Yes, many mothers have gone through the phase where their potty trained child is wetting the bed at night. You do all of the things to potty train them quickly and successfully and then you realize that the night-time bedwetting isn’t going away. It’s just a phase, right? What if it lasts… for years?
When a Potty Trained Child Still Wets Bed
That is the case with many children. In fact, my own pediatrician told me that many children wet their beds until they are ten years old, but because it is embarrassing, no one talks about it. She hears it from many parents, but they aren’t comfortable enough to tell one another.
Well, today we are sharing some solutions for you (or at least ones to try and hope that they become a solution!). Good luck! Don’t stress about it… this, too, will pass.
How to Help Bed Wetting
- Wake your child up before you go to bed. Don’t carry her there, while she sleeps. Instead, wake her up, have her walk to the bathroom. She needs to be aware that she is waking to tell her body that this is what happens when you have to use the bathroom at night. You wake up.
- No drinks after dinnertime. Try to eliminate all drinks 1-2 hours before bedtime.
- Put a training potty in her room. Teach her how to get out of bed, pull down her pull up or diaper and use it. (Put it on towels for protection!)
- Try a night without a diaper and let them know that they have underwear on, instead of a diaper. It might be all that’s needed to have them stay dry at night. Many times, they are wetting their diapers when they wake in the morning, instead of during the night. Knowing that they don’t have a diaper on would stop them from doing this. (You might want to add extra protection to the bed that night.)
- Keep a regular bedtime. Use the bathroom before bed and as soon as they wake up, teaching their bodies the time when he normally goes.
- Have them use the bathroom before bed, then read a book or say their prayers and have them go again. Only ten minutes may have passed, but getting every little bit out will help your child.
- If you can find the time when she is wetting her diaper, you can go in before that. You may find that when you go to bed at midnight, she is still dry, but when you wake at 6:00, she is wet. This would help you to know that you could wake the child at midnight, instead of earlier, to avoid accidents. On the contrary, if she is wet by 10:00pm, you would want to wake her up at 9:00 to empty her bladder before her long stretch.
- Are they waking at night crying or stirring? Our daughter would cry every night at midnight, just for a moment. Once we realized that her full bladder was bothering her, we started taking her to the bathroom when she did this. It stopped her from wetting her diaper and she stays dry every night. ~Becky Mansfield
- If you are seriously ready to give it a go, try this (warning: it takes a lot of work!): “First, you will need to start checking her hourly for 5 days straight and document the times that you find her wet (which will usually be before midnight or the last couple of hours before waking up but can vary). After doing this for 5 to 7 days, take an average of the time you notice her wet at night.
Next, this will take a few weeks, say you find her wet at midnight, you need to get her up at 1130 to use the bathroom. After 3 days, you will back it up every 30 minutes every 3 days. It’s important not to fully wake her. Eventually, you will have her body trained all the way back to her initial bedtime and be done.
You also need to make sure she potties an hour before bed and right before bed with no fluids at least an hour before bedtime. ” ~ Shanda Sivewright Strawn - Try the technique called Positive Imagery. You think about how you will be dry when you wake up. Do this every night before bed.
- Try a bedwetting alarm. It goes off when the bed begins to get wet. It may take several weeks to teach your body through this system.
- Try cloth training pants instead of diapers and pull-ups. It may give them the feeling of underwear, but still keeping their bed protected. This is helpful for those children that are dry at night but wet their diapers as soon as they wake up.
Remember that every child is different and bedwetting is not uncommon. Most children will simply grow out of this by the time that they are 8 years old. Some much sooner, some later. If you are really concerned about it, there are medications that your doctor can prescribe. For the most part, a stress-free parent and hug for a job well done is the best ‘medicine.’ Try not to stress about it, because chances that your child can actually control it are slim and you may worry your child more than you hoped. In the meantime, if your child is not fully potty trained, we recommend this book, Potty Train in a Weekend.
More Potty Training Help
- What to do when your child won’t poop on the potty & specific information about when a 3 year old won’t poop
- When your 3 year old won’t potty train
- Tips to solve when toddler is scared of potty
- Love this potty training target
- How to potty train a toddler
- Have some fun with this Elf on the Shelf potty training idea
- Potty training essentials
- How to potty train a strong willed child
In the meantime, head over to our QuirkyMomma Facebook Page, where we talk about parenting on a daily basis and we want to hear what you have to say!
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