4 Year Old Still Needs Diaper over Night

A. tell him not to worry. This is a VERY common problem for boys. They now have those pull ups that look just like underwear. He shouldn't feel ashamed he has this problem. My brother did until he was 8. Back then they didn't have pullups for older boys. He'll grow out of it. My asdvice is- don;t make a big deal out of it.the more he is worrie the worse it will be.

Totally normal, and he will just grow out of it. For now, he can wear a pull up to bed.

There is a great Arthur episode about this, and it talks about how some kids need a pull up even to age 10. I would ask the pediatrician, but I know that especially in boys, this is normal.

Take look at his diet during the day. Sugar, ( this includes pasta, bread, fruitjuice) causes the same side effect in their muscle control as alcohol ( also a simple sugar) does in adults. They can't walk a straight line or control the car properly because their muscles control is not where it needs to be. Same with bed wetting. Give his body a chance to be strong by watching ALL consumption of simple sugars during the day and see if you get a different result.

Hi A. I have no ideas on how a 4 year old could hold his urine at night. In fact that wouldn't be a good idea if he has to go. Holding is urine could lead to a infection. Cutting back on his water and juice shouldn't hurt him if he's getting enough during the day. Check with his pediatrician about this.

So do my 4 & 6 yr old boys, it just takes longer for some...

Why arent' you a fan of cutting the liqids before bed time? Since he is unable to hold his urine and doesn't wake up to go to the washroom, what is your plan. You could get up in the middle of the night wake him and take him to the washroom since you don't want to cut out the liquids before bed. Maybe after a few days of you waking him he will start to do this on his own. I have even heard that some dream that they have gotten up and are actually on the toilet but they are really still in the bed. Give it a try and see if it works.

Some children just have problems holding it at night especially boys for some reason. My brothers and my uncle all wet the bed until they hit puberty. There isn't much that can be done and to make a sad story short...I had a cousin that died from a medication given for bed wetting back in the early 80's because it was experimental (good ole military doctors didn't inform us of that) and it built up in his system.

Not sure what problem you have with restricting liquids close to bed time???? Your son is not going to dehydrate or suffer physically. My mother restricted my brothers and if they complained she calmly told them that it was something they had to deal with because of their accidents and that was a fact of life. Life is not fair. His brother doesn't wet. For some reason that is not his fault, he does. FAct of life. WE all have to live with and accept inequalities in our life.

At any rate, my mom controlled most of the accidents with these steps.

1.) restrict liquids after five o'clock or so. The boys got a half a glass of milk with dinner.
2.) Set the alarm for two times during the night to get my brothers up to go to the bathroom.
3.) Certain foods were off limits at dinner time like watermelon and soup.
4.) She had the boys help her with the sheets by stripping their beds if they had an accident and putting them with their clothes in the washing machine. They also helped make the bed before bedtime.

I know there are lots of things that you can buy like alarms to help them wake up. You can try them if you have the money, but ultimately it will take time to grow out of. Just be patient and diligent helping him deal with it. All of us have things to overcome and this is a good teaching tool for him. It is not his fault, but he has to do what he can to overcome it without whining about it. It is a good tool to teach him to be a big boy and how to overcome obstacles with grace and will power.

Each child develops in his or her own time. It may be very frustrating but give it time. Keep a log of what he drinks prior to going to bed each night as well as if he is wet the next morning. After a while see if there was a good middle ground where he could drink and stay dry. It is probably not a matter of holding it in, it his bladder is just not able to hold what he is drinking cutting back may be the only way. He is probably a very sound sleeper and need to be able to wake up when he needs to go. After supper only allow water because juices with any sugars can make a person need to go more than pure water.

Good Luck

Had this problem with my oldest so I understand- deep sleeper too. Luckily his cousin was having the same problems so he did not feel alone on this- it does tend to run in families. It is important that he is not made to feel that this is strange or that he is a baby. I tried many different options, limiting liquid in evening, waking him up at night to bring to bathroom, etc... Nothing really worked and it was causing him to think he was doing something wrong and he was feeling bad about himself There is medicine that helps, but it involved hormones or something and we decided against that. We just relaxed about it, bought sleep pants, explained that he would grown out of it when his bladder got stronger enough- and it eventually did. He was closer to eight when that happened. I know its a different for every child. I guess my advice is to make sure you explain to him that some parts of his body are just growing slower than others, that its not a big deal and he will grow out of it. Sorry I can't give any quick fix. Good Luck!

It is normal, but to help your son you can wake him up at night to use the bathroom. It takes a while for the bladder to catch up to their bodies sometimes. So the bladder isn't big enough and the kid sleeps through until morning. You can talk to his physician too if it is a concern.

I sympathize with you--my 4 year old has been completely trained since 2 1/2, but my 8-year-old wets nearly every night. She is simply a deep sleeper and her body doesn't alert her in the night to get up and go to the bathroom. Talking to other parents, I found that this is pretty comon, and our ped also said not to worry.
I know you said you don't want to restrict liquids, but I really recommend no liquids after 6pm. I also referenced the Prescricption For Nutritional Healing and started my daughter on a nutrition therapy for this problem. Calcium Magnesium can help relax the bladder and prevent spasms. She's been having dry streaks of 4-5 days now, so I'm confident that this is helping. There are also alarms you can purchase that wake a child up when they wet. Good luck!

Talk to your pediatrician. Mine told me that it is normal for boys to not night train until 5-6 yrs old. He told me once they wake up with 5 dry diapers in a row, then start night time training. He also told me it is completely unnecessary to wake up him or myself in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Every child is different and their bodies are ready when they're ready. Be patient with him and tell him to be patient - it will happen. But, if you are very concerned just check in with your dr. office and see what - if anything - they recommend. Good luck!

Cut the 5 year old off liquids at nighttime and make sure he pees before bed. When you wake up during the night to go potty or hear a sound, get up and put the 5 year old on the potty. He'll get the feeling of relief as he goes. If you have to put him on twice a night, do it mommy. It'll be worth a couple of "low sleep" nights. Good luck.

Explain to your child that needs the diaper that it's ok and normal. Tell him that there is a chemical in his brain that has to get there in order for him to be dry at night. That it won't matter what else he does, if he doesn't have that chemical he won't be able to hold his pee until his body is ready.

Let him know that just cause his little brother can do that one thing it doesn't mean anything at all. Talk up all the big things he can do and let him know that in time his body will catch up with how smart he is, but it needs time.

Having two boys so close in age you will deal with more of this in the future, so this is a good time to get the lesson that just cause you are older doesn't make everything happen to you first. Now it's night time dryness, someday it might be girls, marriage or having kids.

I can understand your frustration, and your son's. My son was the same way. When I had asked the ped when he was 6, I was told that he will outgrow this and it is especially common for boys. He still sometimes has accidents. He was always a very deep sleeper. We could move him around, get him dressed, through him up to the top bunk and he still would not wake up. I also limited fluids at night and it made no difference. he does not get a lot of sugar and I do not let the kids have soda unless it is a special occasion or maybe we are cooking outside, which is not very often. I restricted milk one time as suggested by a friend to see if it did anything (nope). One thing I have noticed a bit is a connection to how tired he is. If he did not get enough sleep the night before or the kids stayed up late because they refused to go to sleep or we were out late, he would have an accident. As your son gets older, his accidents should change and eventually go away.

Our daughter is almost 8 and she even has episodes. What we have done is wake her up right before we go to bed and have her use the restroom. After a while she started waking up herself to go----but when she is especially tired or going through a growth spurt we still wake her up to use the restroom. Try waking your son up right before you go to bed. Since he's new to training it will probably take a long time before he is able to wake himself up...plus during these years of rapid growth it is hard for them to wake up on their own. Good luck.