Potty Problem with 3 Year Old

My friend's son had the same problem. She took him to the chiropractor and his nightwetting was over.

I have a three year old boy who is potty trained. At night before my husband goes to bed he carries my son into the bathroom and has him go and then carries him right back to bed. We are lucky because he sleeps through the whole thing, but it helps keep him dry and feeling confident and good about keeping his bed dry.
Good Luck

Hi L.,

Many children are simply not ready to be sleeping without a diaper or pull up. It is unnecessary to wake him and yourself up. He just may not be ready. My pediatrician told me with my son (3 1/2 now) that he may need diapers or pullups until the age of 4 or even 5 - and that is OK!!! Once he goes few weeks of waking up dry then he is ready for underwear. He also told me NOT to wake him up b/c people had mentioned that to me too. So, thankfully for my son and for me, I don't. I'm letting his body tell me when he's ready. Good luck!

oh, I forgot to mention that my son has been completely potty trained during the day since before age 3. Only at night, he wears a pull up.

he isn't having accidents, he is being totally age appropriate and not being dry all night. There is a chemical that controls the ability to hold pee while you are sleeping, obviously he doesn't have it yet. Put a night time diaper on him and enjoy the sleep you'll have. Until they are 8 you should not force this issue or worry about it, but instead just put on a diaper at night and let him sleep soundly.

Get him up during the night to pee. It will help him hold back in the early a.m. Don't give him anything to drink before bed either. Last drink at around 8p.m. and then potty before bed.

If your son is a very deep sleeper, he will not recognize when he needs to go. My son was like this. My husband would try to punish him but really it is not his fault. We bought good nights for him until he was about 6 yrs old. Yours might still fit in pullups. This is something that needs to workout/grow out of.

L.,
Is he a heavy sleeper? I was when I was a child I did the same thing. My dad used to wake me up to take me to the potty! This was usually around 2 AM on the weekend or about 4:30 AM when he got up for work! Maybe you can try that!
Good luck!
K.

Hi L.,

My daughter is 3 and fully trained during the day but occasionally has "accidents" at night. We use pull ups for naps and night time. She understands that pull ups are only for when she is asleep. I have heard of some parents who will actually set an alarm and take the child to the washroom in the middle of the night, but I personally would never fall back asleep myself if I took that route.

I believe that when they are going through a growth spurt they tend to have accidents at night. Because they are sleeping so soundly and their body is busy they just don't feel the urge and don't wake up. Personally I wouldn't do anything like put him sleep diaper that would just set you back more. I would curb drinking after dinner. If my kids are thirsty I give them a small dixie cup filled with water, nothing else. Making sure he goes to the bathroom before bed. I know it's a pain to wash the sheets. I have sets of everything so if it gets peed on I will just change it quick and wash the other without worrying about having to wash it because there isn't bedding on it for the next night. If he doesn't stop having the accidents soon I would discuss it with your pediatrician as sometimes it can be an indication of a concern.

You are right he is sleeping like a rock and does not wake up to go. I would just put pads under him or get a shower curtian and old towels to sleep on. Extra sets of sheets. It might be a fase or he might not grow out of it for a while. EWither way you can cope with it. It is just one step in the parenting game. He is just health and normal. I wish we all could sleep that good.

If he's sleeping and peeing without realizing it, it's not something you can teach him not to do...putting a sleep diaper on only at bedtime wouldn't set him back if this is really what's happening. If he doesn't know he's doing it, why would you punish him by making him wet his pants??? Some kids just take a while to get the hang of the waking up to pee thing. I agree that you should still cut off liquids after a certain time before bed but don't make it a huge deal...if he needs the diaper for bed, he needs it and that's it...just make sure its ONLY for bed...put it on immediately before he gets in bed at night and make sure it comes off before he gets out of bed in the morning...my son (fully potty trained during the day with an occasional night time accident...he's 2 1/2) wears a diaper to bed but if he happens to wake up and needs to pee he still uses the toilet...it is just a little extra security so he doesn't have to wet himself! I would say as long as he is still fully potty trained during the day and that is not set back at all, just wait out the night time bedwetting...good luck...

My son goes through phases where he wets the bed for no reason. What I do is have him change into his "night time undies"- which are reusable absorbant underwear/diapers from www.onestepahead.com. They feel like underwear so he doesn't reject them like diapers. It saves me from so many headaches--no changing sheets and jammies in the middle of the night and no expensive pull ups!

From what I've read when my 4-year old was doing this, you should not expect your child to not have accidents at night until they are about 5. They cannot control it and should not be reprimanded for going, or praised for not going, since placing judgement on something they cannot control may cause other potty issues.

Many boys have problems wetting the bed. Both my brothers and my uncle wet the bed until puberty hit. I have a neice that was doing great for about a year and then started wetting the bed out of the blue.

I read up on it and sometimes the onset of childhood diabetes can cause bedwetting. As well as traumatic events. And sleep apnea as well.

Turns out my neice put on a large amount of weight due to family problems (she medicated herself with food) and as a result developed sleep apnea which made her over tired at night and she would sleep right through wetting the bed.

I agree with a previous poster... he's probably going through a growth spurt. My 5 y/o still goes through spurts of this. I would not go back to pull-ups or diapers. Just make sure you have extra sheets and blankets. You'll feel like it will never end, and then all of the sudden he'll be doing fine again. I would also praise him each morning he wakes ups without an accident or maybe reward him with an activity he can only do if he is accident free (my son gets to play spongebob on the computer with daddy on the days he is dry.) at least for a while until he's out of his growth spurt. We've also had this happen if he has a cold or is sick in some way.

I would let him have a pull up at night time! He is completely at an age appropriate level... he is trained during the day, which is great. No need to stress him or you out to have him potty trained at night now, too.

Good luck!