A magic night training solution? Anyone?

[SB]

My five and a half year old is in night nappies, I've tried limiting fluids in the evening and sticker charts (five dry nights in a row = a prize, which he never reaches, poor kid he's been hanging out for that tractor for months ) but mostly I've just figured it will kick in at some point and it doesn't really bother me.

Until this week, when for the last three nights in a row his night nappies have leaked, meaning in this freezing crappy rainy weather over here I've had to change bedding and air mattresses three days in a row

So is there some section of the instruction manual I missed (no surprises there, I've always sucked at written directions) and there's some little switch I was supposed to flick to make it all go away?

Please give me your magic solution to dry nights

Yeah I could just stuff the nappies more diligently but omg. When will it end!??

/whine

[Bec259]

I wish there was a magic solution.
What worked for us was telling Alex that when he did poos in the toilet, then he could wear his big boy jocks to bed. He had been day trained for well over a year, it was just the poos & night time that hadn't clicked in.
When he was doing poos (that just happened all of a sudden) & had been dry for about 4 nights in his nappy, we made a big fuss of going & buying a 'special sheet' to put on his bed in case he had an accident (which he hasn't yet) & we haven't looked back.
Everyone was pressuring me a bit about him still being in a night nappy at 3.5 years, but I wasn't really fussed - you can't force them, they will do it when they are ready. I mean, how can you 'force' someone to go to the toilet when you want them to, iykwim?

[tashalou]

does he get upset at being wet Sarah? My oldest daughter has bedwetting isuues really bad for years and still wets occasionally now. (she is 19 with an intellectual disability) I found that she would wet a nappy without a care in the world, but didn't like to wet "the bed" so to speak. she hated that all over wet icky feeling and getting up in the middle of the night to be changed. How about when you move to Brissie even though it will be a HUGE change for him, make it a sleeping without nappies thing and reducing the days it takes to get rewards to something for 1 night wet free, then extending it out a little further down the track to 2 nights, 3 nights etc? After we did that in I think a week or 2 something clicked and she stopped at nights. She still does now though when really stressed out or cold.

Just some thoughts

[~*Rebecca*~]

Don't think there is a magic solution Sarah.

All my kids never wake up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night so for them they have to be able to hold there wee for 12 hours.

Neve wasn't night trained till 6, we have friend who child is 7 and still wears dry nights to bed. Flynn is in spoises at night because i couldn't find a night nappy that would hold his wee. if I put him in pull up he leaks everywhere soo sposies it is. Not ideal at all but i had to go with what works for us even after 3 years of cloth.

[*Tracee*]

It's not going to happen til their bodies have the right chemical balance, there's a hormone the body releases that allows the bladder to concentrate and store their wee overnight.

We tried everything with Abbey and in the end she did it on her own in her own time. *Touch wood* we haven't had a wet bed for about a month but before that she was still wetting a few times a week even with us taking her to the loo when we'd go to bed. So she was 5yrs 9months at that time. Claire however is night dry and has been for a couple of months, she was 3.5yrs and we did none of the limiting drinks, sticker charts, etc. we'd tried with Abbey, she was obviously just ready.

So just give him time, he'll get there. Our GP said not to worry unless at 7 years they were still wetting every night.

[Nadine]

i wish i knew the answer too - my 4 yr old still wets - not cos he can't hold on but because he doesn't want to get up in the morning - he would rather wet his pants and lay in a puddle of pee until he is ready to get up - whats with that?

and he won't wear a nappy so i am so over washing doonas etc

[tashalou]

i wish i knew the answer too - my 4 yr old still wets - not cos he can't hold on but because he doesn't want to get up in the morning - he would rather wet his pants and lay in a puddle of pee until he is ready to get up - whats with that?

and he won't wear a nappy so i am so over washing doonas etc

Oh DD went through a stage of doing that too I bought the plastic doona protector to go on so I only had to wash the quilt cover

[~Miss Cinders~]

Hun so far i have 2 out of 5 who don't wet anymore *sigh*
10yo, 6yo wet most nights, and Benji [4] is day training atm, if I get to him as soon as he wakes i can sometimes get a dry nappy off him.

Unfortunately it's a wait it out thing.

[MadMel]

My boys were trained at the same time, day and night. One was 2 and the other 3 and what I did was to limit water until an hour before bed. Then nothing, toilet at bed time, woke them up for the toilet at 11.30, then if I woke up for the toilet in the middle of the night I woke them too, then first thing in the morning. We used this routine sucessfully and they never wet the bed.

[tashalou]

wow tbh I didnt think that many kids didn't night train earlier. I am grateful now my other 2 trained around 2

[robbo3]

It sucks hey Sarah.....kids are all so different, DS#1 and DS#2 were both out of all nappies by 2.5yo but DD who is 5 in September still wears a nappy to bed (she wears a disposable as I can't stand the smell of the cloth nappies - it just wont wash away).

DD also dribbles during the day and will hold on till the last, minute and then have to change undies/pants .

So, no, no magic switch I am afraid.....just a matter of waiting till they have that light bulb moment in their brains.

[bilbylove]

i have a 2.5yo who is day and night trained, so no personal experience of helping an older child train. However, i will mention some things, that i read about, whenever this type of subject comes up (older child and night training).

- get them checked out by paed to find out if the message from the bladder, is actually getting to the brain

- put a brollysheet on the bed, so you are only changing those over in the middle of the night, not the entire bedding having to be changed. the brollysheet goes ON TOP of the sheets, not under them. and they can be tumbledried.

- use flongie as pj bottoms to limit how far the wet goes

- use cloth training pants with waterproof outers, some products that easy to boost absorbency include Daddledoo training pockets (plenty of room for the bamboo trifold that is included), and starbunz are a aio sort that have the option of pocket to stuff as well, if needed.

- have an old wool blanket on the bed

- a friend used the ebook online (she bought it) called 3daypottytraining - it's like a boot camp for toilet training, that takes three days of sticking to what the book suggests, and you email the author for coaching as you do it. it worked for her child. it's essentially having your child, home, in just knickers (no trousers, no socks), within arm's reach of you as much of the time as possible. My friend said it took alot of persistent on her and her dh's part, to stick to the program, but the results were good.

for us, when i trained bilby, i used lots of the techniques on the Tribal baby website - for EC-ing - and used cloth trainers with feel wet inners.

i believe tt-ing is yet another VERY individual thing, for a particular child. but it helps, when you are in the middle of it, to have other things to try. i really appreciated reading what other people had done, when we were in the middle of it.

(my skeptical brain is still waiting for bilby to regress! i feel almost guilty she trained relatively young LOL).

[MichelleP]

I have a 5.5 year old here still wetting. Its an indvidual thing, DD night trained much earlier. I have heard that bed wetting can run in families too.
He doesnt like to go to bed with a nappy on so we have a deal that it will go on after he is asleep but as DH and I are night owls sometimes we forget until quite late and he'll wet before we do it (and still wet the nappy later on as well). Also I have to look into more nappies as our current ones are years old and have just about had the bomb. I was just talking to DH this morning about an idea that I have had for protecting the bed as now that we are coming into winter if he wets the bed it means more than just a bottom sheet, it often involves the blankets / doona as well. We'll still put a nappy on him but it will help with those nights we've left it too late or the nights where he wets, takes the nappy off in the middle of the night and then wets again leter (happens often, as you can imagine I'm well over washing sheets!). I'm thinking of buying some PUL and making some "pockets" for him to sleep in. Kind of like a sleeping bag but wider so his movement in bed isnt restricted, still thinking about how exactly I want to do it but am thinking line it with terry or something so that it has some absorbancy there if he does wet and also for comfort rather than lying directly on the PUL and snapping or zipping the side and bottom edge so that it can be opened out. Hopefully this will protect the top and bottom bedding and I'll have less washing.

[mum2squish]

Squish will be 5 in a few months and still wears a nappy to bed, he just isnt ready so no magic solution here either he is completely day trained but gets uber upset and screams for a nappy when he is going to bed, if he doesnt have one he just wets the bed... even if he is just having a 'rest' so not even sleeping, he will not get out of the bed to wee... I am hoping when he is ready it will happen.. as a tip tho...
What i did with the kids I nanny for, when they were younger, i made the bed twice... so it went... matress, matress protector, fitted sheet, mattress protector, fitted sheet, that way if they wet the bed I only had to rip one set of sheet and protector off and it would be good til morning....

[mummygeorgie]

Emma's 6.5 ... she hasn't been in night nappies for a while, but we had to take her to the toilet EVERY NIGHT around midnight or she'd wet the bed. Until we went Failsafe ... no wet beds since then!

(We're no longer completely Failsafe, but are still avoiding additives, preservatives, colours, etc. and she is still dry.)

[marniehau]

Consider whether there may be food or other chemical/environmental reactions triggering those kids who continue to wet the bed. I know of so many cases where identification and removal of the trigger almost immediately led to "turning the switch" to dry nights. I suspect that where there is a family history of bed-wetting, then the intolerance thing is even more likely (in the absence of another medical/biochemical/physical/physiological reason). The reason that they ultimately "grow out" of wetting the bed is maybe that their bodies are bigger and so not as affected by the trigger.

[~*Rebecca*~]

I'd like o find a mattress protector that does 't leak. I have two that were't cheap and they still sometimes let the urine through so the mattress is wrecked.

[MadMel]

i got my mattress protectors at coles for $6 and they go over the whole mattress and we haven't had any leaks THey are great.

We used the make the bed twice thing too

[*Tracee*]

You definately need layers on the bed.
Abbey's has 3 layers, Claire's 2 and there were times where Abbey would wet through all 3 in a night.
It is very nice now to be only washing sheets when they need a change rather than almost every night!

[mum2one]

Sarah, unfortunately it's just a waiting game..

Felicity still wets the bed and she is 4 and I'm pretty sure it'll be a long wait for us because I was late staying dry at night. I think I was 8 or 9? Not every night but frequently and just to give you something to consider my mum got jack of everything needing to be washed ALL the time and she took me to the osteopath/chiropracter and I was cured. Apparently my problem was a twisted/twisting pelvis which was mucking up the messages to the brain to keep me dry.

Just a thought...

[Pheebs]

I cant offer any advice but HUGS, poos have been our issues here, not night times..........

[mumbojumbo]

I agree that it's just a waiting game. One of my children didn't night train until 5.5.