My 4 yr old boys have been trained since 2 1/2 during the day. But, despite our efforts, they are STILL wetting at night. We cut off liquids 1 hour before bed, they go potty about 3 times during that hour, and still, they are soaking their pull ups. I have tried letting them sleep in underwear hoping that the wetness would get old to them. Three weeks later, after everynight was wet, I went back to pullups. I have had them clean up their own blankets when they do wet. I was washing sheets so much, my electric bill went up sky high! I feel exhausted of our efforts. They will be 5 in March and I am expecting in June. I REALLY would like to have these two out of pullups by the time the new diapers are needed! HELP! Anymore Ideas? Is this normal for boys?

This probably will not be of much help. I do sympathize with you, your husband and the twins. It is a lot of work mentally and physically. I have found with my children, that no matter how much I deny liquids before bed, it may not help. I have been buying pampers or pull ups or goodnights for over 20 years, my son is 20 and my youngest daughter is 9, I have not stopped at all since my son was born!
I have four beautiful, loving children and only one out of 4 did not have bed wetting issues. My ds wet the bed until he was 8... always dry during the day. My 2nd dd wet until she was about 6, always dry during the day. and now our 3rd dd who just turned 9 still wets the bed every night. we pray about it and we never do anything to make her feel bad about it, as she can not help it.
she is going to church camp for a week in August (we hope) and young scholars program for a week in July (far from home in NY). We were just talking about this issue tonight at the dinner, because camp came up. We have a family candle and one at a time over dinner we discuss what may be bothering us and all of our joys. We decided again (because it is now bothering my dd enough to talk about it) that we would wake her up before I go to bed (about 11pm) and when her dad gets up (about 4:30am) We are hoping this will get her body into the routine of getting up when she has to.
I don't know if this will work this time or not but we will pray that it will and that we have the consistency that it will take to do this. We tried the meds on the children and it worked with both of the others, but it did not work with this one. both others only took the nose spay two - three nights and that was it and have never had another accident. That may be another route you could look into. I can not remember how old your boys are but normally the doctors do not give the spray until the child is 6-8. and you will know weather it works or not within a week, I choose that route after we exhausted all of the others. I do not like to give the kids meds but that was a very short term remedy. Honestly, I believe that bedwetting is normal for some children.
I am sorry this is so long. I hope in some way this will help you, even if you you only pray that you will not be buying pampers, pull ups or goodnights for the next 20 some years.... smiles and good luck. Wendi

Just wanted to let you know that I understand... boy it can be frustrating. My first two girls were day trained by 2 1/2 and dry at night before 3. My youngest has never been a hurry to reach a new developmental stage (I was afraid she'd be my last for many years and I don't think I pushed her along as hard either). She did not day train until about 3 1/2. She will be 5 next week and still is not night trained. I cut off liquids except water 90 minutes before bed- figuring if she is truly really thirsty she will drink water but won't drink unless she needs to. She goes through phases where her pull-up will be dry for weeks so I'll start undies at night and then after a few days of doing well we are back to bed wetting. I think she relaxes into the routine and stops paying attention?
Like you I am also expecting... girl #4 is due in May. I share your feelings about wanting to conquer this issue once and for all before then.
I must say that I have little concrete advice. I am also a trained preschool teacher although I am no taking some time off. I have encountered this same story many, many times. It seems to run in families and have a hereditary component. It also seems to happen more among preschoolers who need or receive less sleep on average... maybe because they sleep more deeply at night? So if your children don't nap anymore (my youngest stopped early at 2 1/2 and goes to bed later than her older siblings did at the same age) maybe you could try getting some more daytime "downtime". That can be easier said than done... we are so on the go these days.
Finally, in my personal and professional experience most pediatricians don't get to worried about this and offer medical treatment/testing until a child is 6 and up.
I hope this was somewhat helpful, keep us posted!
Beth

Beth,
Thanks for the encouragement! Sometimes it is so nice to know that I am normal and that others are going through it too! My boys are in preschool during the day and do still take naps. They are really heavy sleepers, as I followed all advice I heard to run the vaccuum while they were babies sleeping! NOw, they can sleep through a tornado! THey go to bed between 8-8:30 and wake at 6-6:30am...Is 9 hours not enough for a preschooler? Maybe going to bed earlier would help? At this point, I will try anything! I will be praying for you in your pottying crusade, too! Thank you for your prayers!
Allison

Sounds like your boys get a better than average amount of sleep. Congrats! Most of us (and our children) are sleep deprived these days. About 10 hrs per night is ideal, but if they are still napping they are doing great.
DD's 5th birthday is Wed. and she wet the bed Friday and Sunday nights this week. We just may end up buying pull-ups and diapers :( . Things could certainly be worse than that... I just keep reminding myself how blessed we really are.
Will keep us both in prayer- and let you know when we are diaper free!
Blessings,
Beth

Here are the things we did when potty training our four...

We cut off liquids about an hour before bed, other than a sip if they were really thirsty, and then we got up twice during the night to carry the little one to the potty. We didn't talk to them other than necessary whispering, and then put them right back to sleep.

As for hours of sleep per night, my 7 and 10 year olds still sleep about 12 hours per night, and my 12 and 14 yr olds sleep nine hours per night. I think sleep is hugely important for maintaining a positive mood and for ability to focus in school. Since I home school, I notice when my kids didn't sleep well the night before. Their attention spans are less and they seem a little depressed. Of course, when they were younger, I never let them just get up when they felt like it, either. They needed to be trained in that area just like all the others. :lol:

[girlsmiley]

Joy [welcomewave]

I've not read all the other replies, so I apologize for any repeats...

It is normal for night dryness to take longer, and I believe even more so when it comes to boys.
The limiting liquids thing doesn't always work. It may for some, but I think in generally, it really doesn't make a difference.

But other things in the diet might contribute. Are they EATING an hour before bed? Anything, a snack? What kind of snack? Foods can be the culprit here every bit as much, if not more so, than drinks. Mine would have issues any time he had ice cream before bed. If it was a good 2-3 hr before, it was ok, but less than that, he'd wet.

I had a late wetter ... he was 7 or so ?? Gosh, I can't remember now, that's funny hmm Anywho..

But we found his was due more to laziness, which you have said isn't so much the issue with yours. Or at least how we went about discovering it with ours. He was responsible for his stuff as he would wet through pull ups. Then one evening he sat during our family time and just peed in the pull up :o From that point on he went to bed in undies...he had *maybe* a couple accidents and they weren't full blown either..just a 'couldn't quite make it out of bed fast enough/stop it fast enough' kind of thing. Barely wet. So, his was laziness. Nipped that one.

My other suggestion is a chiro. There could be a nerve pinched back there that's interfering with getting that message to their brains that they have to go. Or that they must wake up and go...or whatever that is. Sorry, I got jumbled as I tried to relay the info..hate it when that happens. But anyway, chiropractors *can* help with this. It's very simple too. Don't be scared of the c word ;) I know some are. It's a very simple maneuver. First, they will just check, feel to see if that *is* the issue and if they feel a little misalignment there, they will make the simple adjustment. Again, don't be scared if you're a chiro-phobe, it's really OK. A simple little press and viola. Some may experience nearly immediate change, others may take a few months. But after just a few treatments, you/they (the chiro) will know if that was indeed the problem. If it is, continued treatments will help get things back in line and remedy the situation. But if that's not the issue, then the treatments stop, easy as that.

I'm sure you could "Google" 'chiropractor/ic for bed wetting' and get some good results. Not tried it myself, just saying I would assume.

But most of all, try not to sweat it. Try to encourage them the best you can, while *not* talking down to them for wetting. There's a balance there. Some kids just have problems with it. They're not ready, their system isn't ready to handle it yet. Their bodies aren't 'there' yet.

My dh comes from a line of late bedwetters..which is why we weren't overly concerned with ds. But we just figured at around 7, it was worth looking into things in case there was 'something' wrong. SO we took him to my chiropractor who did a couple adjustments, it made no difference, so we stopped treatment. (chiro said at that time if there was no improvement after that # of treatments, that was *not* the problem)
Then dh himself says he wet til 5 or 6...something like that I think. One of his brothers would still wet at times at age 15 :shock: And his sister still was at that age as well. Though, her mom 'insists' this girl has some other bladder infection whatever deal..wouldn't even consider a trip to the chiro. I dunno. But anywho..I'm pretty sure she's all dry now...at 17 (wow, did I just say that? oh yikes! just yesterday she was 5 :? Dang, I'm gettin old aren't I? When I met her I babysat!!, oh, sorry..hehe)