WWYD? Nighttime potty training for 5 year old

[joannqn]

My 2 year old has pretty much potty trained herself for the day time, and she's increasingly waking up from naps and in the morning dry or almost dry.

 

My 5 year old is is potty trained during the day, doesn't nap, but wakes up extremely wet in the mornings. He pees so much that he occasionally leaks through the pull up and wets that bed.

 

I haven't worried about DS5, figuring he'll be ready when he's ready. But he's getting up there in age, and his younger sister is going to be nighttime trained well before him.

 

I tried stopping liquids, having him go to the restroom before bed, and waking him up a couple of hours later to pee again. He sleeps so heavy, waking him was difficult. I had to carry him (50+ pounds) to the bathroom. I tried to get him to stand but he wouldn't extend his legs until I told him too. Once he was standing, he just stood there because he was so out of it, so I had to pull down his pants. Then he needed help aiming. So, I'm standing there behind him aiming him and he starts to pee. And pee. And pee. And while peeing he fell asleep and starting falling over. So, there I was, holding his slumped over foam with one arm and aim him with the other hand while he peed in his sleep.

 

Yeah, that went well. I can't imagine doing that a couple times a night.

 

I can't imagine a vibrating alarm would wake him up. It's very hard to arouse him at night.

[cjgrubbs]

My 8 year old still is like this. Many nights he's dry. But some nights he isn't. He sleeps very deeply. Ped says we can do oral medication (not sure how that works) but we haven't attempted this yet....but we might this year at his check up.

[SonshineLearner]

I'd start to think about WHY he's so sleepy and wets. Perhaps it's just normal... perhaps not. Some children with issues like ADHD are suppose to have a harder time... I'm sure there are other issues, too...

[SKL]

Could you have him pee sittng down at night (holding his aim downward)? At least then you wouldn't have to hold his whole body up.

 

Was he dry the next morning?

[ssavings]

I'd give it time. Lots of DD and DS's friends aren't totally night trained! Some kids take a bit longer than others...

[Guest]

DS is a very deep sleeper and was like this until about 6 1/2. Our doctor said it was totally normal and wasn't concerned about it. We never resorted to meds or alarms, and he just grew out of it.:hurray: I know how frustrating it is! Hang in there and I'm sure he will outgrow it soon.

[catz]

I'd give it time. Lots of DD and DS's friends aren't totally night trained! Some kids take a bit longer than others...

 

:iagree: I wouldn't worry about it a bit. My DS was still occasionally wetting the bed at 6 even into 7 (especially nights we were out late and he was very tired). Our neighbor has a daughter that didn't grow out of it until age 10 and she is definitely not ADHD and is very, very bright. It's a biological thing that just takes some kids longer to develop than others.

[lcelmer]

 

I haven't worried about DS5, figuring he'll be ready when he's ready.

.

 

 

Yup, that's what we had to do. I had a child with enuresis (nighttime wetting) till well past 6. They just needed time to grow out of it. :001_smile:

 

You might try goodnights diapers for bedtime.

[SMRB]

DS turned 5 in March and is exactly the same. At his annual checkup, the pediatrician said it's common, especially with deep sleepers, and he told us that trying to wake them up in the middle of the night to go just won't work because they are so out of it. He did a urine test to make sure he didn't have other issues and said we just have to wait it out (his father was 7 when he outgrew it). :crying:

 

We use Goodnites (BIG difference) and hoard coupons and deals for them, because they get expensive. Even with that, DS wets through them at least once a week. So we also put a huge beach towel on top of the sheet and he sleeps on that. Lots of times he just gets the towel wet and we can avoid a full bed change.

 

It stinks, but it will get better eventually. :grouphug:

[joannqn]

You might try goodnights diapers for bedtime.

 

 

This is what we use. He leaks through regular pull ups every night. With Goodnights, he only pees through them a few times per month.

[runmiarun]

My 2 year old has pretty much potty trained herself for the day time, and she's increasingly waking up from naps and in the morning dry or almost dry.

 

My 5 year old is is potty trained during the day, doesn't nap, but wakes up extremely wet in the mornings. He pees so much that he occasionally leaks through the pull up and wets that bed.

 

I haven't worried about DS5, figuring he'll be ready when he's ready. But he's getting up there in age, and his younger sister is going to be nighttime trained well before him.

 

I tried stopping liquids, having him go to the restroom before bed, and waking him up a couple of hours later to pee again. He sleeps so heavy, waking him was difficult. I had to carry him (50+ pounds) to the bathroom. I tried to get him to stand but he wouldn't extend his legs until I told him too. Once he was standing, he just stood there because he was so out of it, so I had to pull down his pants. Then he needed help aiming. So, I'm standing there behind him aiming him and he starts to pee. And pee. And pee. And while peeing he fell asleep and starting falling over. So, there I was, holding his slumped over foam with one arm and aim him with the other hand while he peed in his sleep.

 

Yeah, that went well. I can't imagine doing that a couple times a night.

 

I can't imagine a vibrating alarm would wake him up. It's very hard to arouse him at night.

 

 

I have to tell you that we have the same problem with both our boys. And have done the same "holding them over the toilet at night" scenario. As I read your post, I giggle because we do that same dance almost every night. Including the boy falling asleep bit. We've stopped using the overnight diapers. They were just getting way too expensive with having to have the different sizes for the 2 boys and still having the 2 girls in diapers. We bought the plastic mattress covers from Bed, Bath and Beyond for 5.99 each. I change the sheets just about every other day. Some days the boys will wake up dry. MIL reminds me that hubby didn't stop nighttime wetting until he was 9.

Edited April 24, 2012 by runmiarun

[TracyP]

I've been thinking about posting this same question. My son will be 5 soon. This seems old to still be wet every night, so it's good to hear that others think this is ok.

 

I tried stopping liquids, having him go to the restroom before bed, and waking him up a couple of hours later to pee again. He sleeps so heavy, waking him was difficult. I had to carry him (50+ pounds) to the bathroom. I tried to get him to stand but he wouldn't extend his legs until I told him too. Once he was standing, he just stood there because he was so out of it, so I had to pull down his pants. Then he needed help aiming. So, I'm standing there behind him aiming him and he starts to pee. And pee. And pee. And while peeing he fell asleep and starting falling over. So, there I was, holding his slumped over foam with one arm and aim him with the other hand while he peed in his sleep.

 

Yeah, that went well. I can't imagine doing that a couple times a night.

 

Your son sounds just like mine. Heavy sleeper, soaked in the a.m., and we have been trying the same methods. I have to laugh at the part I quoted because I can totally relate to this. He was falling over in my arms the other night, and I said "We are going to go potty, okay?" I pulled down his pants, started to turn him toward the toilet...but it was too late. He peed all over my leg, then the wall as I turned him quickly.:tongue_smilie: He is back in a diaper now.

[nova147]

Check our asker sears.com. There is an article about bed wetting there. He says 15% of 5 year olds still wet the bed and it is more common in boys - 4 to 1, in fact. So your son seems normal!

[Acorn]

My son wasn't dry until a few months after age 6. At age 6 check up, his ped. said she may do some testing at age 7 just to rule a few things out, but told us it could be quite normal (especially for boys) to last a few more years. We never tried to wake him. Sometimes, he would wake up and change his own clothes and tell us if the bed was wet. Otherwise, we just had to wait and be patient.

[Farrar]

Another vote to just give it time. My boys weren't totally night trained until about 5.5 and I felt like we were in the median age with that.

[Mert]

Like others have said, this is probably one of those things that he'll just outgrow. You can double up the pull-ups to help with those wet nights.

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

My sons (now 18 and totally potty trained..grin), peed at night until age 11. Barring health issues (like diabetes or other issue), it may be normal. My only complaint was the freaking expensive older kids pull-ups. However, the cost of laboring to change bedding everyday would surely outweigh the pull-ups (not to mention the cost of my own frustration).

 

I know some choose the route of alarms and medication,etc, we just didn't go in that direction.

 

Blessings,

 

Camy

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

One more thing...I do not mean to alarm you, but my sister-in-law's son had a severe nighttime bedwetting issue and his problem turned out to be Type I Diabetes. horrific. This was not our problem, thank the Lord.

[Paige]

We used the alarm with DS when he was 7 and it worked within 2 weeks. We tried it with DDs when they were 5 and it was a miserable failure. They were waking up 4-5 times a night to go potty and were so tired in the morning. We gave it up for a few years and tried again when they were a little past 7 and it didn't take long at all. I think they needed the intervention as none of them were dry before using the alarm for more than 1 night in a row. It was obvious when they weren't ready, however. At first they were so hard to wake like your son but eventually the alarm did work. The problem was, that the alarm kept waking them up because their body wasn't ready to stop producing so much urine at night. When we quit the alarm they went back to sleeping through it until we tried again. I asked the Dr when they were 7 and she said her son still wet the bed at 7 and she wouldn't worry or try to intervene until kids were closer to 9.

[joannqn]

One more thing...I do not mean to alarm you, but my sister-in-law's son had a severe nighttime bedwetting issue and his problem turned out to be Type I Diabetes. horrific. This was not our problem, thank the Lord.

 

 

DS5 peed so much that I asked the doctor about Type I Diabetes when he was younger. He was of the impression that he'd have other obvious symptoms so we never tested. DS seems healthy in every other way.

[joannqn]

Ok, we'll just keep using Goodnights and not worrying about it. He doesn't seem too concerned about being passed up by his little sister.

[Suzanne115]

I was a very deep sleeper as a child and I would often wet the bed too. I am not sure how old I was when I outgrew it, but I know I was much older than most kids. I would totally recommend that you just let it go for now. I can remember being so ashamed and it was totally out of my control.

 

 

Suzanne

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

I figured you already knew this. I bet time will be the healer if you do not seek out other methods.

 

Blessings,

 

Camy

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Instead of goodnights, go online and order medical diapers. They hold more!

 

Ds's bed has literally five kayers under his sheet to protect the mattress. First is zip around allergy cover (not water proof), then a handful of disposable pads, then a washable cover like a fitted sheet, a few more disposable pads, then 2 washable crib size pads, and again more disposable pads, then the fitted sheet.

 

For the most part i only have to wash the bedding abd change the first layer of pads. Once in a while he leaks to the 2nd layer of pads.

 

I go crazy like this because peed mattessses smell sooooooo bad!

 

The other thing you can do is to get booster pads like depends and put them at the top front of the diaper (horizontal, across the very top) because boys tend to leak there from parts pointing up.

 

Check out tranquility diapers and pads. You can call and someone will help you choose a diaper. You can 4-5 samples of different diapers. You'll notice that they are very, very different from pull ups or goodnights.

[*********]

Joann, I know what you're going through. I really do.

 

My dss had enuresis until about 6 months ago. You'll see from my siggy that he is FIFTEEN years old. It runs in his mother's family; she and all her siblings wet the bed into their teenage years.

 

So, when Moose was still wetting at night at 5, I really started to worry. I mean, I realize dss had no control over it; but the thought of Moose struggling with that for ten more years was kind of saddening to me.

 

Blessedly, Moose just started staying dry all on his own at about 5 1/2. Before he turned six, he was reliably dry at night. I feel kinda embarrassed to admit, but I was SO relieved.

 

The little advice I can give:

 

I NEVER let on that I was 'worried' about it. I was honest with Moose. I told him that it wasn't his fault, and that he would stay dry at night when his body was ready. (You wouldn't imagine the things that dss's mother did to try and get him to stay dry, and NONE of them worked. I had been down that road before, and had some experience. So I knew that at age 5, there wasn't much to be done about it.)

 

I had Moose go to the bathroom right before getting into bed. And I limited drinks after dinner. This was just to cut down on the 'flooding out of the pull-up'.

 

I spoke with his pediatrician at his 5 year check up, and explained my concerns. She was reassuring, and basically told me to just let his body grow out of it at it's own pace. She said if at age 8-9 he was still wetting, then we'd look into medication and/or alarm.

 

Seriously, I almost cried when he just started staying dry all on his own. I was SO relieved. And it was sort of a 'all of a sudden, he doesn't wet anymore' thing. I mean, he wet every single night. And then, he just quit. So I really get it. But try your best to hide the anxiety from your dc; as you know, there's nothing he can do about it, and stressing him/making him feel bad, ashamed, whatever does not help in the least. Not that you're doing that; just wanted to encourage you.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Meant to add that ds is 7, almost 60lbs and a nightly soaker.

[*********]

I totally forgot to address the 'little sister is dry at night before me' part.

 

If you don't make a big deal about the fact that your ds is still wet at night, then he won't feel bad about little sister being dry.

 

Zee started staying dry at night at age 3. Dss, who was 9 at the time, was still wetting every night. In fact, Dss (at age 14) and Moose (at age almost 6) started staying dry at night at about the same time.

 

In our house, staying dry at night is something that happens when your body is ready to. That's it. It's not something one can make themselves do. Therefore, it's kind of a non-issue. That's really the only way we could deal with it.

[Kipling]

We were in a similar situation with our oldest DD. She wet the bed most nights, and we did the carry-her-to-the-bathroom thing too. When she turned six, we bought this alarm

http://sleepdryalarm.com/

It was the best $60 we have ever spent:D. It has a very loud alarm that sounds the second it gets wet (you attach it to the child's underpants - they recommend wearing two pairs so that the child doesn't have to feel the censor). It was loud enough to wake her up and trained her body to wake up when she needed to go. Within two weeks, She was done wetting the bed. We had her wear it for four months just to continue the training. It has been wonderful. When my son was five, we went ahead and used the same alarm on him with equally impressive results. I love that thing.

 

P.s. I was a bed wetter until a lot later than I would like to admit and really didn't want my children to go through that. Based on my personal experience, I felt it was better to take action than to let them grow out of it in their own time.

[Jpoy85]

My 4yr old is fully trained, even at night. my 5, almost 6yr old wakes up SOAKED! She actually ends up peeing the bed 2x a night. We have tried just about everything. I think its genetics because I admit i peed the bed at night a long time. :( We tried waking her up, cutting fluids, diapers, a potty in her room, leaving access to the hall bathroom, plastic on the bed, NOTHING worked. Finally, we said oh well and shes in pull ups. She will go to the dr and hopefully they have medication now that might help unlike when i was a kid.

 

shes suppose to go to a Homeschool Summer camp for 2 days I know it will be hard for to be in pull ups, but i know shed pee the bed.

[Susan in KY]

...

 

I can't imagine a vibrating alarm would wake him up. It's very hard to arouse him at night.

 

Just thought I'd chime in with what worked for us. DS trained himself to sleep through his cues that he needed to get up and go potty because he was scared of walking down the hall in the dark.

 

We bought a fish tank overflow alarm with a very loud buzzer. I sewed half of a snap into the crotch of three or four potty training pants (underwear with a double layer). I cut the wire of the fish tank alarm very short so it couldn't wrap around his neck, and then I stripped the ends and attached the wire to the snap with the ends protruding about 1 mm. Then I put a mattress on the floor next to his bed for me, and I went to sleep in his room.

 

On night number 1, when the alarm went off the first time, I awoke him immediately. He was able to stop and finish his business in the toilet. When the alarm went off the second time, he awoke immediately as well.

 

On night number two, the alarm went off once, but it must've been the very first drop because his pants were barely damp. He took care of his business. The alarm never went off again. I slept there another night just to be sure, but he had learned to wake up when he needed to, and only ever wet the bed a few times after that and never used the alarm again.

 

Hope this helps you. If it's a sleeping through the cues issue, it should. If it's allergy-related, or because of peanut butter or some such thing (which I read about on these boards), it probably won't. All the best either way. It's such a frustrating thing to deal with.

[kiwimummy]

My 5yr old and 2yr old are exactly the same as you describe OP.

 

We haven't done anything about it for our 5yr old, but it's good to read the different ways people have gone about dealing with it.

[Coffeetime]

Boys don't nighttime train as quickly as girls. At least IME. Neither of my boys slept dry through the night until well after their 5th birthdays. Give it time, he'll get there. :)

[ktgrok]

I'd sit him on the potty, let him pee sitting down, he can do that in his sleep.

[Alyeska]

You've gotten lots of replies already...but wanted to let you know my ds who just turned 8 still wears goodnights and occasionally leaks through them. He sleeps very, very hard. Even the nightime alarm (vibrating AND beeping) wouldn't wake him some nights! The alarm would wake me and I would go wake him up. He went for 8 months wearing the alarm and we switched him back to goodnights because there was no improvement whatsoever.

 

So more than anything, my post is commiseration...my dd potty trained herself at 2.75 years old and was night AND day trained in 5 days (when she sets her mind to something...).

 

BTW, the doctor says that nothing is wrong with ds...some kiddos just take more time. I am hoping he will be dry at night by age 10. If not, then we may consider medication, but I don't know. :)

[weddell]

I just wanted to add a link to a book I recently read about. I don't know that this addresses the problems of any kids mentioned here but I wanted to throw it out there because I bet it applies to more kids than you think. My 6 yo dd still wets the bed a couple times a week and I honestly think this is her problem.

Here is an article on slate about it

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2012/03/bed_wetting_the_simple_cause_your_doctor_probably_missed_.html#comments

 

http://www.amazon.com/Its-Accident-Breakthrough-Solutions-Constipation/dp/076277360X/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335323643&sr=8-1-spell

[Chelli]

I'll join the crowd.

 

Both of my dd's still have to wear pull-ups to bed.

 

They are soaked through every morning. They get their deep sleeping from me (I slept through a tornado once!) and their propensity to wet the bed from my dh (bed wetter until he was 10 or so).

 

This is one of those things you never think to ask a prospective spouse! Are you a deep sleeper? Did you wet the bed? :tongue_smilie:

 

I will be so glad when I don't have to buy pull-ups or diapers for children anymore. I spend about $100 a month on diapers and pull-ups alone, possibly more.

 

I know they will grow out of it, but it's rough waiting.

[*Michelle*]

Not much to add, but I do recommend these hospital-grade bed pads:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Bedpads-34x36-absorbs-1000cc/dp/B0002DMPFS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335325581&sr=8-1

 

When we were doing night-training, they worked great and it was easy to switch them out as needed.

[joannqn]

Here is an article on slate about it

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2012/03/bed_wetting_the_simple_cause_your_doctor_probably_missed_.html#comments

 

Thank you for posting this. He was once diagnosed with constipation and on Miralax for a while because of it. I took him in for tummy aches once and happened to mention his monster-sized bowel movements. They were regular so I didn't think anything of it. That's when I was told he shouldn't have adult-sized poo at his age (he was 3, I think). So, he was put on Miralax.

 

I'm not sure if I should go ahead and put him on Miralax for a period of time like before or visit the ped with a copy of this article in hand, asking for an x-ray.

[twoxcell]

My oldest ds(8) was in night time pull ups until just after his 8th b-day. He no longer wears them but still has accidents a couple times a month. I would not be overly concerned at age 5. None of my other children have this issue. There is really no waking my ds. I would literally have to drag him off the top bunk and he is too big for that.

[blondeviolin]

 

This is one of those things you never think to ask a prospective spouse! Are you a deep sleeper? Did you wet the bed? :tongue_smilie:

 

Isn't this the truth! I'm sure my husband wishes he asked since I was the bed-wetter. It just serves him right for being rH+ while I'm negative.

 

OP, none of my four kids are night-trained, though all but the baby are day-trained.

[NatashainDFW]

Just an idea because I noticed this with dd. If your child drinks ANY caffeine cut it out. With dd if she has any after about 2 (she really enjoys swiping mom's pepsi its not like I give it to her lol) she has a wet bed that night. No caffeine = no wet bed in my house at least for dd. Thankfully ds was nighttime trained before daytime.

[weddell]

Thank you for posting this. He was once diagnosed with constipation and on Miralax for a while because of it. I took him in for tummy aches once and happened to mention his monster-sized bowel movements. They were regular so I didn't think anything of it. That's when I was told he shouldn't have adult-sized poo at his age (he was 3, I think). So, he was put on Miralax.

 

I'm not sure if I should go ahead and put him on Miralax for a period of time like before or visit the ped with a copy of this article in hand, asking for an x-ray.

 

 

I bought the book and it was a quick and very interesting read.

Like I said I think my dd fits the symptoms he lists in the book. We are out of the country currently and so instead of getting the xray like he recommends I was just going to follow the treatment program and see if she improves. Then when we are back in the US decide if she needs an xray. Miralax is safe enough that I don't worry about overtreating. The book recommends doing a "cleanout" with a heavy dose of miralax and then taking a regular dose everyday. I can post the cleanout plan if you want it. It is based on weight.

[fraidycat]

I haven't read any of the other replies, but I will go back to see if anyone has any hints, tips or tricks that I haven't tried yet, although I'm almost certain I've tried them all. My 9 yr. old child sleeps like the dead, so quite often still wakes up wet but my 6 yr. old child has not wet the bed in probably 3 years - our light sleeper.

 

I do not make a big deal of it and neither does anyone else. It is just the way it is and "normal" for us, so child does not feel shamed for something that is not their fault. I have pads for the bed so that I don't have to wash all of the bedding every time it happens. Just the pad and top blankets.

 

DH and I were both bed wetters until around age 6.

 

ETA: These are the pads we use, they are nice and big. We can SOAK that pad (as in amazingly huge amounts of liquid) but we've never had a leak off of it and it lays nicely under without bunching up too easily.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FOA7C2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Edited January 13, 2016 by fraidycat

[bettyandbob]

I would not compare the dc. I would buy protective mattress covers. I would involve ds as much as he is able age appropriately with clean up. At 5 he might be able to pull the sheets off his bed. As the dc ages he can learn to use the washing machine and take some responsibility.

 

No punishments. Many kids wet the bed for years. Sometimes it is related to allergies. Sometimes milk intolerance. Often there is physical growth needed for the dc to grow out of it and you can't do anything except wait.

 

In our house we got things under control by eliminating allergens. This took us from wetting 5 times a week to 1 time a week. The occassional chiropractic adjusted helped too. Then we waited. It tapered off and stopped at 11 or 12.

[kiwik]

I'd sit him on the potty, let him pee sitting down, he can do that in his sleep.

 

I got really yelled at by the continence specialist when ds8 was 4 for doing that.  Apparently it is a VERY BAD thing to put a child on the toilet unless he is fully awake.  I still don't get how it is worse to wee on the toilet asleep than in a bed asleep but I did stop because it wasn't helping much as I was nearly always too late since most of the wetting seems to happen in the first few hours after going to sleep.  ds8 is still not night trained and wets through the dry nites 3 to 4 times a week.  ds6 on the other hand has been dry at night since the day of his third birthday and has never truly wet the bed.

 

eta.  But it is 10.40 pm here, ds8 has been asleep 2 hours - ds6 is still awake and is currently sitting on the toilet reading a book.  

Edited January 12, 2016 by kiwik

[ReadingMama1214]

nm

Edited January 12, 2016 by ReadingMama1214

[dragonflyer]

The bed-wetting was bothering my mother-in-law so she bought a Wet-Stop3 off of amazon for son's 6th bday.  I got it in the mail and told my son that if he wanted to try it we would, but if he was not willing to try he could keep wearing diapers.  I also told him that if he did not at least try to wake up when the alarm went off, we would skip it for another six months.

He decided to try, and for the first week or so I had to go wake him up when the alarm went off.  After about three weeks he could handle the alarm on his own.  After 6-8ish weeks he was night trained.  He is proud, and while I was OK with him wetting the bed, I like being totally out of diapers (younger son night trained shortly after his 2nd birthday).

[EmseB]

oops, zombie thread.

 

:zombie: :zombiechase:

Edited January 13, 2016 by JodiSue

[Reefgazer]

He'll stop the nighttime peeing when he is ready, on his own.  In the meantime, get bigger night diapers because that's why he's peeing through.  If he outgrows the ones in the supermarket, go to North Shore Care and get the larger, medical grade ones.

[bethben]

My ds #2 was 10 before he stopped wetting the bed, ds #3 was the wonder child and potty trained with everything at 3 years old.  My dd was 8.  This is why they make "Goodnights".  I figured me sleeping through the night and him sleeping through the night was worth the expense.  We are done with pull ups/ goodnights.  Happy day!