How Do I Get My 4 Yr Old to Stay Dry at Night?

Don't worry, your not alone. They wouldn't make pull-ups that big if you were. Little boy's bladders do not grow as fast as they do and often it is the night time that this is most evident. If you are limiting liquids in the evening already, then you need to consult his pediatrician. There are medications that can be given to help him get through the night until his bladder catches up with him. The other option, though this can be a bit tedious.
I'm assuming he goes to bed a few hours before you do. take him to the bathroom right before you put him to bed as usual; then before you go to bed take him to the bathroom again. Do this quietly with as few lights on as possible so he doesn't fully wake up. (stay with him so he doesn't fall or bump into any thing) This worked for a friend of mine with two of her children. Eventually he will learn to get up on his own when his bladder is full. If you are only an hour later going to bed than your grandson then you might actually have to get up yourself to give his bladder time to fill.
Good luck!

Hello, number 1, I wouldn't worry too much about it. My 9 year started staying consistently dry through the night when he was almost 7. What we finally figured out was that he just sleeps very very hard and didn't wake up until after the fact. So what we did was to wake him up around 11pm or midnight, walk him to the bathroom, have him go and then walk him back to bed. This seemed to be the most effective thing on getting him dry.

Try getting him to go potty before he goes to bed, and then should you have to wake him in the middle of the night to go, and as soon as he wakes in the am.

some children physically cannot control it when they are asleep. limiting fluids after 6 may or may not help. my oldest was 13 before he was completely dry at night. there are medications that can help. They were only marginally helpful for my son, but that was several years ago, maybe there's something new available. we tried everything. we'd get him up before we went to bed at midnite, and again at 3 am. sometimes he was wet at 3, sometimes between 3 and 6:30. we did notice that if he spent the night at a friend's house (when he was older) he never wet. somehow, he subconsciously knew to not sleep so soundly. i ended up buying pull-ups until he outgrew them, then i bought the adult size (Depends brand). i found that threats, rewards, encouragements, restricting fluids, and wake ups didn't work. he did eventually outgrow it, but some kids are even older when they finally stop. good luck, and try to not get too frustrated.

Grandma, raising 4 year old...

When my son was 2 years old he was potty trained and rarely wet the bed at night. He even drank late, but guess why he DID wet the bed? Give up. Because I didn't get up and take him to the potty. You're gonna have to stop giving him drinks at night (depending on what time he goes to bed) and you're gonna have to make it your business to wake him up periodically to take him to the potty. Otherwise, he will continue to wet the bed. You're gonna have to train him and once he's been trained (as with anything), he'll start to either hold it 'till morning or get up on his own. My son is now 4 (will be 5 in July) and if I forget to wake him up in the middle of the night to take him to the pot, when morning comes.....he's still dry.

C.,

Don't worry, you are not alone. This is what we did to help our little fella(he is 4 also). FYI - my daughter who is 3 stayed dried before my 4 year old at night. It took him less than 3 days to be accident free during the day and a month before night time accidents stopped but we occasionally have one. I copied and pasted some of Nita's advice but added more to what worked for us.
Limit a small amount of liquid before 6-6:30. I'm assuming he goes to bed a few hours before you do. Take him to the bathroom right before you put him to bed as usual; then before you go to bed take him to the bathroom again(we usually went to sleep about 3 hours after Spencer) Do this quietly with as few lights on as possible so he doesn't fully wake up. (stay with him so he doesn't fall or bump into any thing) We, also have a newborn so about 3 hours after I went to sleep I woke Spencer up again and took him back to the restroom and that helped. After a few weeks, I cut back to only one wake up when I initially went to sleep a few hours after Spencer to "train" his body. Now, we only send him to the restroom before going to sleep. Spencer is a heavy sleeper so he never woke up on his own to go the restroom but the key is to go slow and hopefully all will go well.

Good luck!

you know what....you can't get your 4 yr. old to stay dry at night. This is one area you flat don't have control over and will just need to let it take care of itself. When I gave up trying to *make* it better...it slowly but surely improved until he was dry completely.
I will suggest getting the mattress liners at IKEA.....makes keeping the mattress dry easy.
The bigger deal you make out of it.....the longer it will take for him to stay dry. jmho.
Just keep doing all the things you are doing now eg. restricting fluids before bed, putting him in pull-ups....he will eventually grow out of it. Our Pedi. said she sees this problem in boys all the time and that many still wet the bed until age 9-10.....then something just clicks in their brain and they are dry at night.
Try not to worry.....but it IS a major pain needing to change the sheets often! ugh!!

Some children just aren't able to stay dry. Both my daughter (now 18) and my youngest son (now 10) had a lot of problem staying dry at night. Many children just have to outgrow it; pullups, Good Nights, and a few good washable bedpads laid on the bed (one under the sheet, one over it for quick changes at night) will help. If he hasn't outgrown wetting the bed by the time he is eight or nine, talk to your doctor about a hormone called DDAVP, or desmopressin, that is given to the child via a nasal spray. This signals the body to concentrate the urine and not make as much during the night, something the body does naturally. Some children don't make as much of this hormone. My daughter took it for only six months before she no longer had to have it, and my son still takes it every night. We went from wet nights every night to a breakthrough wetting only about once every two weeks with my son; with my daughter she was consistently dry immediately. The change is very dramatic. However, you do have to wait until they have obviously not grown out of wetting the bed.