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A long time ago I read that bed wetting is caused by a lack of some mineral. Manganese or magnesium. Dan

I have a niece with the same problem. They have taken her to doctors, etc. They say that she sleeps so deeply that she cannot wake herself or tell when she needs to go to the bathroom. They have told her parents that she will grow out of it. Have faith it may take some time but there is nothing "wrong" and he will grow out of it. Good luck

Be patient.... get some bed pads to help with changing the sheet daily... my now 11 yo struggled until he was almost 10yo

Here is a helpful site.... Dr Phil recommands:)
http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/

Not sure this works for all, however my sister used the reward technique. On the one night that he remains dry...make it a VERY BIG deal. First thing the next morning, take him to the toilet and toss in a few fruit loops and allow him to make target practice. Only do it on the dry nights. Then let him pick a special activity and lunch for the day. Hopefully, you will see that he wants to have more "special days"!

With my son (who potty trained at 2 1/2 with no problems) we just put him to bed in underwear with the vinyl protective pair over them (you can get them at Babies R Us) over top of a waterproof pad. He woke up wet about 3 days and then he has been dry ever since. We've successfully potty trained two kids, a boy and a girl, and our method of just doing it and not easing into it has worked perfectly every time.

Hi N.,
I had a similar problem with my son. The best person to consult with is your pediatrician. In my son's case it was that he still had a small bladder. It sometimes does not catch up with the rest of the body's growth until later. It is not uncommon for there to be problems with bed wetting until 9 years of age. Good news is there is no medical intervention needed and that eventually it will resolve itself. He said, "Afterall, how many 18 year olds have you heard of that have this problem? None." I did find that pull ups helped because they don't hold as much moisture as a diaper would and the wet sensation was more noticeable to my son and it would wake him up so that he would get up and finish in the bathroom. It just meant more washing of sheets for me. Hope this helps.
-N.

I know with my daughter I was waiting for her to stay dry at night and it wasn't happening. So I finally just put her in panties with a mattress cover. She really surprised me and only had a few sporadic accidents after that! I haven't even
started the process with my 2-year-old son yet, so it may be completely different with him. Good luck!

You didn't say how he is doing during the day. My son was potty trained and did well during the day just about 2 weeks before he turned 3. I, however, put a pull up on him for bed and called them "big boy sleeping pants". He wore them for awhile until he started waking up dry most of the time. This process is very common. I would just continue to do what you are doing as far as having him go potty right before bed. He will outgrow it. Just be patient.
I also agree with the Mother that said to not reward for dry days. He is not doing this on purpose. He just needs to grow a little more. The day will come when he does not need Pull ups anymore. Best of Luck.

my now 10 yr old son had problems staying dry at night until he was 8. Of course the older he got the less frequent but it still occured. My other two children didn't have any problem at all. Be patient. It will pass. Some kids just take a little longer than others. If they are wetting when they are asleep...they don't realize it. It can be very frustrating but it will pass.

My son is the same way too (3 1/2). I have talked with other moms who have had this issue and they mentioned that there is an actual hormone that needs to develop before a child is able to wake him/herself up and go the the restroom. Some children, who are 8,9,or older will sometimes take medication to help develop the hormone to overcome their bedwetting. Obviously and 4 year old doesn't need medication, but just know that you are not alone and that someday he will be able to wake himself up!! :) Hope this encourages you.

My son turned 4 in January. He always goes to bed with a pull up on too. Some days he will wake up dry but more often than not he is wet. He desperately wants to sleep in his underwear but he just isn't ready yet. He puts his underwear on over his pull up. LOL I think your little guy just isn't ready yet. My niece still has trouble sometimes and she is 8. The doctor told her mom that she is just such a sound sleeper and doesn't wake up. My brother will get up about twice in the night to take her to the bathroom. he said he has to sit her on the pot because she doesn't wake up but she will go once she's sitting then practically sleep walks back to bed. Don't sweat it. I wouldn't do a reward thing because then he feels like he did something wrong if he's not dry in the morning. He can't help it if he's sleeping.

Sweetie, his body just isn't ready for night training. Some kids are 6 or 7 before their bodies are ready. Don't sweat it, you got the hard part done (day training) the night training will come when he (or rather his body) is ready for it.

Don't be too discouraged. 4 is still really young. Our daughter was in 1st grade and still needing to do pull ups at bedtime. We tried everything, limiting sugar, cutting off beverages at night, waking her 3 or 4 hours into her sleep cycle and nothing worked. Our physician told us to contact our local children's hospital and speak with their urology dept. They recommended the PALCO wet stop alarm. It worked beautifully. Our daughter was a very deep sleeper and her body had just trained itself to process all her urine at night. Within 2 weeks of using the alarm the problem was solved. Keeping that in mind we used it on our next 2 children in the same fashion, only earlier and had the same success. Best of luck.

Get a couple cloth diapers or pairs of cloth training pants. They will cost more to begin with, but you never have to buy more like with diapers and pull ups. If he's only peed, you an just throw them in with the rest of the laundry. The problem with disposables is that they pull the moisture away from the skin and prevent the child from feeling that they have peed. Pull ups use scary chemicals to let the child know they have peed. Cloth diapers just leave some of the moisture there! If you want info on buying used (I have never bought a new cloth diaper!!!) PM me.

My son is almost 4 and in pullups every night. Lately he wakes up soaking wet. He went through period of staying dry all night, but then lapses. I figure pullup or diapers are cheeper than washing all bedding every day, and much easier.

I have a 5 year old who does the same thing STILL! We do pull ups and reuse them if they are dry. There are some weeks he will go all week without a accident at night, and just when I am ready to say why don't we try a night without pull ups he pees an outrageous amount through the night. I'm talking a pull up with some weight.
I have tried letting him go for a two weeks without a pull up, hoping he would wake himself up and get better but nothing. He sleeps through it! He comes into my room, soaking wet, and crying that he's freezing...BUT not until morning! Then the whole room smells bad. I tried waking him up too, but if he did pee when I woke him up, he would still be wet in the morning. More interesting, getting him to drink enough is like a pain in the butt.
I really meant to bring something up at his healthy physical in March but he was having other major issues at the time, and we were planning surgery not working on a plan.
I just wanted to let you know your not in this alone, and I hope someone has a plan for something that worked for them. Bribing to try to get him to do it on his own is out of the question. My son realized he could do what we asked long enough to get what he wanted, and once he got it he goes back to the old ways. GRR. BEST OF LUCK!

Little boys bladders don't grow as fast as their bodies do. My son wore pull ups to bed until he was about 5 and a half. Then one week - he just woke up dry every day - we put the pull ups away and have never had to pull them out again!
I know it's frustrating but it'll stop when his body is ready for it to stop. You are doing the right thing by not giving him anything to drink late - also if you do give him any caffeine stop that all together - it's a natural dierectic (sp?) and will make him go more.

boys bladders develop slowly. slower than girls. it's biological. just be patient. i know a boy that wet his bed until he was 11. don't embarass him, just deal with it, when he gets alittle older, you can let him take care of it (changing the bed linens, washing them, making the bed up) by himself. continue to encourage him to not drink anything before bedtime and try to wake him up to go to the bathroom before you go to bed. Patience.

E.

I know how expensive pull ups are, however, it's better than doing sheets everyday because my daughter had accidents at night. When I consider how much laundry I already do, I bought pull ups. If you don't mind doing alot of laundry, you might consider putting him in underpants, maybe he'll wet himself a few times and discover he doesn't like it and wake up to go potty. It sounds a bit harsh, I know, but it works.

Hi N.. Some kids grow faster than their bladders and that can continue for a while. My ten year old daughter has had that problem. Still she has accidents from time to time. But there is nothing you can do, other than be patient. I mean, you can talk to your pediatrition and see if there's something you can do for it, but I was told sooner or later the bladder will catch up to their bodies. Good Luck!

Give him time. Our pediatrician told us that 50% of kids were dry through the night at age 5. So the other side of that is that 50% of kids are still wetting at night at age 5. Our daughter was seeing a urologist for wetting issues and she told us to wait until she was 7 and then try a bedwetting alarm. It has been working very well for us, but your son is too little yet for that. Some children are deep sleepers so they won't wake up to go to the bathroom until they are older and can't make it through the night because their bladder is not big enough yet.

The urologist told us that the biggest thing is rewarding when they make it through the night, not punishing if they don't. We do stickers on the calendar. After a certain amount of stickers in a row then she gets a treat. She also recommended fluid shifting- most of the fluids during the day before 3 pm, a drink with dinner and a small sip of water between dinner and bed if necessary. No milk at night, because it makes them sleep deeper. No carbonation, caffeine, citrus, or chocolate because they are bladder irritants. Those are the things we do with our 7 year old. However, as I said before, you may just want to wait a little longer because it may just be that he is not physically capable of staying dry through the night consistently yet.

As a mom of 4 I think I have finally learned to say that, "They all get it when they are ready." I have a 3 year old that has been dry for 7months bedtime included. I have another boy who is now 10. He wore a pull up till he was 6 at night. Gradually he just got it. I have heard and do think boys are more difficult in this area. Don't worry it will come. Also you can buy washable pads for the bed and try to work at it from that angle to get rid of the diaper or pull up. Good luck hang in there and it will happen.

About me: Mom of four 13-10-3-19mo. Kids are a blessing and so fun don't miss the moments that matter is my creed.

He's still young. My son was overnight potty trained when he was 3 1/2 until he was 4 1/2 and then he started wetting consistently. I talked to the Dr and they said they don't worry until boys are 7 or 8. I buy the store brand pull-ups - they're usually $7.99 for 30 or so. We also tried everything - waking him up, limiting drinks, etc. Most of the time he was already wet (after only an hour or two). My daughter on the other hand potty trained at 2 1/4 and was immediately overnight potty trained and has yet to ever have an accident overnight and we weren't even trying. Every kid is different boys are usually a little slower than girls in this department - the potty training thing is always frustrating, but I would just relax about it. It'll come eventually.