OT age for being dry at night

[verlee]

At what age did your kids stay dry all night. My ds6 is still wetting 5 out of the 7 nights. He has a physical coming up and I am going to address this then. I am just wondering what others have experienced. Also, if your children did have trouble, what did you do to help them?

 

[piratemamaof3]

It can be a lot of different reasons. My DS now 7 is a really havy sleeper and wet his bed at night and naps occasionally until 6. My oldest DS now 9 did it until 8 occasionally. I think some of his was b/c of his constipation issues, others b/c of sleeping hard. One day it just stopped.

Def. bring it up to the Dr and see what he says.

 

[tam626]

My older two were very different. My son was 3 & he was dry at night, my dd was 7 or 8 before she was dry all night & she wore pull ups until then. It's just something some people can't help. I've read alot on the subject. She just outgrew it. My 3 1/2 year old wakes up with a very wet pull up yet during the day he can go 3 or 4 hours without peeing at all. I think it's something your son will outgrow.

 

[adventure_woman]

I think my nephew was about 9 until he stopped wetting. He wore the goodnights to bed every night. I also had that problem. Mention it to the dr., but I'm sure it's nothing. I think a lot of kids have trouble at night. When i was younger, it would be because I dreamt I was getting up and going to the bathroom. I know for my nephew they woke him up every night in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Sometimes it helped, other times it didn't.

 

[tam626]

Also, I've read it's hereditary & I remember wetting the bed & my dh had the same problem.

 

[3boymthr]

Hi,

DS now 9 used to do this about 3 or 4 nights a week when he was 5 and 2 or 3 nights a week when he was 6. Our pediatrician diagnosed the problem as being a very very sound sleeper - as is I believe the problem with most kids. (He is that - he once got up to go, started to wander all over the house, and he walked by the bathroom twice while trying to find it he was so tired! We had to physically direct him to the bathroom. Went to check on him a short while later - as we hadn't heard him going back to his room - well, he'd fallen back to sleep on the toilet ). But before coming to that determination she also checked him for diabetes and a bladder infection - for both nighttime bedwetting can be a symptom. So definitely address this with your pediatrician so she can address the problem and make sure there isn't something physically wrong, but feel comforted in that this isn't that unusual.

To help keep the problem in check; we limit liquids a couple of hours before bed time, making sure he does most of his drinking in the day time. We make sure he goes to the bathroom JUST before he goes to sleep (he now does this on his own), and if we know he's really tired, wake him up before we go to bed to make him hit the bathroom. If we hear him making noises in his sleep, or notice him being restless when he's sleeping we will also wake him enough to go to the bathroom. For the most part he's grown out of the problem but once in a while he will still have an accident, usually if he's had an extremely busy day, so just in case I also put a rubber mat underneath his sheet - it's flanel on one side and plastic on the other to help absorb the liquids.

HTH

 

[dolfinjuls]

My daughter will be four this week. She wets the bed almost every single night. She's usually dry for naps. Last appt the dr. said it's not even an issue until they turn 6. So I'd just bring it up, but I do believe most kids will outgrow it.

 

[verlee]

Thanks for the replies.

Ds is a very hard sleeper. Once he is asleep nothing wakes him. I tried waking him up to use the bathroom before I went to bed. He barely woke up and was still wet in the am. I will definately talk to the Dr. I did not know wetting was a symptom of diabetes.

 

[crisi]

I was a bedwetter until I was 12.

What doesn't help is guilt.

Do have him checked out to make sure there isn't something wrong, than be patient. You might try waking him up and taking him to the bathroom in the middle of the night - I really don't know if I outgrew it at the same time or if it helped, but when I was twelve I had two alarm clocks - one that would wake me up at 1am for a potty trip - of course, it had to wake me up - and that was part of the issue - before then I'd sleep through the alarm, much less my body signals.

 

[wrighter]

My DS will be six at the end of April, and he wakes up wet most mornings. He is also a heavy sleeper - one time he took a two hour nap while they were jackhammering directly outside his window for the entire time!!!

Our pediatrician said to not even blink an eye about it until he's 7. I'll of course ask about it again at his next physical, but I'm going with that.

It's nice to know we're not alone, though.

 

[mjkacmom]

I had this issue with 4 of my 5! Ds was still wearing pullups at 8, and we got the alarm, which worked great. Ds used the alarm when she was 5, and it worked great. My youngest dd was dry before she was 5, and up until about a month ago, ds6 wore a pullup, and then just decided he was done. My oldest dd day and night trained right before she turned 3.

 

[roscoepc1]

Well dd1 was about 8. Dd2 is 6-1/2 and still uses pullups.

Medical studies have proven it's a hormonal balance thing, and some kids just don't have the hormone until they're older.

What do we do? Provide the pullups, and let it be a non-issue. Both girls wore(wear) them, and they just quietly go about their business and toss them in the garbage each morning.

It's just not an big deal to me, and I'd rather buy a few pullups than waste half the night washing bedding etc...

 

[WantToGoNow]

Both of my dd's were 2 and ds was close to 3. I know several people who still have son's that frequently wet the bed - they are ages 5 - 9.

 

[Jill in Chicago]

For many kids they sleep WAY too soundly. We bought an alarm for our oldest son's underwear (he was in first grade). When the alarm detected wetness it sounded off. We thought it would wake the baby in the room next door, but the baby slept right through it.

Amazingly our oldest slept through it too! In the beginning we still had to wake him up and walk him to the bathroom. Then he would wake up on his own, but be so confused he would just twirl around his room. Then he made it to the bathroom but left the lid down, peed on the closed lid and went right back to bed. Finally, after MONTHS of patience it worked!! Ultimately they realize the urge and wake up on their own, without the alarm.

This situation is so painful for an older child. Please don't wait any longer. Get the alarm. Waking them up in the middle of the night doesn't work, because their brain doesn't learn the sensation of "I have to use the bathroom." Instead it learns, "My mom is waking me up." Nor does giving less water...

We also went to a pediatric specialist to make sure nothing else was wrong.

 

[bellebud]

my ds7 wore goodnights at night till a few months ago, and i wouldn't bet he won't wet again. he's a HEAVY sleeper, so I'm not worried about it.

 

[jngwright]

Oh-thank you for posting this question! My twin boys are 6 1/2 and still are wet in the morning 5 out of 7, like yours! They have been potty trained since they were 3 and I keep hoping this will come too

 

[lori123]

I don't mean this in a bad way - I am truly wondering - how does being a heavy sleeper affect wetting the bed? I know that it can stop you from waking up if you have to go - but does it actually "cause" a child to wet? My kids aren't super hard sleepers so I don't have anything to compare to here. Very seldom do they wake up and use the bathroom in the middle of the night and they stay dry.

When my son was younger he had occasional accidents (I did when I was little too) what worked for him was limiting fluids a couple of hours before bed and making sure he went to the bathroom right before bed. While this worked for us - I know other children have physical issues that cause their wetting - unfortunately I don't have any advice if that is the case. My kids also have two friends from school who when they stay the night still wear a pull up and they are 9 so try not to stress too much . I hope you can find a solution that works for you!

 

[crisi]

There are two parts to not wetting the bed.

The first is if you need to go in the middle of the night, you don't sleep so heavy that your body doesn't wake up to send you there.

The second is that your bladder holds on to non urgent needs, and you just don't have to get up at all.

If you have the second, you probably won't need the first unless you drink a whole lot before bedtime.

A bladder that fills easily and needs to be released in the middle of the night combined with a person who sleeps hard enough to sleep through the signals the body sends, means a bed wetter.

 

[wrighter]

I'm not a doctor, so don't quote me on this one, but it has been my understanding that heavy sleepers just don't wake up to that "urge." It makes sense logically, I guess. But who knows about biologically.

I'll just keep telling myself that, though . . .

 

[Leajess99]

At what age did your kids stay dry all night. My ds6 is still wetting 5 out of the 7 nights. He has a physical coming up and I am going to address this then. I am just wondering what others have experienced. Also, if your children did have trouble, what did you do to help them?

My youngest only stopped wearing a pull up to bed right before starting Kindergarten in August. Some kids' bladders just do not develop as quickly as others. I would still talk to your doctor but mine was not concerned about my youngest. I never had the issue with my older kids but my youngest was such a deep sleeper and had a bladder the size of a peanut I swear.