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Dr Catherine
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Girl
4-7 years

Dear Dr. Catherine, My son is almost five and for weeks has been asking to go to bed without a pull up. He started to get upset and saying he really doesn’t want one. So a week ago we started night time toilet training. He goes to the toilet at 7 before bed and we lift him again at 10. It’s been 7 nights now and only 3 of those he was dry by morning. He really does nit want to go back to pull ups. Any advice?

Waking or lifting children to the toilet during the night is typically seen as a practical approach to managing children’s bedwetting in the short-term only but does little to help them to become dry on their own. Other treatments such as enuresis conditioning alarms are typically more effective than waking although these are not typically recommended until children are at least 7 years of age, this is partly due to the fact that alarms require a great deal of commitment and younger children are often less motivated to become dry. Given your sons desire to become dry you could certainly speak with your GP about introducing this earlier. Please be reassured that bedwetting is completely normal for children up to the age of 5 years. You mention using Pull-Ups - DryNites are typically better suited for nighttime wetting and include designs that are more appealing for older children. You can explain to your son that these are made for boys even much older than him! You can try and minimize his bedwetting by encouraging him to drink water regularly throughout the day, ensure he does not become overtired (this will make it more difficult to wake in response to a full bladder), keep getting him to go to the toilet just before bedtime and avoids food or liquids that encourage urine production like chocolate or caffeinated drinks. All the best, Dr Cathrine