I don't see another way around it at this point.

 

[daisyduck123]

Both of mine were dry at night from the day they were daytime potty trained, but I think at 5, it's still pretty common for some kids to wet the bed.

 

[CastleCreations]

Have you tried getting her up every few hours to go? I had to do this with mine. They went to bed around 8pm and I toileted them then. Then when I went to bed around 12, I would get them up and make them go again, then sometime aroun 2 or 3 I would do it again. I did use a waterproof pad, to save the bed and double made the bed, so if there was an accident, I would strip off the first layer and the pad, and throw it in the bathtub, until the morning.
Whatever you do, good luck and try not to worry.... This too shall pass....
Someday, we'll be trying to get them out of the bathroom and off of the phone... Elisa

 

[dijid]

A big question I would ask is if your child is wanting to stop wearing the Goodnites? My DD had horrible nightime bedwetting problems and it frustrated her as much as it frustrated us. She had always ben a very deep sleeper and sometimes would wake up in the morning in cold, urine soaked sheets. Wetting the bed didn't even wake her! I think she was 6 when we purchased a bedwetting alarm. It worked - sorta. She wets less often and always wakes up when she does. We're disappointed that she wasn't "cured" and at this point (she's 7 1/2) she still has to wear the alarm for a week now and then as a "reminder" if she goes back to wetting the bed more than once in a while. I keep telling myself she's outgrow it completely sometime, but we both would like that sooner, rather than later!

 

[txbradybunch]

Two of my four children (oldest and youngest) just decided one night that they were too big for pull-ups and wanted to wear underwear to bed. It truly is best to let the child decide when they are ready. (Much less stress for you.)

The best tips I can offer is to make sure that you stress going potty one more time before going to bed every night, absolutely NOT allowing the child to go to bed with a drink of any kind, and going totally overboard praising and rewarding them each and every morning they wake up dry in the pull-up and reminding them that soon they will be such a big boy/girl that they won't need pull-ups anymore, AND reminding the child to use the potty the instant that they wake up - because they frequently wake up dry and wet shortly after.

Good luck - before long you will be goodnight/pull-up free!!!!!

Now - just in case it doesn't actually work out that way, confer with your doctor. Two of my four were born with a heredity and very common kidney condition that affects things like potty training even though you may never know that they have it.

 

[CampbellScot]

Bedwetting can happen for a lot of reasons...my sister wet the bed for YEARS...she was in the 7th grade before it stopped. In her case it was a control thing. She totally admits it. She knew mom didn't like when she wet the bed, so she did...b/c she could. (she's still very pleasant that way as an adult )

I had pretty severe kidney problems when I was a child, but I wasn't a bed wetter. It really varies from kid to kid.

My step son is four. He has been potty trained since two and a half. He has wet the bed two times that I can remember. Those two times included cups of water after 7pm.

Your little girl is still small enough that goodnites aren't that big a deal just yet. (I know they are pricey though!!) I'll bet she is going to outgrow this. I would do as a lot of others have said though, limit drinks after dinner, send her to potty several times before bed and again just before she gets in bed. Make it a habit! Praise her like MAD when she has a dry night. If she is still bedwetting 4 out of five nights at 6, then I'd start looking at medical reasons.

good luck!! Don't worry!!!

 

[hvivona]

My youngest will be 5 in July. We were having the same bedwetting problem as you. The thing that worked for us.... we took the pull ups away and put a mattress cover down. She hated getting wet. The other thing is: she goes to bed at 8pm and we make her go potty before bed. Then when my husband and I go to bed around 11 we get her up and take her to the potty again. SHe hasn't wet the bed since we started doing this! Give it try.

 

[glass slipper girl]

Every kid is different. My oldest is 3 months shy of turning 7. He still wears Goodnights to bed and wakes with them wet probably 3 or 4 mornings a week. We've tried letting him sleep in undies but he sleeps so soundly that he doesn't wake when he goes so in the morning he wakes up soaking wet and cold and he gets very very upset. Makes getting ready for school a real nightmare so we just keep using the Goodnights (or rather the Kroger brand which I swear is Goodnights anyway just without the print on them. They are identical to when Goodnights were all white but they are a lot cheaper.) Our ped said they wouldn't recommend doing anything about it untill closer to 7.5 or so. We praise him on the mornings he is dry and just don't comment at all one way or another if he isn't dry. We do remind him to pee before going to bed. I tried waking him when I'd go to bed but then he'd stay awake for an hour and a half to two hours before he'd go back to sleep so we gave that up. I figure he's got to learn to hold it all night or wake himself anyway so me waking him is just a crutch and if it reduces his sleep, it's not worth it in the long run.

On the other hand, my middle child turns 5 in less than a month and he's been sleeping in underwear for almost a year. We kept him in Goodnights for a while too thinking his big brother would feel bad but we ended up deciding we'd rather save the $ on the Goodnights! In the year he's been in undies he's had 1 accident and that was where he was on his way to the potty in the middle of the night, he just didn't quite make it.

I've heard great things about a medication they can take that does wonders. I guess it reduces the amount of urine they produce at night. Our ped has said we can try that when we feel like we need to. I'm just not making an issue of it and figuring that it will come with time. DS won't go off to college in Goodnights no matter what. Right now I'd rather put him in those than medicate him but we will consider it later on if need be.

 

[zoemurr]

and is still wet every night. We tried going to bed in undies, and waking him to use the toilet. He gets very upset when he is wet, and when praised for being dry his response is, "I can't help it you know."

My Dr. said don't worry a bit about it until he is 6. We are going to Disney in May and the last thing I want there is wet sheets.. he'll turn 6 in July so we'll try again then. I don't think it's something worth stressing over.

 

[Kerri10]

When my son was almost 4, we ran out of pull ups one night. We just put him to bed in underwear. He wet the bed, we tried it again the next night and he wet it again. The next he was dry, then 2 more wet nights. I wanted to go back to pull ups and DH said no. 1 more week with a couple of accidents was all it took. He's been dry at night now since the middle of December.

 

[belle&beast]

My DD will be 6 in July and we see a pediatric urologist for bladder control issues. We have gotten the daytime under control, but nighttime is a struggle. At our visit 2 weeks ago the NP put her on a medication that helps the bladder relax and hold more urine. She continues to wet even more on the meds, so it did not work well for us. The only reason we decided to try this is because she is very upset by her bedwetting and asked the NP specifically about stopping bedwetting. The statistic I was given is that 15-20% of 5 yo wet the bed, so you are not alone. Personally, I will take the goodnites over night waking in wet sheets anyday!

Some things I have learned that aggravate the bladder are caffeine, citric acid and red dye. My DD has to avoid all these things in her diet to help stay dry, you might want to avoid them later in the day and see if it makes a difference. Good luck! Most kids really do just "grow out" of bedwetting.

 

[DVCJones]

MY DD will be 4 on Friday. She has been potty trained for about 5 months. I also put Pull-Ups on her at night. After about 2 months of wearing them at night only and waking in the morning dry most of the time, I told her that if she wakes in the night and needs to go, she should wake me up and I will take her to the potty. She has never had an accident since. She has gotten up at night and did wake me. I get up...she goes...we go back to bed. Most of the time she sleep through the night.

Maybe you could ask your DD to wake you up if she needs to pee at night. Maybe she doesn't know that is an option. She could also be afraid to get out of bed at night, in which case she could call out to you.

Good luck!!!
Pam