Hellobee Boards

They also have medication that can be useful for older kids especially if they’re embarrassed or need to attend sleepovers etc. however, I would just tell your lo if you don’t want to stay dry at night you need a pull-up. I don’t think she can “help” it necessarily and I also don’t think you need to change wet sheets everyday. It also seems to run in families so if your husband took longer I think it just might be the norm for her

Would it help to wake her to use the bathroom before you went to bed? My SIL used to do this with my nephew - he always went back to sleep no problem and it helped him stay dry overnight.

@Mrs Panda: Have you talked to her pediatrician about this? Bedwetting is very much biological, and yes, it can last for a while. If this has been going on for a while (aka, she never really stayed dry since she was a smaller kid), then her body clearly hasn't developed enough to stay dry. If she was doing fine for a while but then it started again, something could be causing it. I'm sure that she would love for it to stop as much as you would, but she really can't help it.

Any chance she’s constipated? Our pediatrician was telling us he finds lots of times chronic constipation ends up being the cause of bed wetting in older kids. To much “stuff” hanging out in the same small area if you will. Just thought I’d throw that out there but it definitely doesn’t sound like something she’s doing intentionally.

I also agree that it’s not really something in her control or that you can train. My pediatrician told me that it’s 100% developmental/biological overnight and it can take a lot longer than being daytime trained. I might be misquoting but I thought she said even up to 8,9,10 bedwetting can be normal. She said to use pull-ups until he is consistently dry every morning for 2 weeks straight. Which actually happened for us before he was daytrained! (Which again shows that it differs greatly for every kid and can’t really be taught, because I did exactly nothing to stop him from peeing overnight. He even keeps a water bottle next to his bed and drinks it during books and right before bed and still to this day has yet to have a night accident in 4+ months).
I don’t think it’s something that can be trained or taught so I would just stick with pull-ups a bit longer and save both of you the anguish. If she’s not ready and you are frustrated, why force it?

Just wanted to chime in. My sister did buy an alarm for her son. he was about 6? Every child is different but it didn't work for him. He would sleep through it but would awake my sister. So she didn't sleep for over 3 weeks so after 3 weeks, she decided it was better to just wait it out... and he did get dry just naturally. Hang in there!

I read a book by a urologist about potty training and all of the associated problems. Deep sleepers are the ones that are most likely to wet the bed as they don't wake up. It had several chapters on bedwetting and how to solve the problem.

The basic thing was to use one of those alarms, but it won't wake your daughter, it will wake you. You then have to make sure that you wake her completely and she has to remember waking up the next morning. (Have her remember something random). The alarm usually goes off within a few hours of her going to bed so it doesn't actually affect you waking in the middle of the night. However, you will probably need her wanting to end the bedwetting as well.

Here's the book: It's not your fault! : strategies for solving toilet training and bedwetting problems / Joseph Barone, MD

@Mrs Panda: Haha it’s def something I’m glad about but I swear it’s not something I’m “proud” of because I literally did nothing to contribute. I know he’s definitely on the early side, though, as all of his classmates AND a lot of their older siblings still wake up wet. So I wouldn’t feel bad if he did too.
And FWIW, he is daytime pee trained but still asks for a diaper to poop at almost 3.5. So, ya can’t win ‘em all

@Mrs Panda: @Canoli: I am so glad to know I am not alone with these big kids in pull ups! I remember when we initially potty trained I read about doing night training when they wake up with a dry pull up. That has never happened. DD is a great kid but can be quite stubborn and anxious about change at times so I bring it up every so often to nudge her. She was game to try last month after her birthday but only did a few nights dry (and I think only one where she actually got up to pee) before she slid back. I am open to positive rewards to help her over the hump but I think she is a deep sleeper and isn’t quite ready to wake herself up. But I am emotionally so over it so I am trying my best to keep myself in check. Let’s keep each other up to date on progress or lack thereof.

@Mrs Panda: I don’t have time to read these all right now so excuse me if I’m repeating. My son wet the bed until
We used an alarm. (It was recommended by one of the pediatricians in our group. The other pediatrician said it didn’t matter and he’d grow out of it.). We did it last summer so it wouldn’t affect him at school. He was 6.75 years old.

He wanted to be done with pull-ups and waking him up before we went to bed and even setting an alarm to get him up again in the middle of the night was NOT effective. He is such a deep sleeper AND went several times a night and slept through it. He wore underjams but even if they leaked he could continue to sleep in a giant puddle soaking wet.
The alarm allowed him to connect the feeling of peeing to waking up. We went from the alarm going off 2 or 3 times a night to it going off once. It took about 6 weeks. (Someone had to sleep in the same room as him the entire time to help him. )

He is unable to make it through the night without going to the bathroom once. We are Now able to get him up before we go to Bed and take him and he can make it through the rest of the night. He doesn’t remember it. (He is 60 lbs but I can lead him in a shuffle walk in front of me)

Some people may argue that this didn’t actually train him. But it made it SOO much better. it’s been amazing for us and his confidence.

Let me know if you have any questions.

@Mrs Panda: yes, we’ve let him sleep in underwear because he seems to really want to do it. It took a long time for him to be willing to let pull ups go. He’s only been in underwear for about 2 weeks and i’m too lazy to come up with a strategy so I just wash the sheets. Although i’ve been trying to put down those pad things I took from the hospital after delivery and some days he wakes with them half way across the bed!