Need Help- 2 1/2 Yr Old Daughter Wetting Her Bed at Night

I don't know why she would do ok, then start wetting the bed, but I do know this... bedwetting is usually caused by a sleeping pattern not being right. If it continues, see a sleep doctor. IT REALLY WORKS!

2 options

1. Pull ups at night BUT tell her they are only for night time until she is able to go all night without peepeeing.

2. They have those pads (same ones used in the hospital when you had the baby) you can buy at medical stores that you change when she wets the bed. It would keep her from peeing all over the bed.

My 11 year did this. She was a quick potty trainer but seemed to have unexplained lapses. Have you considered using the bed pads they give you in the hospital after having a baby? They are large enough to not move TOO much and it helps so much with the clean up! It's also a big girl solution I think.

Since she has already shown that she can stay dry I would look into other reasons that she is wetting. UTI, growth spurt, emotional changes, sleeping problems. It is not uncommon for kids to have sccidents until after age 5 or so.

If after age 5 she still has a problem I would go to bedwettingstore.com . They sell items that help kids over 5 stop wetting the bed at night. My oldest used the potty alarm for 5 weeks and virtually stopped wetting the bed. She had 1-2 more accidents about 6 months after that. Then nothing more.

Even though she can be potty trained for a while, they still can have accidents, even up till age 5 or more. If she is continues to do so, I mau would have her urine checked, sometimes they can do this if they have a bladder infection. Does she go alot during the day. It may be something to check in to. I am a peds nurse so I see this alot. Good Luck

Dear S.,

My daughter wet the bed until she was five, and had no trouble with potty training either. She could have a bladder infection, my grandbaby had one and started wetting and my middle grandbaby had a urinary infection and started wetting the bed. Back to my daughter, she had a problem where her pituitary gland didn't tell her kidneys to stop producing urine at night while she slept. A urologist gave her DDAVP nose spray and as long as we strayed her nose, on each side at bedtime, she never wet the bed again. Then when she was ll, during puberty, he took her off of the spray and she was fine. DDAVP was wonderful. She never wet the bed again until she was 19 and pregnant. She went right to the doctor and had another bladder, urinary tract infection.

Hop this helps.

K. A.

I would try not giving her anything to drink after about 6:30 or 7:00. Just a little while before her bedtime. I had the same problem with one of mine and that took care of his accidents. Good luck.

My son is 4 now and has been fully potty trained since he was 2 1/2. What you may have to do is wake up and take her(meaning walk her) to the bathroom every so many hours so that she will get back in the swing of going to the potty in the middle of the night on her own. Accidents happen and you know how children regress at odd times but I think putting on pull-ups at night will cause her to start back relying on the alternative. This worked for my son and either way when they potty on themselves we're getting up anyways to change underwear,sheets, and getting them settled again to get back in bed not to mention constantly washing linen. Good luck!!!

My son has been potty trained for about 1 month and was dry at night most of the time. A few nights last week he started waking up wet. I think he is sleeping deeper since we are getting more excersize from playing outside. I put him in some pull-ups "underwear" at night only and that was great for both of us. He woke up this morning with a wet pull-up but a dry bed. He continued to sleep through the night uninterupted and I didn't have to change his linens this morning. He can't help wetting the bed but I'm sure he will out grown it soon. Mean while I'm going to give meself a break and use pull-ups at night.

Put Pull Ups on her. My daughter is 3, has been potty trained for almost a year and still wears Pull Ups to bed. It doesnt confuse her, we just call them her night time panties because she does often wake up wet despite curbing water and a trip to the potty right before bed. When potty training, it can take up until closer to age four for many children to become night trained, despite being fully day trained. So its not really anything to be concerned about. I would use the Pull Ups at night until she consistently stays dry for several months-and even then its possible to have "set backs".

At 2 1/2 shes doing great to be potty trained during the day, but just dont be surprised if it takes awhile for it to happen at night.

My daughters are 9 and 11 now. My 9 year old was so easy to train (at age 2) she practically did it by herself. My 11 year old is making progress but still has accidents (she does her own laundry).
If your daughter was dry at night and then started wetting recently I'd worry, otherwise you might try a bedwetting alarm or getting her up every few hours at night. It is easier when your child wants to be dry at night. Good luck.

Our daughter potty trained early like that and nights were the last big hurdle. We didn't want to switch to pullups at night, so we opted for a waterproof mattress pad. This protected her mattress. They are only like $19 at Target. We bought two of them and you can layer it. Like the mattress...waterproof mattress pad...clean sheets....waterproof mattress pad...and clean sheets on top. Then, in the night, if she has an accident, you can just pull off the top sheet and first mattress pad. The first mattress pad will protect your second layer of clean sheets......saving you lots of time in the middle of the night! =0) Don't worry about your daughter.....the accidents will pass. Congrats to you on potty training her so well already! My son will be two next month and I'm very nervous about embarking on potty training with him!!

go with the pull ups. it is very normal for children to be late at night time potty training. my daughter is five, and her little friend in school, also five, just stopped wetting at night about a week ago. it is very hard, especially for very deep sleepers, to wake up and get to the potty at night. no one wants to get up in the middle of the night. think about how much you hate to get up to pee at night, your daughter may just be sleeping so hard that she does not even realize she has to go until it is too late. also if you are worried about confusion with a pull-up, you could try a training pant made by a cloth diaper company. they are all cotton, and feel like panties on your daughter, but are absorbent, and have a waterproof cover, so that you don't have to change the bed every morning.

For some reason this sounds like it's only part of the story and that there must be a reason she is wetting the bed. My daughter did the same thing when she was that age but come to find out it was caused by 'night terrors' after seeing her dad who I was seperated from at the time. The underlying issue was that he had molested her. I know for you it might not be that serious but there is usually something that causes a child's bedwetting once they are potty trained. Maybe try asking your child if there is anything bothering them..do they go to child care or play group? Are there other issues that could contribute to possible set backs? If not discuss this with your pediatrician but an occassional bed wetting incident isn't reason enough to make a child feel badly about it or put them back into pull ups. Keeping them in panties is best and just encouraging them to keep using the potty is the way to go. Use plastic to protect your bed under the sheets and I'm sure in time this will pass...I have heard of some children having bedwetting incidents into early school yrs.

No advice here sorry:( I think she is doing pretty good for going dry at night for weeks at 2 1/2. Our 3 1/2 year old is still in dipers at night even though he's been potty trained during the day for 8 months now. Our God son is 6 and still wets his bed at night. I think one step ahead and target have absorbant cloth underwear(we've never used them I do not know how much they hold though)

One thing about childrn is that most of them do not develop the strength in their bladder to not urinate the bed until they are atleast 3 1/2 years old. My daughter has been potty trained since she was 17 months old(She is now 2 almost 3) and she still doesn't have the capacity to hold it in at night. Shoot, now it's rare to have kids our age who are potty trained to the point our little ones are!!!
We still keep pull-ups on her at night and she understands that they are only for sleeping. They don't hold her back on potty training at all, then again I NEVER used pull ups on her during the day. As soon as we started potty training she went straight into big girl panty's. She wakes up several times a week with a dry pull up, but it's better to be safe then sorry, and besides I HATE LAUNDRY!!! It's far easier to throw away a pull up in the morning then to have to change your daughter, wash her up, change the sheets, and sanitize the mattress all at 3 in the morning!
Good luck and I hope my advice helped you!!!

Hi Stacy;

I had the same problem when my daughter was two. They go into such a deep sleep they just can't wake up, untill those little reflex nerves are trained. I put her back in diapers not pull-ups because they are the next step after diapers. I told her that I loved her but wetting the bed makes a lot of work for Mommy, because I have to get up and change her sheets. So you are going to wear big girl panties during the day and diapers at night so you don't have to wake up wet and cold. When you wake up dry then you can wear big girl panties.

Within a week she no longer wet they bed. If it takes a little longer for your daughter don't get discouraged.

I hope this helps, Love and encouragement goes a long way.

Sincerely, M.

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brought my oldest son (8 y.o) with chronic bedwetting to two pediatricians and both told me to stop giving him liquids hours before bedtime and there might be two reasons: small bladder, or my son sleeps too hard...both which i think are the lamest reasons i ever heard. brought him to get checked by my chiropractor, the scan showed irritation on the nerve that goes from the low back spinal cord to his bladder, which makes perfect sense. within two weeks, my son's bedwetting was perfectly gone. that was two years ago, since then only he's only had two occasions, and both happened the nights after he roughhoused and played on trampoline which messed up his low back alignment. prior to chiro, he was bedwetting 4-5 nights a week since he was born. definitely find a chiro to get that checked. my chiro, dr. pangemanan, don't do the twisting popping thing but he used a gentle clicky instrument (i think it's called activater) to adjust us. my son can now go to slumber parties and stay over and all that.

S.:

My daughter has several friends that wear pullups at night. They have not had any problems with their kids wetting during the day. The only thing would be if she is going to spend the night with friends....sometimes kids can be very mean regarding this type of thing. My daughter's friends are 9 and 11 and there has been times during "sleepovers" that other kids have made comments. They both seem to take it well but it can be quite devastating for a child to have friends make fun of them. What these childrens mothers did was have them dress before coming over and it minimizes the embarassment.

Good luck!!!

S.

My 7 1/2 yr old daughter is just now getting to where she can go all night without wetting her diaper! I have probably been a little lax about this since my Mom used to wake me up screaming and beating me for peeing in the bed when I was little and needless to say, I was traumatized by it! I think your daughter would understand that it's just for nighttime and "just in case". I hope it all works out for everyone involved but mostly I hope you flow in grace toward her about it. ;-)

I had the same problem with my 3 year old. He was potty trained for 4 months and stayed dry for a week at night and we decided to try to let him wear underwear at night. He did great for a month and a half. THEN, he underwent a lot of major changes in his life - I was put on strict bed rest with my pregnancy and we took him out of daycare. That's when he started wetting his bed at night. We tried everything we could, including cutting back on liquids. He began to get so upset because he tried so hard to not pee during the night. Finally, we just went to pullups and it has worked great. We're still using the pullups, but we call them "night time underwear". There is no confusion and I think my son just isn't ready to wake up and use the toilet on his own at night.

From everything I've heard, you may have started too early. I've heard if you wait until they are three, when they are mentally AND physically ready then you do not have as many set-backs. I see nothing wrong with pull-ups at night, especially at her young age. Withholding fluids is not a good idea, because she needs them. My daughter is 2 1/2 and I cannot imagine potty training at this point. It has to be her choice that she's ready. So what if she wears pull-ups for a while at night? I'm sure she'd rather have a dry bed, just be sure she doesn't think it's a punishment. This is something she has no control over (she's asleep at the time), her body is just not cooperating right now. Good luck and be patient.

If she was a non- bedwetter and has just now started, it may just be a short phase. Many kids who were "potty trained" or non bedwetters have a short time where they regress. I would try not to use the pullups. Once you go back it will be hard on both of you to switch again. My son is 6 and still wets the bed frequently, his is genetic though. Your daughter, if this is a regression, will probably stop again within a couple of months. Try not to make a big deal of it, don't punish her, as she cannot control it. Limiting the liquids and caffiene are a good idea and they may help, but may still not stop it completely. Be patient and good luck.

Jessi

Hi S.,

I'm so amazed your little girl is already potty trained! Mine isn't quite 2 1/2 and she isn't very interested despite all my attempts to get her to sit on the potty with any type of success.

If your baby girl has been staying dry through the nights previously and is only suddenly having this problem with wetting her bed, I would suggest you bring her to the Doctor and make sure she doesn't have any type of UTI (urinary tract infection) Babies that are learning and have already learned how to hold potty are often times subject to infections. If caught and corrected there should be no problem, but you don't want to let a UTI go unnoticed or treated for it can cause problems with the kidneys.

If it is a UTI than the answer isn't far away. If it's not, then maybe a temporary fix for now would be night-time pull-ups as you were saying previously, only explain it to your daughter by saying - that sometimes we have potty accidents at night and it's not her fault being she's sleeping, however this will help you for now while it's happening and keep you dry.

Good luck!
J. M
Mother of two precious babies!

i think pull ups would be ok at night. has there been a major or even minor change around the home or elsewhere?? new baby, new school divorce, new pet, pet dying, loss of favorite toy... anything??? that can be a reason children regress in potty training

Wow, I agree with the moms who say 2 1/2 is too young to be expected to stay dry at night. I was actually surprised some moms thought there may be a problem! My son is successfully potty trained (he's 3 1/2) and still wears pull ups at night. He only wets every now and then, but why stress about it? He gets upset if he wakes up wet. I just told him pull ups are for sleeping and he's fine with that.

Hi S.,

If she's been staying dry for 6 months, I wouldn't resort to pull-ups, especially if she's been so successful. I would explore other reasons as to why she may be wetting after 6 months. Are there any major changes, could she have a bladder infection, does she eat a lot of dairy, etc? Chiropractic adjustments and dairy elimination can help with the night wetting.

I would resort to using a waterproof sheet, fitted sheet, waterproof sheet and another fitted sheet on the bed. (If she does wet at night you won't have to remake the bed, you'll just have to pull the top sheet and waterproof sheet off.) Have her use the potty 1 hour and 1/2 an hour prior to going to bed. When she has an accident try not to be mad at her. Help her get cleaned up and use the potty again.

J.

My daughter potty trained VERY easily but she still wet the bed at night so I put pull ups on her and it helped. She did not lapse during the day but it helped at night because she was not getting up to go to the bathroom as she was too young and scared to get up in the middle of the night. But on the other hand my son wet the bed for several years (so did his mommy) because of a small bladder. I would highly recommend putitng pull ups on her only at night time and see how she does, she may not be able to hold it at night and this could last for a while so you don't want to wash bed clothes all day every day.

I think that 2.5 is young to be trained at night too, my daughter was nearly 4 before she was dry at night- so put her in pull ups for now, it will not last forever. It beats stinky sheets, mattresses and clothes! She is young and it will be fine.

My vote is for the pull ups just at night. Just explain in simple terms that it's only until she sleeps without wetting her bed. Then she'll be a big girl! For my daughter, I would sit her on the toilet right before bedtime. It helped, but she might occasionally have an accident. So then I tried sitting her on the toilet (half asleep) a couple hours after her bedtime when I was ready for bed. That worked wonders! It sounds like a lot of work, but it's easier than washing every single day. Hope this helps!

After reading all of these responses I just want to say thank you S. for asking the question. My daughter is 5 and she still wets at night. She was never interested in being potty trained and was almost 3 before she was totally trained. She went maybe the frist 6 months before she started wetting at night. Once she had her tonsils and adnoids removed the wetting stopped. But it started again about 6 months later. I had considered putting pull-ups on her but did not want to make her feel bad about wetting the bed, but after the past month of changing her bed, my bed and the pillows on the couch I think I am going to start letting her wear them at night. The only real problem I have is that she can go weeks without wetting and then its like every night for a week she will wet the bed. I think I am going to have her checked again for yeast infection because that may be the cause of her wetting. I am so glad I was referred to the website because just seeing the response to this problem has made a big differenc for me.

My 2 1/2 year old does the same thing. I kept having to wash sheets and was stressing myself out so much. My daughter started to feel bad about peeing the bed. So my husband finally convinced me to try pull ups. I had the same reservations and did not want her to get confused and all. But we went to the store and picked them out together. WE call them special big girl panties that we only wear at night. Long name I know but she would cry at the name pullup b/c she associated them with babies and diapers. She is a big girl who wears panties not diapers she would tell us. It has worked well for us. She still pees sometimes but we have a chart so that every day she is dry in her special big girl panties she get a sticker. I think it just takes time for some kids bladders to develop into holding all through the night. My older daughter did not have any problems went straight to panties so this is new terrritory with our youngest. Thanks and good luck A.

My daughter is 3 1/2 and still wears a pullup at night. I tried the panties but she is such a deep sleeper, when she would pee, she would sleep in it all night and it wouldn't bother her a bit. That grossed me out and I hated changing her sheets every morning!! She says she wants to wear big girl panties to bed, but I just don't think her body is ready yet. I wouldn't stress about it.....2 1/2 is still very young and like people keep telling me.......she won't go off to college and not be totally trained! Let's hope both our girls get it before then!

Unfortunately I have been going thru the same thing and my child is 4 yrs old. I asked the doctor about it and she said there is a chemical in the brain that helps children stop from wetting the bed. My daughter will wet the bed about once per week but that is even too much for everyone. She gets so upset. So I went back to Pull Ups. I didn't want to but it is so much easier for her. Most of the time she is dry in the morining and I let her know how great that is but don't say anything if she is not dry. She really can't help it. I know I was a bed wetter. I wish someone would have out a pull up on me!!!!

Put a pull up on her at night. Kids are smart. You won't confuse her. Explain that sometimes kids have "accidents" at nights and tell her when she stops having accidents she can wear big girl panties at night too.

One of my brothers wet the bed until he was almost in high school. He is a surgeon now. Developmentally it just takes some kids longer to no longer wet the bed at night.