Do We Really Need Pull Ups?

Sometimes this just happens. Their little bodies grow faster then their bladder. Just let him know that this isn't his fault and tell him that as his body grows it just takes sometime for other parts to catch up and that eventually it will. They actually make boxers in the pull up things now for big kids. That way if he ever has a sleepover no one will ever know.

Hi,

My oldest will be 5 in a couple weeks and is nowhere near being done with Pull Ups at night. He's always been a heavy nighttime wetter. I know another friend in the exact same position. I asked my pediatrician last year when you start worrying/doing something about nighttime wetting and she said not until he's 7 or 8 (I don't remember which). I know other boys who are 4 who don't need Pull Ups at night. All kids are different and according to my pediatrician, your son is not old enough yet to think he has a problem.

Good luck!
C.

DJ - my advice is a bit different. If I understand your post....
He is not "wetting" on the sheets. He is wetting a bit in his underwear and then is waking himself up to go to the bathroom, right? I think that's great! He is old enough to change his OWN underwear and PJ's. Maybe lay them out for him before he goes to bed and let him know that they are there in case he has an accident. Then he can take responsability of cleaning himself up. I would be upset too if I had to go back to pull ups. In fact, the pull ups will make him feel dry since it is pulling the moisture away from his body.
Personally, I would keep him in underwear and let him figure out how to wake himself up. You said that he is only wetting enough to wet himself, NOT the sheets, so that's why I give the above advice. He will get better at waking himself up if he can feel when he is wet. Good Luck!!
L.

All kids are different. My 11 year old was dry at night 6 months before he was daytime potty trained. My 7 year old is a bed wetter and wears good-nights. We just make it part of the nighttime routine - he puts them on with pj's and changes to underwear in the morning. When he was potty trained he made it about 9 months dry at night then started the bed wetting. We're just biding our time until it's over. Holding fluids makes no difference with him, he's just a heavy sleeper. He has started waking during the night and getting a drink of water so we're reminding him to go potty at the same time. Just remind him that he isn't doing anything wrong and everyone's body works differently. Positive attitude is everything! Good luck.

They do have the Pull-up type things for just the night time. Boys sometimes wet the bed more then girls, celbrate the times he is dry and when he is wet tell him that its fine and we will try again tommarrow. It is really a choice that the two of you can make together.

Hi, have you mentioned this to his doctor? Just to make sure there isn't something behind the scenes that could be causing this. My daughter is 8 and still needs to wear them, however, she has a growth disorder. If all is good, what does it matter. He will most likely grow out of it and not have to worry about being embarrassed. Good luck and patience.

L.

Hi! My daughter followed the same pattern. We put her back in pull-ups for nighttime only when she was 4.5 y.o. and she wore them at night for about a year. Then we were done because she developed the ability to wake herself up to get to the potty.

If she didn't pee in them, we were able to get 3-4 wearings per pull-up, so this wasn't as expensive/environmentally unfriendly as it sounds, and it saved us loads of laundry, since she usually did pee through the sheets before she woke up wet and screaming.

Good luck - it sounds to me like all he needs is an understanding mom (which you are) and time.

I personally did my best to stray from Pull Ups. They were pretty much like diapers and when potty training, for the most part, putting them on my son, to me...was like condoning the "pee in your pants" behavior. I knew that there would be stress, LOTS of laundry, patience, crying, etc...but it was well worth it. I made sure to finish daytime training with my son so he wasn't doing two things at once. Once he finished day training (he was about 3), I worked on night. I purchased a plastic fitted sheet and we went and picked out some cool undies of his choice...(his was Cars) :P :D And then here came the fun part...establishing a routine. I would have him go before he went to bed, wake him up and have him go before I went, and then woke him up once or twice in the night to go. Eventually, his body got into the habit of doing this on it's own. It seems like a lot of work, but doing it this way really helped us both. About the only stress I had, was lack of sleep for about 2-4 weeks. I'm not sure if this helps, but it doesn't hurt to try. Good luck and congrats on the growing boy! :D

I think pull ups do our children a dis-service. I say that because the pull up keeps the child from feeling wet and thus learning or training the body to wake up and go potty. You yourself stated that when your child was asleep and started to wet, he jumped up and went to the potty. If he's in a pull up he won't wake up and go potty, he'll just learn that the pull up will catch the pee. I have raised children for 27 years, and when I had my first child there were no pull ups. Heck, barely disposable diapers, and those kids were FAR easier to train than the kids of today. My youngest is 11 years old and we did the pull ups thing at night. I had one child who wet the bed until he was pre-teen and my daughter till 7 years old. I attribute part of it to using pull ups at night so the bed didn't get wet. Once I took them out of pull ups and they wet themselves...they stopped wetting the bed within about 6 months. The older they get, the harder it is to retrain the brain. Buy waterproof pads for the bed (like I did) and just work through it. Pull ups just prolong the problem. Look at the statistics of kids who wet their beds longer now.....it's because of conveniences like Pullups.

My son was potty trained by 20 months (his choice, not mine), but wore pull ups at night until he was 7. You are absolutely right, they sleep so deeply that they do not feel when they need to go.

we just had a ped dr. at our mom's meeting on friday and he talked about this. he said it was common and that when their bodies have growth spurts that sometimes the hormones block the recepter in the brain that wake them up to go to the potty. and Some kids are really heavy sleepers and have a hard time waking too. they just need to learn to be in tune with their body. as far as a pull-up, i think it is up to you and him to decide. Unlike diapers, pull ups help the child feel the wetness and it helps to not have to do so much laundry when they do have an accident. You can just keep track of the dry nights and see if he is ready to go back to boxers at night.

When my girls were little, pull ups did not exist. We used "training pants" at night. These were cotton briefs made of extra thick absorbent fabric. The wearer can feel when they are wet, and wake up, but the fabric holds in the pee so it doesn't run all over the bed.

Here is a link for some on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Potty-Scotty-Training-Pants-X-Large...

DJ,

My first thought is that you do not need the pull-ups. I had my son in them until he outgrew them, but he was a really late potty trainer (is 5 and only trained since march-ish).

Have you looked into getting him the goodnights brand things? I've never used them, but the commercials appear to have kids with the same issue your son has.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

Hi DJ, I wish I had some really good advice for you, but the truth is, I'm dealing with the same thing at my house....except my son is six. I tried going to my doctor about the problem and his explenation was not to worry...his son is still wearing night time pants too and he is seven! My son is a very hard sleeper. I would get him up in the night and take him to the potty and he would go and sometimes still wake up wet and not even recall walking to the bathroom and going! As of now, I'm resolved to wait a little longer and hope he grows out of it. I'm so thankful that we have night time pants so I'm not doing laundry every night! I tried taking the night pants away and allowing him to experience a wet bed for a period of time and it was just more frustrating for the both of us. Until it starts to really affect him (right now he doesn't really care) I'm going to wait it out. He does have nights of dryness, but they are very far between. I realize the I could try another doctor's opinion, but I've heard that this is so common, that I'm not to the point where I feel it necessary.

Good luck on your journey to find some answeres! I'll be reading along with you. :)

Every child is different. Try not to compare to others My boys stopped night wetting at 23 months and 2 1/2 years, but my nephew is 5 and still has trouble. My cousin was 10 before his body finally started waking him up in time. Just make sure he knows it is normal, be supportive of him, and he will get through this and be just fine.

Blessed Be

We had a similar problem start up recently. I realized it was because of the temp dropping, and the house not staying as warm at night. Little bodies will naturally have that release if they are too cold. An extra blanket on the bed did the trick for us. It's worth a try especially if he is upset by pull-ups.
Good Luck.

have u tried putting him in those easy ups or whatever they are, they're just like boxers i guess so that the child feels better about having to wear them.

sorry i don't have any advice for u.i haven't had to deal with potty training/accidents with boys.