5 Year Old Still Wetting the Bed at Night

M.,
My son wet the bed until he was 7 1/2. We tried the drugs which made him retain water and look fat, we tried hold back liquid at about 6 pm, waking him in the middle of the night to go. He out grew the pullups so we got a plastic cover for the matress and washed sheets and sleeping cloths every morning. I was in the military so the kids where woke up at 5am every morning and went to bed at 8 pm. He just had to grow out of it. One day he woke up dry and has been dry ever since. So you might just have to wait for his bladder to ketch up with his body.

H.

My daughter was potty trained at 18 months. She did wonderful and night wetting wasn't a problem. Then we moved and she wet the bed on a regular basis. Then we moved again and it stopped. Believe it or not we moved again and it started. At five years of age it was finally discovered that she had allergies and everytime we moved someplace near a grain elevator she wet the bed because she was so allergic to the dust that it 'intoxicated' her and she slept so hard she never even knew she had to potty. So it may be something as simple as allergies and nothing to do with training someone to do something in their sleep(which doesn't even sound rational)
B.

hello, my son is 9 and has the same problem ,his doc says he sleeps so hard he can't fell the urge .his problem is a sleeping disorder. i give him medicine when he sleeps over or goes trip ,camps, ect. at i hav eto by pull up ,doc said by 12 he should grow out of if ? i have also heard kids who are add/adhd have betting wetting issuses . good luck and congrats son new baby

have a grandson who just turned 10 just quit wetting the bed a couple of weeks ago go buy some nighttimes pullups use them at night cut back on sodas if she drinks them cut all liquid out about 3 hours before she goes to bed make her got potty before she goes to bed and wait she will grow out of it if you are still having trouble talk to her doctor we thought my grandson would never stop course he didn't wet every night just a couple of times a week then he went to camp and ever since he had to take his night time under ware and keep everyone knowing about them he hasn't wet the bed since he came back home , we even had a plastic mattrice cover for his bed good lock

My daughter was the same way at that age. I ended up not letting her have anything to drink for at least an hour before bedtime, then having her use the bathroom before bed, and also setting my alarm to wake me up at around 2am. Then I would get her up and take her to the bathroom again. This helps to train her to wake up when she needs to go, and gets her to actually walk to the bathroom when she needs to go.

A lot of times, children (and adults) dream of peeing. It's weird, I know, but I had a hard time when I was a kid, I wet the bed until I was 11, so it's difficult. I would dream I was peeing, but I couldn't get myself to wake up to use the bathroom, so I wet the bed. I had to tell myself before I went to sleep, that if I dream of peeing, I had to put in my dream that it would wake me up when I saw a toilet (there was always a toilet in my dream). Anyway, this worked for me. Even now, at 40, I sometimes dream of peeing, and it wakes me up when I see the toilet!

Try those tricks, and make part of your bedtime routine be a chat about visualizing getting up and going to the bathroom. Don't expect miracles to happen overnight. It takes awhile to train your mind and body to get itself up when it is asleep.

Good luck!

I had a firend with a similar problem and she would wake up in the middle of the night at 1 AM or 2 AM and take her daughter to the potty then. Eventually the daughter learned to get up in the middle of the night on her own.

Is she on any kind of medications - some could have a "desensitizing" effect. Another possibility is the chance of a low-grade yeast infection. If she feels like she has to "go" constantly, she may not be able to tell the difference. Check out this site for some symptoms and warning signs. www.yeastinfectionadvisor.com - I'll keep my fingers crossed for you :}

I am not sure if this was mentioned, sorry if it is a repeat. My brother wet the bed into High School, all the Dr.s said it was just a matter of his bladder being too small. He was/is also a very deep sleeper who needs 12 hours a night. Now he has a daughter who is having this problem at 6. I would suggest using pull-ups and letting it be, I know my brother was very upset that he couldn't stop, and my mom says she would have loved having pull-ups insead of washing sheets everyday for years. Just realize that it maybe something you and your daughter need to live with for sometime. Blessings to you and your family.

I think you need to talk with your doctor again just to be sure that she doesn't have an infection or something else going on. A urine test is simple and painless. Is she constipated? This can cause pressure on the bladder and cause accidents. You may even have to see a different doc, because I really think you need to make sure there isn't something going on physically. Good luck.

Try cutting back on fluids at night before she goes to bed,only give her a drink or two, not a whole cup. Keep taking her to the potty every night, wheather she goes or not. Give her lots of praise, when she does go. Like every thing else it will take time, but she will get the hang of it.

Hi M.! I'd like to say that she will outgrow it, but she might not. My oldest just turned 6 and has been potty-trained since she turned 2. She still wets at night. My son is almost 4 and it's the same thing. We took my daughter to see a pediatric urologist a few months ago and he said that some bladders mature at different stages and to just wait it out. He said the best bet is buy an alarm that you attach to their panties and when it gets wet, it goes off and wakes the child up to go to the bathroom. You can buy them on ebay pretty cheap. But never make them feel guilty or uncomfortable with it. If the child could help it, they would get up and go in the middle of the night. There is medication to help with the hormone but they don't like to start it til the child is about 7. But does this run in your family? I know that it does on my side, that's why we went and saw a doctor. My daughter gets frustrated because she can't wear panties at night, but I tell her when her body gets a little bigger, she will be able to wear them at night. Until then, it's Huggies goodnights for us. Good luck and keep us posted.

Let us know what happens...my son who is 4 still wets at night about once every two weeks. He does it more when he is tired and seems to be sleeping harder. I also think he's growing. When he was first trained, he only wet at night once or twice in the first three or four months. The night wetting actually began later. (He has been day trained almost a year now.) Good luck!

Try not to give her anything to drink after the dinner hour.You can put her in the night training pants.

M., I wet the bed until I was 9 and my son was almost 9. So basically that's 3rd grade. I would even get up every night and change my own sheets.

What helped with my son was waking him up at 11pm sharp to go to the bathroom. Usually he was sleep walking but he had a really full bladder by then. He never remembered us getting him up. We did this until he was almost 9 and then we started slipping and now finally at 9 1/2 he is able to wake himself up. That seems to be the problem- they can't wake themselves up because they are in a deep, deep sleep. SO don't worry, just protect your mattress and don't stress out about it. Its pretty common but not many will talk about it.

I had one that did the same thing, what her doctor told me was that she was going so sound asleep that she wasn't realizing what was happening. Which I believed. Because she would get up and say things like the roof leaked or the bed sweated. It is called a zombie sleep. She out grew it. Once she realized how to control it on her own. So be patient and stop all drinks about 1 1/2 hour before bed time and make sure she goes before bed and try to get her up during the night. If you hear your tossing and turning get her up then and take her to the potty. I have actually done that and she would still be half asleep. But it kept me from changing sheets every day. Good Luck

M.
My daughter was 22 months and completely potty trained, day and night. I waited until she was dry , in the mornings for several days. If she is potty trained in the day, and only problems in the night, I would take the pullups off and put on panties. Pullups are no different than having on a diaper, except you pull it up. Apparently at 5, she realizes she has on a form of diaper, and does not have to get up and go to the bathroom. I disagree with your doctor. I think most children with the exceptions of handicaps have been potty trained at 5 and even 7 for a while. Most children at the age of 7 are in school. Try letting her sleep in panties for a few nights and see what happens. Slow up on the drinking before bedtime. Good Luck

I have a five-year-old daughter who will be six in October and we've dealt with the same thing also. She was potty trained and doing great at night at age three with the occasional night-wetting spells, but then by the time she turned four she went back to wetting the bed every night, with only a few dry nights occasionally. It was so frustrating, and I worried that it had to do with her new baby sister who was born right before this started up. We tried getting her up at about 10:00 at night right before we'd go to bed and found that she was so dead asleep we couldn't even get her to sit on the toilet. Our pediatrician said not to worry because she couldn't help it and would grow out of it. My husband was afraid that letting her wear Good-Nites was teaching her not to get up and go to the restroom, but after months of getting up in the middle of the night to change wet sheets we finally had had enough, not to mention my daughter was genuinely upset every time it would happen. So she went back to wearing the Good-Nites, everyone got a good night's sleep, I quit wearing out my washing machine, and she is right now back to staying dry and not needing them. We did just have a wet spell for a week or so just about a month ago, but I finally figured out awhile back that this happens when she's having a growth spurt because I'll also notice her eating a lot, being cranky, and her sleep routine being a bit off. I looked back on when she turned four and she grew with leaps and bounds that year -- couldn't keep her in clothes that would fit for long -- and that was our worst year for the accidents. I've read that when kids grow they consume more but their bladder doesn't catch up with growing quickly enough. So my advice is don't torture yourself anymore and just do the Good-Nites to get you through it. We would praise her when she would wake up with a dry one so she'd be sure to keep trying and it obviously worked out. I still make her wear one if she has an accident for about a week after she starts staying dry also, to be sure she's going to stay dry. Also, about the wetting at naptime........ try not to let her drink much juice, which is the worst for overstimulating their bladders, or at least water it way down. And we have our daughter drink water or milk at dinner. Good luck to you and just remember she absolutely will grow out of it......... get a good night's sleep tonight!

hi i have 2 grand daughters that are 7 and 9 and they both still wet the bed maybe not every nite but they do my daughter has had them checked by the doc and he said they will out grow it so i just continue to buy pull ups for them just maybe one day it will stop

Good morning :-) Your doctor gave you good advice. Although it seems as if the other children have this licked, it isn't always as it seems. My son took a bit longer to achieve night dryness, but he did it in his own time. She will get it - sounds as if her bladder is just immature. I know it's frustrating and irritating at times (I got blankety-blank tired of changing the bed haha), but it will happen. Patience momma - you will survive this. Good luck

Hi M., no you are not alone. My daughter is going to be 6 on Thursday and she still wets the bed at night. I tried the same thing youdid, putting underpants on and a rubber pant on ovwer it and all it did was make more work for me. I just talked to her Dr a few weeks ago about it and she told me not to give her anything to dring after 6:00 pm (which is very difficult because my daughter has a bad habit of not drinking all day and then wants to drink at night). But I do limit it to just a sip before bed. The other thing she suggested was to get he an alarm clock and set it for every 4 hours. I am going to do that this week. I have talked to some other mom's in her class and found out that there are a few other kids in her class that still wet the bed at night as well. So we are not alone. Try the alarm clock,I will do the same.
K.

Both of you might be more comfortable with her wearing nite-time pull-ups until she can be dry more regularly. I think some kids just sleep too soundly to wake up to go to the bathroom in the night and/or do not have a large enough bladder to hold it long enough to last until morning. Have you tried limiting liquids before bedtime? I do not know how well this works (never seemed to make much difference to me), but if you try limiting liquids after dinner, make sure she is getting plenty of liquids earlier in the day. I would not worry about her too much, sooner or later, she will be able to stay dry most nights. Unlike daytime potty training, I do not think there is a window of opportunity for learning to stay dry at night, she needs to be physically able to do it and it might just take her longer. It wouldn't hurt to ask your doctor again if he/she knows of anything else you might try. I have heard about a product you can buy that is like a rubber pad that sounds an alarm when it starts to get wet, so the child will wake up. Then the child is supposed to learn to wake up from the feeling of a full bladder.

I wish there were some magic pill. I know how difficult it can be for both of you.

s

I made my Daughter's life hell when she was little. She wet the bed until she was nearly 10. I would wake her up in a sopping wet bed and be very upset I had to get up and change the sheets and give her a bath. I tried making her get up and go during the night but she kept falling off the toilet while she was asleep. She still wet even after sitting on the potty. Finally I talked to my sister about it and she told me about her daughter having accidents and my brother's daughter did too. She reminded me that I had trouble wetting. It seems all the girls in my family had problems wetting the bed. Our muscles that control the flow weren't developed enough and when we went to sleep they relaxed. When I started college M finally went to live with her dad and stop mom, L, who is the best, most wonderful thing that ever happened to my family. L(step mom) went to high school with me and we weren't friends but I wish I had know her then. When M went to live there L tried stopping all fluids after 8, then after 7, then after 6, then she finally only let her have drinks until 5. I didn't help, m still wet the bed nearly every night. She finally stopped when she was 9-10.

I am raising 2-3 of my grandchildren and with them I have a lot more experience and am much more laid back. I really don't care if K has accidents, I put her in "Princess Panties" and let her have whatever she wants to drink. She will get old enough eventually and stay dry. Does she pee in them just because she doesn't want to get up? Maybe, but I would rather remind her to go as soon as she gets up to go pee than be constantly making it an issue.

Oh M., God Bless you and your beautiful young family! I'm sure your baby girl is in very good hands in heaven and as happy as can be.

Sounds like your entire family has been through alot with the loss of a child so young and the other children very young at that time. The 5 yr old being the oldest has no doubt felt the trauma much more than the babies in arms. Do your best to have patience with her. It could be that she's having bad dreams at night that keeps her from going to the potty alone. Do you have a night light on for her to see her way there?

When i was her age I often dreamed I was in the bathroom. I'd pull down my panties, sit on the toilet, and pee-pee then wipe and pull up the panties and return to my bed. When in actually I'd never left my bed. Consequently, it was soaked by morning. I had a very difficult childhood and I was the oldest. Sometimes the stress was just too much for me I think. My bladder couldn't contain all the emotions I'd held inside for so long. I know it sounds odd, but it is what I recall about my childhood and that was without having lost a sibling to death. So I can only imagine what your little one is feeling that she's not been able to express for one reason or another.

please understand I am not placing blame on anyone. I'm attempting to give you the possibility of what may be going on within your little girl that she's unable to speak about due to lack of maturity and understanding of it all. patience and love is the best you can do for her now. I personally never liked the idea of pull-ups for my own children. I think it confuses them. If they are potty training and using pull-ups at night that's a clear indication of the parent not feeling the child is successful enough in their training to sleep without some form of a diaper. It sends the signal to the child that diapers are good at night so you can just pee-pee in them instead of going to potty. I used training pants from the first day and night. It worked well on my three plus on the other 3 I trained for my neices! each child is different and in varying household circumstances, so all must be considered. In this case, your baby girl is dealing with some difficult issues and doing her best.

She will be fine in due time. God is watching over her. God Bless you once again. You are a very brave woman with a warm loving heart. I can feel that in just reading your letter. take care of yourself.

sincerely,
D.

M., this may sound stupid but have the child's ears checked. My son who is 17 wet the bed until he was 6. Someone told me to have his ears checked and low and behold he needed tubes, they also took adnoids and tonsils at the same time. Instantly he quit wetting the bed! Just thought this may help.

GOod Luck

steffie

My first daughter was actually close to 9 years old before she quit wetting the bed at night. We tried everything, from waking her up to potty, stopping drinks after a certain time, just putting her in panties, and probably other things as well. Her doctor said that her bladder had probably not caught up with the rest of her body yet, and that if she showed no other symptoms, like that of a kidney infection, to just wait it out. Also, she slept really hard! I don't think her body could wake her up when she needed to go. So, we just kept using pull-ups at night and then one day, she decided to try without it because she had been dry at night for awhile, and sure enough, she has not wet the bed since! Be patient, it will happen! And all children are different, because my 3 year old daughter decided one day that she wanted to wear panties at night like her sister and she hasn't wet the bed yet! Good luck, and just keep trying and be encouraging to your sweetie!

Hi M.. I had this problem with two of my three children. My daughter had been daytime potty trained from about 2-3 but was like your daughter and wet every night, sometimes more than once, and usually during naps. I sometimes actually saw her urinate while she was asleep so I knew for sure she wasn't just waking up and not bothering to let me know she needed the toilet. She suddenly stopped on her own at around 4-5 but my son continued until he was about 8-9. He didn't wet the bed every night, maybe about 2-3 times a week. I put a plastic sheet on his bed with a draw sheet over it and got him to change his pyjamas and the draw sheet himself if he woke in the night and found he was wet. He was quite happy to do this as he didn't like laying in a wet bed and it gave him some control. I had consulted the doctor previously and he said my son had an immature bladder and would grow out of it. Eventually I consulted a Naturopath who agreed with the doctors diagnoses but said my son had a mineral deficiency (sorry, I can't remember now which one it was) and prescribed some simple supplements. I was astounded at the result. In less than a week, my son was waking up himself if he needed to use the toilet, and never again had any problems.

I wouldn't worry too much about how your daughter rates against other kids. They are all different and their bodies mature at different rates. And the problem is almost certainly not due to anything you are doing or not doing. Your doctor is probably correct advising you not to worry until around age 7. It may be worth checking with a Natural Practioner if the problem continues past this age though. Some people advise not getting a child up at night to use the toilet, but I always did with mine. I figured if I found it difficult to hold on for up to 12 hours at a time, then a child probably would too. They usually did want to use the toilet, but occasionally didn't, and I didn't worry if that happened.

Good luck with your daughter. Keep in mind that we all did eventually become dry day and night, and I'm sure our Mum's often felt despair at finding yet another wet bed in the morning :-)

Hugs
S.