Potty help! Cannot stay dry at night

[snflwrgirl]

My almost 4 yr old daughter cannot stay dry at night still. She is and always has been a very, very sound sleeper and she just does not wake at night to go. I have tried waking her to go but she throws an absolute fit crying & hitting & I end up giving in & just putting her back to bed. I have tried a LOT of encouragement as far as sticker charts, telling her what a big girl does when they feel the pee urges and we get SUPER excited when she is dry in her pull-up in the morning. But I can count on one hand how many times she has been dry in like a year's time. People tell me that she may just not be ready but I find that hard to believe.
She has not had an accident during the day in over a year and wears undies all day.
Any advice you can give I would appreciate!

[Newmom!]

I read "Solve your child's sleep problems" by Dr. Ferber, second edition. In there he does address night wetting. I don't remember all that is said, but some things were playing "games" during the day to help her increase her bladder capacity so she can hold it during the night, also that if she urinates frequently during the day it will be harder for her to stay dry at night, etc. As well as the pros and cons of waking a child up at night. If I were you I'd find a book or two at the library that address this concern - you should be able to find some good information that will help you both through the process with as much dignity as possible. With Ferber's book you could probably get away with reading the introductory chapters on how sleep works, then skip to the night wetting section.

[snflwrgirl]

Thanks so much for the reply, I will look into getting some books! :)

[Zack_Jenn]

My almost 5 year old doesn't stay dry at night either and has been day-time potty trained since she was 2. Our daughter is a sound sleeper and occassionally even sleepwalks. The pediatrician said that when your child is such a sound sleeper is NOT a good idea to try waking them to use the bathroom (or any other time), because you can mess up their sleep rythms. She also told us that stress brings on more frequent night-time problems and warned us that our daugther would likely be one of those children that has problems with wetting the bed well into elementary school (especially when there are big life changes).

It may be time to ease up on the push to nighttime train, because you may be stressing her and adding to the problem. Try to remind yourself every morning that she isn't doing this on purpose and she really isn't ready. If you are really concerned talk to your pediatrician, but I've already given you the tips we got from ours.

Hope we both get more dry mornings soon!

[amaells]

Hey girls,
Have you ever heard of Super Undies? They make nighttime underwear for children with this exact problem. My friend suggested them to me and I use them for my son. Basically they are an underwear with layers of microfleece sewn in to catch leaks during the night. My son is a heavy wetter at night so I use these for him. I put on his Nighttime Super Undies, he pees in them during the night and in the morning his pajamas are dry and his sheets are dry. Every now and again I will have a leak but its minimal compared to before. Also these are reusable so I'm not wasting money each month on Pull Ups. After he's worn his Super Undies I throw them in the wash and dry them in the dryer and they are ready to go for that night. I really like them and try to tell everyone I know about them. You can purchase them at www.superundies.com
Hopefully this helps!