6.5 Year Old Boy Still Needs Pull-up for Bed

It's just not time yet, my oldest grandson is 11 and still wets the bed nearly every night. He wears adult overnight diapers.

Some kids it just takes years longer. His 3 year old brother is dry every night. They both drink normal amounts of fluid, tons of milk, and drink 100% juice. The fluids they drink make no difference. If the biological signal to wake up is not being sent by their brain then they have no signal to wake up.

My thoughts are that I would rather not wash laundry every day, my time is worth something and I choose to use an overnight pull-up and get my rest, spend less money using pull-ups verses doing at least one load of laundry, washing machine usage, laundry soap, bleach, water, electricity, dryer, gas and elec, dryer sheets or fabric softener, double if there are blankets involved, etc...doing the laundry adds up and it is less money to use pull-ups.

It's OK. Some kids just CAN'T physically hold it all night. Let him wear what he needs to and plan so that clean-ups and changes are quick & easy (sheet/pad/sheet/pad, etc).

My son is 5 and still needs a pull-up as well. Some mornings he wakes up dry but some he wakes up very wet. I have tried the reducing fluids before bedtime, but it does not seem to make a difference. I think some kids just sleep SOOO soundly and deeply that they just can't physically wake up to go potty. There have been some nights that he has gone to bed without the pull up and he has wet the bed, but even sleeping in a very wet spot does not wake him up. So I don't think the suggestions of just having him wet himself so he can feel it will work. I think it is just something they will outgrow as they mature.

I was a bed wetter till I was 12~~Don't worry too much about this...it will pass!!Be thankful that they have pull ups today...I had nothing and would wake up soaked to the bone every day just about....my parents tried everything and then one day it just stopped.I think I may have had a small bladder or it too longer to mature than most people.I have 2 boys today and knock wood...they have no problems!!!In the scheme of things.....this is really nothing to worry about!!

My wonderful, handsome, successful husband wet the bed till he hit puberty. His parents were always very low key about it (eventually teaching him how to change his sheets so he didn't have to talk to them about it). It is one of the lessons I try to remember as we have a 3 1/2 year old that has been potty trained for 2 years and still soaks a diaper nightly. I hold out little hope that he will give up a nighttime diaper before kindergarten (or much later). I don't think there is much you can do about it except to be glad they have pull-ups today. My mom was also a bed wetter and 50 years later still talks about it being really traumatic because her mom made her feel so bad.

What is he drinking during the day? If he is having juices in the evening hours that could be contributing to it. Applejuice is a diuretic. When I drink it I go all night. You could only serve water or milk after a certain time which might help. Also, you may want to set a time when you go in a wake him up to go to the bathroom so that he learns to wake up once a night during the night on his own. He may be a really deep sleeper. Have you asked your doctor about it? Is he on a medication that may cause this? Allergy medicine??

Hi,

Some people have very deep sleep patterns at this age. It is usually much more common in boys than in girls. It is impossible for them to wake up when most people commonly feel the urge to pee.

My father was a teenage bed wetter and so was one of my sons. Bed wetters eventually grow out of this sleep stage but until then, it takes a lot of patience and lots of laundry!

There are many, many families - much more than will readily admit that they are dealing with this issue! - that have a bed wetter in their home.

For us, limiting the caffeinated drinks and getting up in the night to remind him to go pee helped a lot. I had to have his older brother remind him though, since I can't go back to sleep after I get up in the night :) When our son was older, he would bring his own laundry to the laundry room in the morning and make his own bed at night. I didn't make a big deal out of it - it wouldn't have done any good anyway!! He eventually grew out of it - yeah! Now we keep our niece quite often (pretty much all summer and during breaks at school) and she's a 10 year old bed wetter. We are doing the same routine with her. She'll eventually grow out of this stage!

God bless,
A.

You could put him in regular underpants with a waterproof pad underneath him, but you'll have lots more cleanup.

Bedwetting is almost never a lazy habit. Kids don't get to simply decide to wake up when they have to pee, no matter how much pressure their parents might apply. If they're sleeping too deeply to notice the urge, they'll sleep right through, regardless. I've also read on several topical websites that pediatricians generally find that withholding fluids before bed makes little difference. It seems to be pretty much a matter of the body and nervous system maturing enough.

For quite a few kids, especially boys, they are well into their elementary school years before it all comes together – either their sleep patterns change enough that they can wake reliably when they need to pee, or their bladders get bigger and the sphincter gets stronger. Until then, they'll wet at night.

A while back, an elderly gentleman friend at my church was overhearing a young mother complaining about her son bed-wetting at 8 or 9 years. He shared with her that he wasn't able to hold it until he was nearly 12 – unusually old, to be sure, but in those days this was seen as serious and willful misbehavior. He shared with her how he was constantly humiliated and punished by his whole family for not being able to stay dry at night. As badly as he wished otherwise, there was nothing he could do about it. It affected him deeply his whole life.

I think it's time to transition him to underwear at night. Sounds like he has gotten very accustomed to urinating in his pull-up at night, instead of waking to use the restroom. It will take some time, but I would set a date to make the change and stick with it. You can put a pad under his sheet so that he doesn't pee on the mattress cover and mattress. Then you will just have to change the sheet. I would start with a reward system and reward him each night that he doesn't pee in his underwear. I would also bring him to the restroom before YOU go to bed.

Hope the transition is smooth...

My son is 8 yrs. old and still has to wear a pullup. The dr. says some boys just take longer for the connection in their brain to their bladder to communicate. Everything I have read says the same thing. We have tried cutting off drinks and using the bathroom before bed too. Best of luck!

DeeL.

My oldest had this issue (he's now 17) and our pediatrician told us there is a hormone (or something like that) that kicks in usually around potty training age that decreases the amount of urine produced at night and his just didn't kick in yet. He said when it becomes an issue with my son (as in him complaining or worrying about sleepovers) then we would try meds. We did end up trying the meds when he was about 11 and they really helped. We were also amazed at how many of his friends had that issue (more common in boys) He did grow out of it! I too was a bedwetter and I wish there had been something like that back when I was young, but I am glad since I could relate to his problem and support him.

Please don't get thrown by this. It's very normal, especially for boys. I wouldn't restrict what he drinks honestly. It's not so much about how much he is or isn't drinking. It's about maturity and it's about sleep. When he's in a deep sleep, he can't rouse himself to get up and use the bathroom. As he gets older he'll do this. You might want to set consistent bedtimes (if he doesn't already have that), and make sure he's getting plenty of rest. However, even if you do nothing, he'll outgrow it. It tends to run in families. I have heard that eliminating milk products from the diet can help, if they're sensitive to it. Not sure how reliable that is though. HTH, S.

There's a lot of men that still need pull ups. Why are you so focused on this?

You can try waking him when you go to bed but it may not help much. 2 of my kids and 2 of my grandkids didn't outgrow this till puberty was well under way. I know that's not good news, but they're all OK as adults, if that's any comfort.

I have a 5 yo daughter and 6 yo son. My daughter was very good about staying dry/clean all night for about a year, but recently she has regressed. My son has never stayed dry throughout the night and recently expressed reluctance to wear underwear at night because then he would have to leave his bed to use the potty. I discussed both issues with the ped and she recommended that we put them in underwear at bedtime, that they use the bathroom right before they go to bed and that we take them to the bathroom again when we are ready to go to bed. So they go around 8 pm then again around 11 pm. They typically wake up between 8am-9am. We have done this for 2 weeks and they haven't had any overnight accidents.

My 6 1/2 year old son is the same way. His older brother was about 9 when he finally stayed dry at night. This is apparently fairly common and is genetic. They are both very deep sleepers.