How Do I Get My 4 1/2 Yr Old Son to Stop Peeing the Bed!!!

Good luck! My youngest is almost 7 & is just a deep sleeper. If she doesn't get awaken, she doesn't get up to go herself. After months of doing night duty, I gave up & went back to night time pull ups. It was either that or laundry, laundry, laundry!

This is what worked for us...let him wear loose boxer shorts to bed. If my son wore briefs he would wet every night.

Hate to say this but some kids just do taht my cousin wet the bed until he was about 16. He would get into such a deep sleep and not wake up to go to the bathroom. talk to his doctor their is (or used to be) a nose spray for this

Hi there, I understand your frustration. I can tell you what happened in my own life and perhaps it will help... I wet the bed until I was about 7 years old when my mom had had it... her solution was to walk me to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I would imagine this was when she had to pee herself and she would would come and get me out of bed and walk me in to pee as well... in a short matter of time she "trained" me to wake myself up and walk to the bathroom on my own. I have never wet the bed again, in my 46 years.

It probably is hormonal and heredity. No one wants to pee on themselves and no one learns how to master these "small" things in life until someone who loves them shows them the way... My own baby just turned 3 and I imagine I will do this with her if she needs it... right now she wears a "night time panty" because I am not sure if her bladder has not caught up with the rest of her or if she will just need to pee in the middle of night for the rest of her life like me.

Every single one of us is different; and every thing to learn on this earth is learned with time and patience for ALL of us, big or small.

Just matter-of-factly (not as punishment) put him in charge of the whole ordeal of changing clothes, bedclothes and laundering them (or at least taking them to the laundry area). Changing his OWN bed and clothes won't hurt him and it may very well stop the madness. Just make him responsible for attending to the results of his abberation from the norm.

I, too, would recommend checking into chiropractic treatments. Call around first and find one you like the sound of. There are many different types of chiropractic treatments -- different ones more effective for different problems.

some kids can't control it and some even do it until 12 yrs old My son just turned 6 and still even does it ever other month or so. first you need to get the waterproof mattress protector. It is easier, stays put, and won't make him sweat or make noise when he moves. They are not too pricey and you can get one at Walmart, Target, Bed and Bath, etc Secondly, along with cutting off drinks after 6pm, I would try waking him at your bedtime to let him pee. We had to do that a few times. It might help teach him to wake himself up to go. 7:30 bedtime is good b/c I was going to suggest earlier so maybe he is not SO tired that he can't wake up. Not much help but it is worth a try.

W.

This is too crazy..I have a 41/2 year old that does the same thing...I get sick of washing sheets too!! I am glad to know that I am not the only one with this problem not that that helps any. I have a three year old and a 7 year old and I dont have this problem with them! I have done the no drinks before bed and make sure you pee before bed but nothing seems to work...So if you get any good advice please send it my way! thanks
S.

It sounds like you've gotten lots of good advice. My dad wet the bed until he was ten, and my oldest son will be five in August, and he's been potty trained for the past two years, but still wakes up wet in the mornings--and he hates it. He wants to sleep in real underwear so badly! We have him in night-time pull-ups, but he is an incredibly heavy sleeper and wakes up for nothing. And even though we limit his liquids after a certain time and make sure there are plenty of bathroom trips before bed, he still soaks through his pull-up some nights. He has a plastic sheet on his bed under his regular sheet, but for these middle-of-the-night accidents I have taken an old crib pad and cut off the elastic and cloth part that wrap around the mattress. I simply lay the padded part down on top of his wet sheet. It's plastic on one side and softly padded on the other so he can sleep comfortably without getting wet again, and I don't have to change an entire bed in the middle of the night. I can even just wipe down the plastic side of the crib pad instead of washing it every time. Just thought I'd share this tip as it helps me be more patient in the wee hours since I know my son's not doing it on purpose. Good luck!

thank you Jennifer D. for your post! You should contact your ped and discuss the situation. There is a condition called eneuresis. It is not uncommon and the bedwetting is not laziness, nor will making your son clean it up stop it from happening. It is something he will outgrow. google eneuresis so that you can educate yourself about it and talk to your ped to see if this might be what is causing the bedwetting. Good luck.

My mom had this same problem with my brothers and even my sister. My son, who is 8, still has the occasional accident. I brought this up with the doctor as did my mom, and it turns out that the bladder may not grow at the same pace as the rest of the body. It can take years for it to catch up even.

Cutting off liquids early is an excellent idea, but I would get him up an addition 2-3 times during the night if it is the bladder issue. My son (thankfully) uses multiple alarms to wake him up during the night that helps it from happening all the time. We also help get him up when he forgets... but sometimes we forget ours too. The only time that he has accidents now is when he sneaks something to drink pretty late.

Another thing you can do is to have extra sets of sheets and a plastic hamper that is tucked away. That way you don't tense up at the thought of running your washer everyday so that he can sleep in his bed. One of my brothers ended up with 7 sets of sheets (and blankets...), and it worked our and kept everyone from going slap insane.

Good luck, and remember to just develop your own way to dealing with this problem.

perhaps cut out liquid at 530p if bedtime is 730p and always make him go pee before going to bed. Perhaps, when you go to bed, take him again. We had that issue up to age 6. It is very embarrassing for them, but something they cannot help. I know your frustration, but try not to let him see it.. that will only hurt the situation. Perhaps teach him to get up, strip his bed and wash the sheets himself. That may gear him more on getting up and going. It could just be lazy. God luck and God bless.

It runs in families. Current recomendations are to NOT cut fluids. My son stayed dry at night from about 3 years old. He drinks water before bed almost every night. It was effortless. It's just the way he was made.

My sister wet the bed until she was 7. Endless grief for my family. Also, my niece wet the bed until she was 10. Both girls grew up in turbulent homes will lots of stress. and fighting between the parents. Some say there is a connection and some say there isn't. I don't know. Both sets of parents denighed there was an issue but recognized it much later.

The bed alarm eventually worked for my sister. Changing the sheets herself was normal for my niece and they never tried the alarm. It might have worked, who knows.

I'm in exactly the same boat as you. My son has been potty-trained for about 2 years now, except for when he sleeps; and usually he could stay dry for naptime, but rarely at night. A few times I didn't put a diaper on him for naps, and he would go potty as soon as he woke up, so I thought maybe he was just peeing when he woke up because the diaper was there, and if I took the diaper away, he'd get up and go potty. That seemed to work for naptime; and sometimes at night he woke up with a dry diaper, and then I let him go without a diaper at night-time sometimes too. I thought that he had turned the corner and would be fine. He wasn't. More often than not, he'd wet the bed. I thought that maybe if he had to wake up to a wet bed and wet clothes (which I knew he didn't like), something would click in his brain to make him figure out how to stay dry. Didn't work. I finally put him back in pull-ups (he was overflowing his diapers). I'm not making a big deal out of it, but it is a bit frustrating -- especially when his younger brother (just turned 3, been potty-trained for almost a year) has been sleeping without a diaper and usually without accidents for several months.

Don't worry too much. Talk to the dr and as long as there is nothing wrong, don't worry. He might be sleeping too deeply to feel the need to go. One thing you might try is to get him up to use the bathroom right before you go to bed at night. I have a friend whose son wore pull ups at night til he was 8 yrs old. In fact that is how she finally broke him of the habit, by waking him and taking him to the bathroom. Good luck.

J. C

All children develop at different stages, especially boy. I have twin boys now age 13. ne of them was fine by 4 years oldandthe other was arond 8 when he stoped wetting th bed. I also have a stepso that was still wetting the bed every single night at 9 years old. We had to "help" him withthis as I was also tired of all the laundry. We limited his drinks--while at our house no sodas, only water, milk, koolaid, and gatorade. After 6 he was not allowed to have liqids. His bedtime was a 8:30. We also woke him up around midnight to use the bathroom. This helped tremendously. He was such a heavy sleeper that on most nights he did not remember us waking him up to go to the bathroom. It was a struggle because when he went to his mother's house, he got penty of sodas and we ad to start all over on Sunday night when he returned home. Just be consistant with what you try and give it time to work before you moe on. I think if try to wake him in the middle of the night to go to the bathoom, it will help train his body to wake up. If that still doesn't help ad more time to the fluid restriction. Good Luck, I remember those days very well!

We have had the same problem with our 4-year-old. The only thing that finally seemed to help is making him change the sheets if he wets them - even in the middle of the night (with our help, of course). After 2 times of him having to do it, he completely stopped.

One of my sons had this problem until he was in elementary school. We tried to take him to the bathroom before we went to bed, limiting his fluid intake in the evening, and ll of that. Did not make much difference. I did not make a big fuss about it, but it was very obvious that HE was not happy about and it affected him.

I did an internet search and some of the things, like alarms that go off when they sense moisture did not make sense to me, as by that time it was too late, medications did not appeal to me, those would have been my last resort. I did come across info that a chiropractic adjustment might be helpful, and I figure I would give that a try. I did not see any downside to it, it was worth a shot, and if it helped all the better. My husband was quite skeptical but agreed as he did not see any down-side to it, either, and we were clearly running out of ideas helping our son with his problem.

And it was so worth it! With just a couple of adjustments he wet his bed only 2x/week (from prior to that almost every single night), and after a couple of weeks he was dry. Since then he's been dry with only one or two more accidents, and now it's been 7 or 8 years since the treatments. He was a changed kid.

Now this may or may not work, obviously, I was happy that it did work for us, but I wanted to share it as an option you might consider trying.

Best wishes!

The Potty Alarm. Put potty alarm in google. Our daughter stopped within 6 weeks. Greatest thing ever. We shared it with some friends and it worked for their son too!

Hi J.. I have an 8 year old who wets at night. He has on and off throughout the years. I know how frustrating it is, really. For boys though it is actually quite normal for them to wet at night up until about 11 years old. Despite the fact that it is normal, it doesn't make us moms feel any better, right. My son's pediatrician suggested a bed-wetting alarm. Not sure if you've seen those. My husband said not do it, so we didn't. However, my son's pediatrician said it worked for her son. Another suggesstion is something that I am going to do with my son. I am going to take him to the chiropractor. A friend of mine's son was having the same issue. She spoke to someone who told her that sometimes children's backbones as they are growing can put pressure on the bladder. When the child receives an adjustment from the chiropractor and everything is put back where it should be the wetting stops. He hasn't had an issue since. Also I don't know where you are with Jesus, but if you are a believer I suggest above all that you lift this situation up in prayer to him. I am going to do the same. Hope this was helpful to you.

Hi J.,

I know this is really frustrating. My son still isn't dry at night even though he is completely potty trained during the day. But, for many children their bodies haven't matured to the point where they can stay dry at night when they are around 4-5. It is actually NORMAL for children to wet the bed until around age 8 (it might even be a bit later than that). Boys have an even harder time than girls maturing to the point where they can wake themselves up. I actually still have my little boy in the nighttime pants and I have a waterproof mattress down. It is so exhausting (I'm 6 months months pregnant right now as well) to have to change his sheets if the nighttime pants leak but I just keep reminding myself that at least he's potty-trained during the day time and he will eventually get to the point of being dry at night as well. Your little boy is still really young so give it a little more time. His system will mature and this will probably all be like a bad dream. If it really drives you crazy try some of the suggestions and see if they work. I personally think we sometimes expect too much from our children and for something as minor as bedwetting at a young age I try to let it go. Good luck.

Just put a pull up on him at night and relax. I would not limit his fluids. Buy a plastic mattress pad and extra sheets and blankets so that it is not so inconvenient for you. How you react to it will affect your son. Just stay low key and don't put any pressure on him. Be careful not to make him feel embarrassed or ashamed over it. Wetting the bed is a developmental stage and all children mature at different ages on this one.

My brother wet the bed until he was in middle school. He is a surgeon now. My mother was always low key and never made a big deal out of it. My mom's reaction kept it from affecting my brother's self esteem.

J., thank you! My son turned five in april and we have the same problem. Not during naps, just bedtime. I've actually gone back to putting him in pull-ups at night to save my laundry. He tells me that he doesn't feel it when he's laying down. I don't know, maybe he's just lazy. Either way I feel for you and really have no ideas to help. I did buy the pull=ups with the cool feeling when they go so hopefully that will help him to wake up. Good luck and wish you the best.

J. -- Here's an interesting spin on your situation. As it turns out, a hormone is responsible for setting your system so that you don't have to go to the bathroom during the night. I think that is why most women have to pee during the night when they are pregnant...even early on. There is a very safe drug called DDAVP. It's been around for years. Most children only have to take it for a couple of months and then their systems reset themselves and their normal hormones take over. Please be patient with your son because it's possible that he has no control over this. It breaks my heart that every few years, you'll hear in the news that a child was beaten to death by a frustrated parent because he kept wetting the bed. It's just too sad that someone would have to suffer humiliation or physical injury for something that isn't his fault.

I am a SAHM with 5 children. My tip would be waking him up to go to the bathroom at least once (sometimes twice like maybe 10 & 2) in the night. Some people say I'm crazy to wake up my kids to go the bathroom, but I have not had a bed wetter yet so I'm thinking this might actually work. It teaches their bodies to wake up when they have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (they are often in such a deep sleep that they don't wake up on their own). After a certain period of time (maybe a month or so) I let it go and see what happens.

My son is getting ready to turn four. He has been potty trained for about 4 months. Potty trained means not peeing or pooping in the daytime hours on himself. Nighttime is a different story. He wets the be all the time. We started putting him in pull-ups at night but we made such a big deal about him being a big boy that he hated that. So we went and bought some good nights. Pampers has there own good nights and they are actually softer than the Huggies. There are some nights that he doesnt wet the bed and we just save that one for the next night. My daughter is 8 and still wets the bed and she uses them too. Here is a fact about bedwetting that I found at goodnights.com They have a lot of information about bedwetting. It is not the child's fault and it certainly does not mean they are lazy as one person posted her son might be.

Fact #3: Why Do Kids Wet The Bed?

There are several things that can cause bedwetting, including heredity. Some kids wet the bed simply because their bladder hasn't grown as fast as the rest of their body and everything just needs to catch up. Others might not be producing enough of an important hormone (ADH) at night. And some are going through a stage where they just sleep too soundly.

The most important thing to remember is that kids DON'T wet the bed because they're lazy. No one wets the bed on purpose. It's simply a condition that requires patience and understanding until a child outgrows it.

J.

Watch what you are giving him to drink. Things like tea and sports drinks (gatorade) are actually diuretics (sp?) which make you urinate more. Have you talked with your pediatrician. Find out how much liquid he needs a day. My dentist and subsequently pediatrician both said no juices, that kids only need water and milk.

also, know that this too will pass.

I have a niece that had this problem for many years. Turned out it was caused by allergies.

Here is an article on bed-wetting by Mercy Children's Hospital http://mercyweb.org/childrens/conditions/illnesses/illnes...

Here is the part on Food Allergies:

Food Allergies
In rare cases, allergies or intolerances to certain foods--such as dairy products, citrus products, or chocolate--can cause bed-wetting. You may want to experiment to find what it is that may trigger the allergic response and then eliminating these substances from the child's diet. Caffeine is one thing that may aggravate bed-wetting.

Although, in my niece's case I think it was environmental allergies that caused her problems and once she started taking a certain medication it cleared right up