My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Is your child ready for potty training at nursery? Here's the place for all your toilet training questions.

Potty training

DS doesn't want to wear nappies at night but keeps wetting the bed - any ideas?

14 replies

TerrysNo2 · 23/02/2013 19:46

DS (4) is an lovely, kind and well behaved boy and the only area which is a constant struggle is potty training. He has been trained for almost 2 years now and can go for a week or two with no accidents and then can have 3/4 a day. That's another post!

A couple of weeks ago, we thought that if he stopped wearing nappies at night he might get better in the daytime so we asked him and he said he wanted to stop wearing them. For the first week he was dry every other night but now his bed is wet almost every morning (I have no idea when he actually wets it as he never wakes up when he does!)

I am not sure if he just isn't ready to stay dry all night but when I ask him he tells me he doesn't want to wear nappies again.

What should I do? Insist on nappies or just keep waiting? The washing is a pain but we are coping thanks to our tumble dryer.

I have no idea what to do or if he will get better at it anytime soon?

OP posts:
Report
whatsleep · 24/02/2013 08:20

You could try putting him to bed wearing pants, this seems to help for some reason. But if he is still wet I would be tempted to pop him back in nappies at night time just to prevent it from becoming a big issue for him. If he is dead set against nappies go for he night pants (pull ups). I don't think there is really much you can do to induce dryness at nights it's just something that comes in time. Best to get day times sorted first (you say that's another story?) does he poo ok? I know constipation can cause some problems with weeing too....

Report
LaTrucha · 24/02/2013 08:28

Don't some people do a 'dream wee'? I think it means getting them out of bed and on to a potty when you go to bed and then straight back to sleep.

I've not yet had to try it.

Pants seems a good idea.

I can recommend hippychick waterproof sheets in the meantime.

What about a cloth nappy - it might be more comfortable? Or pull up pants?

I think maybe insisting on something with a four year old is sometimes more trouble in all sorts of ways. The step to independence he has taken seems a good one, but frustrating for you while he gets it right. that one is up to you and your son though. It would depend on personailty.

Good luck

Report
ThreeBeeOneGee · 24/02/2013 08:31

I would put a mattress protector on his bed; the smaller kind that goes over the top of the sheet. Then when he wets the bed, he can take it off himself and the sheets will be dry underneath.

We had nice ones that weren't uncomfortable or crinkly at all. They were called 'wet and dry blankets'

Report
ThreeBeeOneGee · 24/02/2013 08:36
Report
RandomMess · 24/02/2013 08:39

Being dry at night is mainly to do with producing enough of the chemical that concentrates the wee whilst you're asleep it's not something you can train to do.

Increase (yes increase!) the fluids during the day and insist he wears pj pants or nappies or night, life is too short to be washing bedding every day! Explain that when he has 7 dry nights in a row he won't have to wear them anymore or similar.

Report
smitho75 · 27/02/2013 00:43

Its such a frustrating time for all involved. I did the dream wee - it does mean that you lose a little sleep, and I can't say for sure that it worked or not, but after 5 mths or so, she went through the night and has never looked back. My son however..... well we are still working on that!
I will recommend Brolly Sheets - will save you a tonne of washing! No horrible plastic, and they are just washed and dried in the normal machine. You can also buy them online. (plus they are portable if you are going away or they staying overnight anywhere)

Report
sleepyhead · 27/02/2013 00:50

Ds is 6 and is still wet virtually every night. He doesn't want to wear "nappies" any more (was in pullups) so we just change his sheets daily.

He also doesn't wake up, and some nights are considerably wetter than others - there have been mornings when we've thought he was dry as the wee has actually dried on his pjs but then you see the stain on the sheet Sad.

I guess it will come in time, but I'm going to take him to the doctors if no resolution in 6 months (baby due in 6 weeks so not a good time to tackle anything at the moment).

He also has occasional day time accidents which seem to be linked to holding on too long/getting distracted and also to an aversion to flush noise from the urinals at school. That's far more of a concern to me because I worry about him being teased, but it isn't a constant thing like the night wetting.

It's common, and I think if he doesn't want to wear night nappies then that should be his choice, but I do understand how wearing the extra washing is. We were without a washing machine for a week recently and I explained to him that he would have to, and he was ok about that.

Report
sleepyhead · 27/02/2013 00:51

I've tried lifting ("dream wee") btw and it's made no difference with ds. He seems to either wet around 1am or if lifted, towards dawn. With lifting I've noticed the sheets are likely to be wetter.

Report
differentnameforthis · 27/02/2013 01:45

IMO, lifting doesn't work. The child is still pretty much asleep & I think it is sending a message to the brain that weeing while asleep is OK!

I agree wholeheartedly with RandomMess You cannot rush night time training.

I think you also need to look into why he suddenly starts wetting again after being trained for 2yrs. I would not consider 3/4 accidents a day, as trained.

Report
differentnameforthis · 27/02/2013 01:52

Why would you let them wet & not protect them/their beds/their sheets from urine? I wouldn't give my child a choice & in fact I didn't! Dd2 started wetting again & after 3 days she was in pj pants, even though I hate hate hate them. No way was I allowing her to wet everywhere & deal with the mess, the smell etc. I wouldn't want to sleep in a wee soaked bed, so wouldn't inflict it on my children.

As it was, the weeing stopped as soon as she started wearing the pj pants & she has been dry ever since.

Please don't make your dc's lay in wee soaked beds/sheets/pjs all night. Take charge, explain why they do have to wear something to catch the wee.

My friends little boy is 7, he still wees regularly, refuses to use anything to catch it & his bedroom smells awful, but the family can't smell it any longer. Just because his parents won't have the battle to make him see that pj pants would benefit him.

Report
GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 04/03/2013 14:09

I think I'd put him in nappies again, especially as he isn't even waking up when he's wet. It's not nice for him to be in wee and it's not nice for you to have so much washing to do. My DD was still in nappies at night at 4, we tried few a nights without them but she was still wetting and wasn't waking up. We put her back in nappies and tried again a few months later. The second time she was waking if she wet and a after a few nights stopped having accidents at all (although we do still lift her at our bedtime). I was worried but as others have said they are ready when they are ready and you can't rush it :)

Report
Undeterred · 24/06/2021 07:17

Wow that's so self righteous. My nearly 4 yo just takes pj pants straight off as unsurprisingly you can't force them to wear something that they find uncomfortable.

Report
WoolieLiberal · 28/06/2021 12:12

Posted on an earlier thread about this topic: My story and advice in full:

Could it be black current juice or other cordials with artificial sweeteners that is causing it?

I was a Ribena junkie as a kid and my parents never made the connection between blackcurrent juice/ cordials and my late bed wetting.

They were not cruel about it in any way and got “only available from the chemist” specialist “child size” night nappies to bed so as to avoid soaked sheets (there were no Pull-Ups or DryNites then), with occasional periods of “trying without”. I wore nappies to bed far older than your DS is now.

Fast forward to being Mum, and both DD’s had the same issue as me and I just assumed that they had inherited my bladder issues.

I didn’t want to stress either of them out and they both wore DryNites without getting embarrassed or upset (the fact that they go up to age 15 and say so on the pack helped, I think!)

Then a friend told me about blackcurrent juice and how it irritates the bladder causing it to empty by reflex and how other cordials and “juice drinks” with artificial sweeteners have the same effect.

We experimented, initially for just a week, with just water and milk.

It was like a miracle cure. Almost overnight the bed wetting stopped and after a few nights of dry DryNites we donated the remaining supplies to the food bank.

We added fresh fruit juices back into the mix as an experiment a few weeks later and that didn’t cause any problems but neither have cordials any more, and neither has wet the bed since.

My eldest was eleven at the time and had never been dry.

We had already done the whole experimenting without the DryNites for a few nights, cutting out fluids after 6pm, even the alarm thing (which we ditched after less than a week because it woke us all up) and GP hadn’t identified any issues. Both are NT, no disabilities or anything like that.

So if he has cordials (blackcurrent juiced and Fruit Shoots are the worst) try going to just water and milk for a week and see if it becomes your miracle cure too.

I wish my parents had known this as they would have saved hundreds of pounds on night nappies if they had stopped me having Ribena and had I tried this earlier I might have also saved hundreds on Pull-Ups and later DryNites!

I’ve posted this on other posts here because I’m a bit of an evangelist- it was like a miracle cure for mine and I hope it is for yours too.

Good luck

Report
pinkorchid1 · 28/06/2021 20:04

@WoolieLiberal

Posted on an earlier thread about this topic: My story and advice in full:

Could it be black current juice or other cordials with artificial sweeteners that is causing it?

I was a Ribena junkie as a kid and my parents never made the connection between blackcurrent juice/ cordials and my late bed wetting.

They were not cruel about it in any way and got “only available from the chemist” specialist “child size” night nappies to bed so as to avoid soaked sheets (there were no Pull-Ups or DryNites then), with occasional periods of “trying without”. I wore nappies to bed far older than your DS is now.

Fast forward to being Mum, and both DD’s had the same issue as me and I just assumed that they had inherited my bladder issues.

I didn’t want to stress either of them out and they both wore DryNites without getting embarrassed or upset (the fact that they go up to age 15 and say so on the pack helped, I think!)

Then a friend told me about blackcurrent juice and how it irritates the bladder causing it to empty by reflex and how other cordials and “juice drinks” with artificial sweeteners have the same effect.

We experimented, initially for just a week, with just water and milk.

It was like a miracle cure. Almost overnight the bed wetting stopped and after a few nights of dry DryNites we donated the remaining supplies to the food bank.

We added fresh fruit juices back into the mix as an experiment a few weeks later and that didn’t cause any problems but neither have cordials any more, and neither has wet the bed since.

My eldest was eleven at the time and had never been dry.

We had already done the whole experimenting without the DryNites for a few nights, cutting out fluids after 6pm, even the alarm thing (which we ditched after less than a week because it woke us all up) and GP hadn’t identified any issues. Both are NT, no disabilities or anything like that.

So if he has cordials (blackcurrent juiced and Fruit Shoots are the worst) try going to just water and milk for a week and see if it becomes your miracle cure too.

I wish my parents had known this as they would have saved hundreds of pounds on night nappies if they had stopped me having Ribena and had I tried this earlier I might have also saved hundreds on Pull-Ups and later DryNites!

I’ve posted this on other posts here because I’m a bit of an evangelist- it was like a miracle cure for mine and I hope it is for yours too.

Good luck

Thanks for this!!!
Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.