Help with Bed Wetting!!!

This is totally common in boys and girls. He probably just isn't ready to stay dry all night. It's a physical milestone, not a behavioral one, and has to do with the release of a hormone that lets him stay dry. I would just put him in pull ups, get some sleep and not worry for now. He'll get there soon enough, but there's nothing you can do about this. Most Peds dont' worry until after 6.

does he drink milk or have a lot of dairy products after 5PM or so? this makes the difference with mine. can drink water even before going to bed and is fine....milk anytime after 5 or so and will wet at night. was the same with her brother several years ago.

i agree with the dairy thing too. anytime i have dairy, it makes me have to pee a lot. i dont know why, but it does.

Hi M.,

I am an RN too and I'm sorry you seem to be having problems with night wetting. I too had the same problem with my middle daughter. Is he a heavy sleeper? They seem to be the ones who most trouble with getting up at night, since they sleep so heavily they do not wake when wet.

We did try the underwear alarm, but since she slept so soundly it really needed to be a firetruck siren for her to hear it. What finally helped, and I know it is hard, but we finally just did the "two-week" method.

Most of the time, they are good until the first hour after they are asleep, that is usually when they are relaxed and release their bladder. So, you have to wake them an hour after they are in bed and have them urinate. Then you set your alarm for another two hours and wake them again. Do this in two to three hour intervals until morning - and you can get a good idea of how long they are usually dry. You have to do this for two weeks straight to get their systems used to waking at night and going to the bathroom.

Yes, I know this is difficult, but it does take time and patience. We tried at four the first time, but she was not ready. We tried again at 5 and it was a success. We had to do the same thing with her thumb sucking and both methods worked.

Good luck M.!
M.

four years old is still very young to be worrying about this or putting pressure on your boy like waking him up. I think the waking him up may just make him feel like he is failing at something he has absolutely no control over. I would put him in pull ups and put this out of your mind for a few YEARS. My son sneaked pull-ups to overnights until he was about 9 years old. He is a healthy adult now. My advice is to not make a big deal about this.

When I was potty training my kids I read not to let them have anything to drink two hours before bed and make sure they potty twice before putting them down. I don't know if this will help or not, but worth a try. Also have you thought of putting an alarm in his room? So when it goes off he knows to wake up and go potty. I had a friend who started doing this with her almost 5 year old so he might be still to young.

It could be that he simply isn't ready to make it through the night, which is actually quite common. Some kids sleep much deeper then others so they don't awaken to their bladder signals. My daughter is 5 and doesn't make it through the night yet, neither I nor her pediatrician are worried since she is still so young. We have decided to not let this stress us out and invest in pull ups for night time only.