Nighttime Toilet Training for 6 Yr Old Girl

I think you have hit the nail on the head when you say she sleeps too soundly at home to wake up and use the bathroom. My daughter was the same way. Bedwetting tends to run in families. My father and brother were bedwetters too. Our decision was to use pull-ups to minimize the laundry and just wait until she outgrew it. I would put off sleepovers as long as possible, but our girl never had an accident at a friend's house. I think she just never fell into such a deep sleep anywhere but at home. Your daughter will very likely outgrow this soon, but it can linger until puberty. Our daughter wet the bed until she was nearly 12, but it's a distant memory now and she is/was happy and well adjusted in every way. I know it's hard, but this too shall pass.

Don't worry about this. My sister went through this with her daughter and the doctor said it's a hormonal thing. Either the body has the hormones to condense the urine so they can sleep through the night or it doesn't. She'll catch up soon enough. In the meantime, just use pullups so she doesn't feel bad when you have to wash the sheets in the morning.

Hi -
I'm just throwing this out there, because my coworker was going through it with her 8 year old son.

He was wetting the bed 4 out of 7 nights every week, and sometimes more. He didn’t have any issues during the day, just at night. She had taken him to a gentleman in Glouster for a movement program to help with his ADHD, and he suggested that his bedwetting could be because he was out of alignment. He suggested a pediatric chiropractor.

Let me tell you, she would come in to work almost every day talking about how she had to change the sheets during the night, and after the first week of going to the chiropractor, he didn’t wet the bed for at least 3 months. He occasionally has accidents now, but nothing like he had.

If you do a google search under Bed Wetting and chiropractor, you can see a lot of studies have been done!

Now finding the pediatric chiropractor is another problem… She lives in North Attleboro, and travels to Westwood to this one chiropractor… but she would do it in a heartbeat because of the change!!!

Good Luck…

Dear J.,

Try bedwetting alarm. This website

http://www.bedwettingstore.com/Bedwetting_Alarms/rodger_w...

has them and has a lot of information and help for bedwetting issues. The alarm approach is the only one that truly trains the brain to recognize the signals even while sleeping. If you are like me, I believe that you hate just doing nothing and waiting for it to pass. An alarm can help, it does not hurt, and it might work miracles, so it's worth trying.

Good luck!

They have several good books out there they even have some that are for young children to read. My son who will be 7 very soon alwasy wet the bed and just stopped out of the blue. Its very normal she's just a very sound sleeper. All the books I read don't recomend a bed alarm until 8 yrs old because younger children will sleep through it you waking her up doesn't really do any good. It won't teach her body to signal her to wake up when her bladder is full and it won't teach her body to hold it either. I would just lay off don't do any kind of rewards because its not something she can controle buy some underjams they are better than the good nights and relax when her little body is ready she will be able to hold it or wake up when she needs to go.

Poor kid - she's just a very sound sleeper. Most kids will "outgrow" this - I think literally, their bladders eventually get big enough to hold all it needs to for an entire night. Right now, what her body needs to do is learn to wake up when she needs to go - there are "alarms" that you can buy that will go off at the first sign of being wet - meant to train her brain into waking up. You might want to try that. Keep in mind that she's not doing this on purpose. So it's very difficult for motivational tools - either positive or negative - to work, when this really isn't under her control. Her subconscious needs to learn to reacte to the feeling and wake her up. (FYI, 6 years old is pretty young for a sleepover. My oldest was only invited to "half sleepovers" until she turned 9 - so you have plenty of time - she won't be out of place yet.)

I think people automatically assume when a child is potty trained during the day that nighttime is the next logical step. Unfortunately that does not happen all the time. There are plenty of contraptions out there that you can try (wetting alarm, etc), but it comes down to the fact that unless a child is physically ready...they will not train. My nephew is 10 and is still wearing Goodnights at night. And believe me it's not for lack of trying on my sisters part. Her oldest daughter trained at night around 2 1/2, and she has had troubles with her 7 year old daughter. My oldest is 5 and wakes up soaked every single morning. My second turned 4 yesterday and is dry almost 5 nights a week.

I would say just take it one night at a time. Put her in Good nights (or similar) and take the pressures off of all of you. I promise she is not alone! I believe it is 15% of children who take a bit longer than the other 85%. Is it genetic? Who knows...

Good luck!!

H. Z. (5, 4, 16 month old boys)

ps. They do have good nights that are made to look like "regular" underwear...they work for my nephew for sleepovers.