How Do I Keep My Child from Wetting the Bed at Night?

My son is 4 now, and although hes been potty trained for quite some time now, he still needs to sleep with pull ups- the "goodnites" kind for bigger kids. He will go for days at a time waking up dry, and then an accident, and so on.....they might be an option for you to consider. I hope this helps a bit.

Hi, I have a six yr old boy who still wears pull ups at night and yes he does wet them. At first his father and I were both a bit angry and thought him to be lazy. We wouldn't let him wear the pull ups in hopes that he would get up and go but it was just more work for me the morning! But I took him to the doctor when he was about five and she explained to me that this is not something to make him feel bad about and that it was probably passed on to him. I spoke to his Grandma and she said a couple of her boys did have this problem. The doctor said there wasn't much to do at this point and that he would probably out grow this stage. She said I might have reason for concern about 12 or 13 yrs of age.

I will say though that your son is still very young and I know that with some of my nephews potty training just took a while longer and a bit more work and most people do say that it is a bit more difficult with boys then girls. He could just be going through some getting used to but I wouldn't lose hope..
Hope this helps

Hi Z....It is actually quite normal and expected for your child to still be wetting his bed at night, especially if he has only been potty trained for six months. It's actually quite normal for a child to we the bed until about age 7 or eight--especially if a parent had bedwetting behaviors as well. If you want to "lessen the likelihood" that he will wet the bed, just decrease his fluid intake about an hour before bed time, and have him go potty before bed. Whatever you do, don't make this a very big deal with your son, or it will just end up creating anxiety, or more defiant behavior. Good luck!

Hi Z.
my daughter went through the sme thing for the most part I had to take her to the DR they said its very important to build the wall linner in the bladder to help her from bed wetting in order to do that you must give your son lots of cranberry juice and try not to give him anything else to drink at least 1 hour and 1/2 before he goes to bed then right before you put him to bed make him go pee you will be very suprised of the out come of the cranberry juice I though it was only good for track infections of the bladder but after I saw the doctor I had to look it up before I gave it to my daughter and guess what it reallu worked so good luck

yours true
MaryAnne

It just takes time. It is hard for a small child to wake up in the middle of the night before they wet themselves. I have a four year old that will occasionally still wet the bed. Try not to give your 3 yo anything to drink at least an hour before bed (I know this is hard). If you wake up in the middle of the night, take your child to the bathroom with you (nightlights in the bathroom work great because the lights don't make them wide awake). My mother did this with my siblings and me - to this day we all still wake up at 3:00am to go to the bathroom! Good luck!

Yes I agree with limiting the fluids before bedtime but what has worked for all 6 of my kids plus the kids I have fostered was to get them up in the middle of the night, take them to the bathroom half asleep and make them go potty. It really does work, yes it may be a little bit of a hassle but getting up throughout the night will help him to get over this problem. Give it about two weeks of getting up no less than twice in the middle of the night and you will see no more accidents. Your child will then get up on his own to go in the middle of the night like clockwork without you needing to be there without even knowing he has done it. Hope it works for you.

Hi Z.. The first thing you have to remember is that young kids, ecspesially (sp? lol) newly potty trained, will have accidents. You have to keep patient at all times. I would not discourage them, making them feel bad will not help. Just cut down their liquid intake at night. A couple of hours before bed, let him know that this is the last call for something to drink. Make sure he goes to the bathroom before he's settled into bed too. He might tell you that he doesn't have to go, but try to see if he will anyway. That should help cut down on the accidents. Good luck with this ok?

Something you probably do not want to hear......my mom had five kids. Three boys, two of them wet the bed, one never did, and one did not stop until he was in jr. high. The one who wet his bed the longest couldnt help it ( he used to sleep walk at night and pee in our toy box)he had no idea he was not peeing in the restroom. The other did it out of pure laziness he just didnt want to get out of bed, he'd wet the bed even if he was awake (I got so mad at him the first time I caught him with a wet bed and awake), we tried to be patient with him we didnt let him have anything to drink an hour before bed, he of course had to use the restroom before he went to bed. If your child has not been potty trained very long, maybe you could use pull-ups at night, and maybe even wake them up to use the restroom at night so that your child gets used to the idea of getting up at night to use the restroom. Also if your house is dark in the hallways your child could ber scared to use the restroom when everyones asleep in the dark.

My daughter has been potty trained for over a year and we are just now getting her to sleep without a pull up and not wet the bed. I have tried before but she just wasn't ready. I waited until she wanted to try. It is a lot easier when they want to do it themselves. She is four now and it is not uncommon for children to wet the bed until they are 6 or even older. I would just suggest a pull up and then give him encouragement to want to not wet the bed and get up to go to the bathroom. Trying to take away drinks at night is hard, I tried this as well. I then made a deal with my daughter that she could have one cup of water before bed. This just wasn't as appealing to her so she didn't even drink the whole cup but it was there if she was actually thristy. This helped her to not need to get up. Now she gets up in the middle of the night all on her own and goes to the bathroom and I just remind her how pround I am and that she gets an "extra" star on her chore chart. She gets really excited for the bonus stars. I hope this helps you and good luck!

Hi. I have a 3 year old, he will be 4 in March. He also just was potty trained about 6 mos ago and i am also having problems with bed wetting. He doesn't do it every night, but he does do it every now and then. The only thing i can suggest that works for me is, about an hour before he goes to bed i try not to let him drink anything and of course i make him go pee before he goes to bed. Other than that i don't know what else to do. So if you find out anything let me know please. I also have a 8 month old too. Thanks

HI Z. HE HE ITS ME L.
WELL I HAVE A GOOD WORD OF ADVICE.
MY FRIEND USED TO GET MAD WHEN HER SON WET THE BED EVERY NIGHT. I BELIEVE THAT IF HE HAS A PROBLEM WETTING THE BED TELL HIM ITS OK THAT HE DOES IT BUT JUST TO COME ASK MOMMY AT NIGHT TO GO TO THE BATHROOM AND YOU'LL HAPPILY TAKE HIM.
I THINK ALOT OF KIDS ARE SCARED TO WAKE UP MOMMY AND DADDY AND THATS WHY THEY DO IT.IF THEY HAVE NO FEAR OF WAKING THEM UP IT MIGHT HELP A LITTLE. I USED TO BUY THE CRIB WATERPROOF PADS AND PUT IN UNDERNEATH MY DAUGHTER BECAUSE IT WAS REALLY EASY TO JUST TAKE OFF AND THROW IN THE WASHER,VERSES TAKE OFF ALL THE SHEETS ETC..... GOOD LUCK AND SEE YOU SOON

This is advice I got from Teri Crane(the potty pro). You have to wake your child up, lets say before you go to bed, as long as he has been sleeping for 3+ hours. Anyway, wake him completely up, and take him to the potty, then straight back to bed.(no deviations) This is training his resposes to do it on their own. I did it with my 5yo that started pottying his bed again after we moved, and after 2 weeks it worked perfectly.

Hope this helps.

I need some support on this topic as well. My daughter is 8 years old and still wets the bed. My husband and I truely believe she is being lazy and won't get up to go when she needs to. She hides it from me so sometimes it can be days before I realize she wet the bed. We try to limit her intake of fluids before bed but she gets up after we go to sleep and helps herself. We also have a huge battle on most nights when we try to get her to brush her teeth and go potty before bed, many times she will go in the bathroom and refuse to go while having a big grin on her face the entire time (she thinks its funny). It stresses me out big time, I am so busy its hard to get in every day to do potty patrol on the bed and wash it daily, and I am expecting my 2nd child in 2 months and hoped we could have this under control by now to make life a little eaiser for me. I don't know if I take her to the doctor if it do any good (she refuses to go when I tell her I'm taking her) or if I should try some of the suggestions mentioned in this topic so far. Anyone else battling this right now with a child as old as mine??

First of all, take the child to a doctor. Read up on the subject. It's been awhile since I read up on it, but I do remember it is a sleeping disorder.

I believe it is also hereditary. My Mom & her Mom, wet the bed until they were 12 years old. My eldest brother wet the bed until he was 14 & I wet until I was 12. My two younger brothers did not have this problem and they teased us until my Mom stopped them. It was very embarrassing. I have 3 children. Only one of them had a bed wetting problem. She was about 6 when she stopped.

My Mom would monitor the liquid intake of my brother & I after dinner. She made sure that we only had enough to wet our whistle. She would also wake us up in the middle of the night. I don't think it helped much....we would still wake up wet.

At three years old, I don't think I'd be too concerned about it. In a few more months. I don't think Mom ever took us to a doc about it. I didn't take my daughter either. I did read up on it though.

I wish you & your child luck. It is no fun being a bed wetter! What ever you do, do not punish the child for it. A person can not help what they do in their sleep.

I have not read everyones replys, But for soem children there is little you can do. It can be hereditarty, mostly in boys passed through the family. Do not look at this as a disapline issue.

You can try limiting night drinks, taking him to the bathroom in the night once or twice and see if that help, talk to him about it. Is it bothering him? If not he very well might have to get over it on his own time.

There are a couple different Physical reasons for night wetting, small or delayed growth of the bladder and heavy sleeping, the child simply is not awakened when the bladder becomes full, and most commonly a combination of both.

Well I guess you could try cutting back on the water about 2 hrs before besd and have him use the potty before sleep. It is not uncommon for boys to still wet at night until an older age ( I hear up to age 10). My oldest is 6 and he still does.Some of it may be how deeply he sleeps as well. I wouldnt worry about it and perhaps to save your self some work put a pull up on him at night. Another idea is to wake him about 3 hours after he goes to sleep to use the potty. That is what we are trying now. Good luck.

I have had the same problem with my son who is now 6. HIs doctor told me that children do not have a completely developed bladdar until they are 7. I was told to not worry until after he turned 7. Most nights my son is okay now but if he sleeps longer then he normally does now he has an accident. I would not stress over it or let him know you are because it could make it worse. That is what the doctor told us. So, he is completely normal.
C.

I'm in the same shoes as you. My daughter has been daytime potty trained for about 8 months but she can't seem to hold her bladder during naps and at night. So if you get some good advice, I'd be interested in hearing too.

Other moms including my own have told me that it's not psychological it's physical and that when the bladder and maturity get bigger they just seem to be able to hold their bladder.

Talk to you soon
S.