# Staying Dry At Night



## BuddyL33 (Jul 16, 2009)

Hey all, I just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas as how to speed up the process of my son making it through the night dry.

He's 5.5 years old and still has to sleep in a pull up at night. In the morning he will often have filled it up and pretty recently based on the temp. He doesn't wake up when he goes either. This also goes for if I put him to bed in his underwear. He will completely wet the bed and sleep right through it, some how staying asleep while sleeping in his own urine.

He doesn't have accidents during the day and honestly never has once he went to underwear around age 3.5.

I know he's still within the range of normal for this but I thought I would see what ideas and success stories other parents from TAM have had. Thanks in advance.


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## IvyGirl (Aug 26, 2014)

I night trained my daughter at 4. I bought the kids disposable bed mats for her to sleep on. At first she would sleep through wetting herself too. So i started getting her up once or twice a night to go pee. After a couple of weeks of this, she got used to getting herself up and started making it through the night dry. 
Get him up and make him use the potty BEFORE he wets, it should only take a few days for you to figure out the timing. Once he gets used to being dry, he'll start getting up. Right now he's used to sleeping in wetness from his diaper, so he doesn't notice it. 
Keep lots of clean pajamas handy, and maybe limit liquids a couple of hours before bed. Good luck!


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## Akinaura (Dec 6, 2011)

Another suggestion to make sure there are no liquids given about a hour or so before bed.

When I was working with my daughter to keep dry all night, was the reduction in the liquids she was getting about a hour before bed. Then, about 15 mins before bed, I had her go try at least to use the bathroom. Then again right before she went to bed. It took about a week, she got used to sleeping in dry sheets/blankets. After that, I started letting her have small cups of water before bed. Now she stumbles to the bathroom in the middle of the night if she needs to, or gets up first thing in the morning and goes.

And to answer your other question, it really is dependent on the child. Some are done early, like the previous poster, and some take an extra couple of years, say up to 7 or so to be where they don't wet the bed during the night. I know of two boys (twins) who still wear the Nighttime things and they are 5 1/2. So you and your kid are doing just fine. Take a breath and find a way that works for both of you to achieve your goal.


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## Anon Pink (Jan 17, 2013)

Night time bed wetting isn't something you, or the child, have much control over. When we sleep, our brains send a signal to our kidneys that slows them down so they produce very little urine while sleeping. However, the brain has to actually send that signal and the brain has to mature and developed enough to do so. Secondarily, the brain also receives signals from the bladder and kidney alerting to a full bladder and the brain brings the child out of a deep sleep so that they can get to the toilet and pee. Again, this is a matter of neurological development.

So, two things have to work together in order for a child to stay dry at night, and you have ZERO control over it, with the exception of cutting back on night time liquids and waking them to pee once or twice in the night. If after a few days of waking him to pee, he is still peeing the bed, I urge you not to make a big deal about this.

While this happens in both sexes it is most common in boys. If at the age of 7 he is not able to stay dry at night, there is a medication he can take that slows his kidney down for night time but his brain still has to learn to do this on its own and it's not something any of us can control with rewards or punishments. It's like bribing a baby to learn to walk at 9 months. They walk when the brain has made those connections, they stay dry when the brain has made those connections.

Google Nocturnal enuresis 

Bed-wetting Definition - Diseases and Conditions - Mayo Clinic


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## darkwing (Jan 2, 2014)

OP, have you try using a wet alarm? I use wet stop 3 for my daughter and I have see major improvement after about 4 weeks.

My daughter is 7 and she is a deep sleeper and she wet the bed daily. Not only that, she slept through it while she, the bed and blanket were all wet. We had tried everything: limited her water after dinner, cut off all sugary drink after noon, took her to potty few times a night and nothing work for 2 years. We were thinking to take her to a specialist and see what might be the problem.

Then about 3 months ago, I read on one of the parenting forum and a parent mentioned a "wet alarm". I honestly had no idea what a "wet alarm" was but what the heck, I will try anything to help my princess. I went to the Amazon and search "wet alarm" and a few came up and I bought the Wet Stop 3 (cheapest one with good reviews) and I must said, best $50 I spent on her. 

Here is her process with Wet Stop 3 (it take a bit of trial and error to properly place it so it doesn't bother her). NOTE: She sleep in the same room with me on a different bed so I can help her. So you as a parent will needs to do the same, at least the first 2 weeks.

Week 1 - she continued wetting the bed while the alarm gone off. I woke her up and let her know the alarm gone off. She heard the sound and woke up. I change her and took her to potty, then put her back to bed.

Week 2 - she still wetting the bed BUT she woke up to the alarm. I told her that I am so proud of her that she woke up.

Week 3 - she woke up as soon as the alarm gone off, when her panty was wet. I continue the encouragement and told her she is doing great.

Week 4 - she woke up and go to the potty at night by herself

Week 5 - above midway through the week, I asked her if she want to try to sleep without it and she said ok. She continue waking up middle of the night to use potty herself.

I am still limit her water intake after dinner. I continue reminding her to go potty every 5 to 10 minutes an hour before bed time.

So far, it has been almost 2 months after stop using the Wet Alarm, she only wet the bed once and that time was because she drank too much water before heading to bed. She probably wet her pant like twice, but did woke up and gone changed herself and gone back to bed.


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## Anon Pink (Jan 17, 2013)

darkwing said:


> OP, have you try using a wet alarm? I use wet stop 3 for my daughter and I have see major improvement after about 4 weeks.
> 
> My daughter is 7 and she is a deep sleeper and she wet the bed daily. Not only that, she slept through it while she, the bed and blanket were all wet. We had tried everything: limited her water after dinner, cut off all sugary drink after noon, took her to potty few times a night and nothing work for 2 years. We were thinking to take her to a specialist and see what might be the problem.
> 
> ...


This sounds like a positive behavioral conditioning program.

What bothers me about it is that it is not addressing why her kidneys continue to produce urine when they should be resting; the interrupted sleep night after night; and the potential for dehydration as a result of withholding fluids. But I'm sure you do your best to pump her with fluids during the day and even at school.

I guess as long as she is tolerating the interrupted sleep it's not a big deal.


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## Miss Taken (Aug 18, 2012)

With my first, I stopped using pull-ups/goodnights despite him still night-wetting around 4 or 5. I think the night diapers stopped helping after a while as he didn't feel the wetness so would sleep through after peeing himself. Without the diapers he would wake up because he was wet. I also woke him once or twice a night to go to the bathroom for a while and limited drinks for an hour before bedtime. Not sure how long it took us (doesn't feel like it took too long) but he stopped wetting the bed.

I do think Anon is right about the brain development. My nephew was in night time diapers for a very long time. My sister also wet the bed pretty late into childhood (she was 2 years older and stopped bed-wetting after I did). Some kids just take longer and that's okay! Just stock up on extra sheets.


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## Hicks (Jan 14, 2011)

There are work arounds such as waking them up.

But the only real cure is time.


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