So my son, who ironically was the easiest to train initially, is having problems staying dry through the night and I really need to lose the nighttime pull ups.

We have been reducing fluid amounts as of 5pm, cutting off fluids by 2 hours before bedtime, and then I wake up my son before I go to bed about 3-4 hours into the evening to empty the bladder but at least twice a week he is still waking up wet? I have also tried underwear but am tired of washing sheets and mattress pads and have also tried underwear inside the pull up to alert him when it starts to happen.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

How old is he? I have one that is 5.5 and still not trained. Honestly, if they aren't ready, they aren't ready. I think it is a biological thing. We tried underwear one night a couple of weeks ago and it did not go well. We decided to wait a few weeks and try again. Then, last weekend she managed to stay dry and take herself to the bathroom 2 nights in a row. She hasn't done it since but the fact she did gives me hope she might be growing out of wetting the bed. We do not restrict fluid at night. Either she is going to feel the urge to get up or not.

I've heard some people have success with things like the potty pager, but I'm not going to resort to that unless she is still wetting in a year or two.

Lori

http://yesidohavemyhandsfull.blogspot.com/

I think it's more of a developmental thing than a learned behavior. We just used the pullups until they stayed dry for a week. There were still a few accidents, but those got less and less.

Heather, BBBB (two identical, two fraternal) 28 1/2 weeks, now age 18!

Just spoke about this with my pedi - my daughter is just 4 and not night trained yet. I haven't worried about it as I'm not ready to wake her up to empty her bladder and she is a deep sleeper. The pediatrician indicated that she's not concerned...my daughter wets every night so I'm pretty sure she's not biologically ready yet.

So, if you feel you need to get him trained, I wonder if you might schedule a middle of the night pee break as well...you'd have to set the alarm I guess...the other thing you could do is get an incontinence pad - likely from a medical supply store - hospitals use them all of the time, washable - they'll keep the sheets dry so all you'd have to wash is the pad itself.

hope that helps...

Janet
G - 12/07 35 weeks
GGG-04/10 30 weeks

All four of my kids day-trained before 2-1/2. My three daughters all night-trained fairly soon after, but my son (at almost 5) still wears overnight pullups. I have tried twice to get him to underwear at night, each time for about a month, but I changed so much wet bedding, and he was not making forward progress. He sleeps VERY soundly, I think that sometimes he would wet the bed before midnight and did not wake up enough to call for me until 4 or 5 a.m.! One thing I noticed is that he would be dry for fairly long periods--sometimes even several weeks--then wet at night one time, which seemed to trigger something because then he'd be wet every night for weeks. All that to say, he didn't seem to be making forward progress.

I have found that limiting liquids and getting him back up for an extra potty trip didn't really make that much difference. If he has had a huge amount of liquid before bed, maybe that does make him more likely to be wet, but rationing liquid doesn't guarantee dryness.

Actually, I think my son is finally getting close. I've been keeping track this month of January and I think he's been wet at night maybe 4 times this whole month. I think after his birthday I will try again.

Since you've tried underwear at night and given it a good try (several weeks at least?) and that doesn't make him learn, I'd say go back to pullups for a while and try later. I really think day training and night training are two different things, it might really be outside his control right now.

Good luck!

Mary (41) happily married to Case (45) since 7/2000

Stay-at-home mom to Madelyn Anne, born 10/31/04

and GBG triplets: Laura Catherine (4 lb 8 oz), Andrew William (4 lb 9 oz) and Elise Nicole (4 lb 7 oz) born 3/15/07 at 34w 1d