How to get to dry overnight?

[Kestrel]

We are very frustrated to still be in diapers. DS is 4 years and eight months, and have been pt for about 9 months.

He is very large for his age. We've been having him in Huggies overnight diapers size 6, and he will fill them to capacity and overflow them. Not every night, but several times a week. These are the largest, most absorbent diapers we can find. DS sleeps so soundly, even being soaked from neck to knees doesn't wake him.

Recently, DH (who has morning child duty, as I WOTH early am) has been waking up DS and making him walk over and pee, and then putting him back in his diaper and back to bed. He does this about midnight-1am, some four or five hours after DS goes to sleep. While this has drastically cut down on the wet sheets/blankets, I don't think it's helping to teach him to hold!

I am at my wit's end, is there anything I can do to help DS along? Is the middle of the night potty break helping or hurting?

[hillview]

I'd let it go. Try some goodnights diapers. DS1 was not dry overnight til he was 6 -- just normal development for him. DS1 was a very heavy sleeper. He was and is 95%+ for height and weight. I'd skip the middle of the night potty break.

[Piglet]

Some kids can not do it until they are older. DS2 was day trained at 3 and only started to be dry consistently at night when he turned 8. The doctor said it was remarkably common and we didn't make a big deal about it at all. I would encourage him along but not make it a big deal if he doesn't stay dry. There is a reason goodnights come in such big sizes!

[1mom2dylan]

It's really important to not let him drink anything at least two hours before bed. Then, just have him pee right before bed. This way there won't be much in his bladder to urinate overnight. It's tough at first to cut out the drinking at night, but if you stick with it it really helps.

[zukeypur]

My DD is 7 and wets the bed almost every night. We've even tried medication (at her request because she was embarrassed) which did not work. I just wash her sheets often and deal with it. I know it's frustrating though.

[Kestrel]

We already do no liquids after dinner, except the couple of ounces to rinse after brushing teeth. I don't see how this little body can make so much pee!!! The goodnights, which do fit better, have a much lower capacity than the overnight diapers, in our experience. I've even looked into getting "depends" type adult diapers, but we can't afford that; or the constant washing of sheets. (not to mention the pain-in-the-butt factor.)

I'm not pushing for him to be trained; but if not, we've got to find a better way to contain it. Any suggestions?

[ZeeBaby]

We have DD go right before bed and then again around 11 before we go to bed. We then wake her up as soon as we get up 6am to use the bathroom this has worked for us. It did take over a year after she was day trained to get to this point. We give her liquids at night, but we limit after 7pm. Bedtime is 8/8:30.

What I realized about DD was that she would not get up to use the bathroom in the morning and wet herself.

Your DS maybe not be ready, but it doesn't stop the pain of all the work involved with the bedwetting.

[Piglet]

So it sounds like there are 2 issues - 1) heavy wetting and 2) wetting through the night.

With 1) we found that we had to make DS2 go pee a few times before bedtime. He would pee, brush teeth, get into Pjs, pee, do bedtime stories, pee, etc. Somehow something kept coming out. We also woke him up to pee when we were going to bed and that helped,but again, he was never dry through the night and these methods in no way taught him to wake himself up. He just needed his body to mature and grow in order to stay dry though the night and that only consistently started happening this past year. He still does the 3 pees before bed and if we know he had a lot to drink he still gets woken up in the middle of the night, but at least we were able to finally ditch the pull-ups (though we still have stretches of changing his sheets now and then).

[AustenFan]

My DS was wetting the bed almost every night well past 6. We did everything--limited fluids, waking him when we went to bed, DH waking him when he gets up at 5 to go to work, on and on. People kept telling me not to worry, it was normal for the age, etc, but it was a real pain in the neck. We got a Malem alarm this spring, and he was dry within a couple weeks. He did regress a bit last month, but we put him back in the alarm for a couple nights, and he's been dry ever since. I think the alarm helped him figure out that when he had the urge, he needed to get up and go. I wish we'd done it earlier.

[zukeypur]

We had to get up super early and drive 3 hours to Dallas this morning for a day of doctor appointments. DD was so incredibly tired on the long drive home this afternoon that she peed in her car seat. It completely soaked her entire skirt, and wicked up her back more than halfway.

[Piglet]

This was us on vacation last year. It is so frustrating for both the child and parent. Hugs.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

i know several here have used a bedwetting alarm with lots of success. i have no personal exp though. DS PTed around 3y3m, but still wears diapers at night bc 10% of the time he wets it, and i can't be bothered to change sheets even 1x a week.

i would try what someone said and waking up kid at 11 or whatever (before you go to bed) to pee. i know i have done that with ds a couple times, when i forget to put a diaper on him at night and he comes in our room.

i would find it extremely hard to limit liquids at night. i can't even do that. after dinner the kids are often really thirsty from running around or whatever. i usually drink a bottle of water (at least) after dinner. i get up at least 2x a night to pee though :)

[abh5e8]

i'm so sorry op...it totally stinks! ds was daytime potty trained at 2...he will be 5 later this month and is still wet every night. its a hormone issue...body needs to secrete a hormone at night to concentrate the urine so there is not such a large volume produced. and it just takes time for the body to be able to regulate that hormone at night. i do think that chronic sleep deficit makes it worse. ds is always wet when overly tired, but when well rested will sometimes be dry. and i didn't even realize he was overly tired, as would be happy and cheerful until bedtime at 830 or 9, get up at 7. but when we moved to an earlier bedtime, like 7 or 730 and he still slept in until 7am, i realized he does need more sleep.

they do make pull up type diapers bigger then the size 6. papers and huggies each make them. sizes are sm/med and med/large. the sm/med are for ages 4 - 8. they are more expensive then diapers but not as much as adult depends or anything. plus, its worth it to me to not have to change sheets (he was leaking out of the size 6 diapers).

[twowhat?]

Can you buy the doubler inserts to put inside the Huggies overnights or the goodnights? That would probably help. Mine are 5 and DD1 was dry at night the moment she daytime PTed but she has a bladder of STEEL...she regularly goes 7pm until 7am without having to pee and on the weekends when we don't make her go in the morning, she waits until about 11am before she goes! But DD2 wakes up pretty soaked every morning. I've tried waking her before I go to bed and having her pee - doesn't work. I too do not want to be changing sheets, even once a week. I need my sleep. I'm happy to put her in a pull-up and call it good. Our pediatrician doesn't get concerned about wetting at night at this age. And like a PP I find it really hard to limit water before bed...my kids don't drink anywhere near enough at school and they totally make up for it at home.

Even as an adult I still have to get up at least once each night to pee so I bet she inherited my tiny bladder and is just not ready/able to wake when she has the urge to go.

[AnnieW625]

I'd let it go. Try some goodnights diapers. DS1 was not dry overnight til he was 6 -- just normal development for him. DS1 was a very heavy sleeper. He was and is 95%+ for height and weight. I'd skip the middle of the night potty break.

:yeahthat: With my Dd1 I stressed about it a bit as she day trained at 3 yrs. and a month, but then I just decided it wasn't worth the fight and low and behold one day at almost 5/1/2 (about a month before she started kindergarten) she mentioned that she was getting up at daycare to go potty during nap so I told her she had to do that night. It took her about a week or two to get it and she had two accidents iirc. For whatever reason it ended up being a completely mental thing wih her and once she got it she got it.

DD2 on the other hand has had two accidents at night since she trained at 3 yrs., 1 week. It is just really a mental thing IMHO.

[NJ_Mom2011]

I haven't read everyone's post, so sorry if this is duplicative. I am in the process of potty training my daughter, and I saw this Huggies product on Amazon (I have never used it yet, so I can't vouch for anything: http://www.amazon.com/Goodnites-Disposable-Bed-Mats-Count/dp/B007E500KE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381931895&sr=8-1&keywords=huggies+pads

I have been placing a beach towel under my daughter, as it is easier to clean that than sheets.

[niccig]

Can you buy the doubler inserts to put inside the Huggies overnights or the goodnights? .

:yeahthat: I used a doubler insert or put on 2 diapers for DS for overnights as he was a super soaker. He had a huge bubble but, but it was the only way to keep him dry.

He then refused to wear dipes at nighttime, but he wasn't ready to go all night. We did the wake-up late at night to go, and I bought 2 mattress pads that go on top of the bottom sheet. DS would sleep on top of the mattress pad and if he peed, most times I just had to take that off and put the 2nd one on. Much quicker than making the whole bed, washing all the sheets.

ETA. I used a mattress pad like this http://www.rightstart.com/handy-s-potty-training-pad-twin.html I got 2 as sometimes DS peed 2x a night. I would put the 2nd one on after the first accident (DS always called out in middle of night).

[BunnyBee]

It's developmental, so there's nothing really you can do to rush it along at his age. Have you tried adding an adult bladder control pad (Poise) to the diaper? My DS was potty trained before three but was not dry consistently overnight until he was over 6 and had his tonsils and adenoids removed. Sleep apnea can affect this, as can constipation.

[cagey]

This was DS to a T. 2 weeks of Malem alarm and we haven't looked back.