4 Year Old Still Having Accidents at Night in Bed.

Hi C.,

I would not be overly worried at this time about your child's bed wetting. It is not uncommon for children who are potty trained to still have accidents at night. It's called nocturnal enuresis.

As you have already experimented with some products to assist in the issue, you already are aware of what is out there. What it sounds like is that that your child is a sound sleeper. Take heart that there is nothing associated with ADD or ADHD with this issue. That I can assure you. This can happen to anyone.

One approach would be to setting an alarm clock two or 3 times a night to assist your child to use the bathroom and then help your child back to bed. If there is a schedule, then sometimes this can assist in dryer nights if a routine is set up.

Also, make sure that you are enforcing to your child that this is nothing to be ashamed of. The last thing that you want to happen is for your child to become withdrawn or reluctant or feel as if he an embarrassment because of this.

Some children wet their beds even into their pubescent years.

On another side, has your child been tested for an overactive bladder? Also, it is a very good possibility that your child's bladder just has not matured yet; which is the most common reason children, especially boys, have urinary accidents at night.

If this persists after he's 6 yrs old, I would suggest talking to your doctor about seeing a pediatric urologist.

I know this is not much comfort or help to you, but do hang in there. As I said earlier, this is a fairly common occurrence. Keep giving him love, support, encouragement, and all the other positives that children need and want...and remember... this too shall pass.

Take care,

L.

You are going to have to get to the bottom of the other problem he has first before you can tackle this one in all honesty esp if you can't limit his fluid intake.

Try waking him up at night and getting him to the bathroom...other than that make sure you have a good communication with his pediatrician and make sure he/she knows about this problem too.

I don't think you should stress about it. I think that bedwetting is sometimes inherited. I was 15 before I outgrew it and one of my sons was 16 before he outgrew it. Be understanding, make sure you have two sets of sheets for his bed all the time, and make it your fault that he can't sleep over. Let him go to have fun during the evening, but then around 10 or so, go pick him up and let him come home. My son was so stressed out over wetting the bed on a boy scout outing that he purposefully got hypothermia so that he had to come home.
Sometimes there are medical reasons for it, but the procedures to find out can be more uncomfortable than just dealing with the bedwetting. If you decide that you want to know for sure, make sure you talk to your son about the procedures with the doctor and let him make the final decision since it will affect him more than you. Boys are more sensitive about their bodies and privacy than girls even.
Whatever happens, don't allow any child to humiliate him or make him feel bad about it, because he really doesn't choose to wet the bed - it happens because he can't wake up or because his bladder isn't matured enough. This really is a common problem.
I just used this exact response to the "soon to be 8 year old son". I have thought about making a support group for bedwetters; a lot of them think it only happens to them.

I have a 4 1/2 year old that i'm still trying to overcome this issue with. I think part of my problem is that his father and I are divorced, and he stays with both of us, mainly me though. I've tried the limit the intake, and it didn't work for us. The one thing that I have found that seems to be working (for 2 nights at least) is to put him in big boy underwear and make him a sticker chart. I found one here: http://www.pull-ups.com/na/wtg/progress_chart.asp He gets a sticker in the morning when he wakes up dry. I did the pull up thing, and it was over about a years time, and it would get better for a few nights, and then right back to waking up wet. It seemed that he just got used to be wet, and therefore it didn't bother him. I also had an issue I didn't have a washer/dryer, so it made it very difficult to have pee covered sheets every morning..(and the smell is hard to get rid of) Good luck, and hopefully the sticker chart will work, I let my son pick out stickers from the store, and we went about it that way, (its cheaper and healthier than candy, or a reward/toy). Try not to stress over it, as annoying as it gets, and is. He'll get through it, it just takes time. ( I have to keep telling myself that too.)

My 5 1/2 year old daughter has been potty trained since she was 2 years old. She sleeps like a log. Even if we limit her liquid intake, she still would wet the bed. She wears pull-ups, and yes at times they are soaked. Our pediatrician said that all children are different and sometimes it is the maturity of the bladder. My oldest sleep like deep as well and was about 5 when she could go without wetting the bed. I am working with my daughter now, and when I get up to go to the bathroom, I wake her up to go. I am seeing if she will get used to getting up. She has had fewer wet pull-ups in the morning with this, and is very happy when this happens. We hope that by her 6th birthday we can get rid of the pull-ups. It's really a sensation thing....is the urge to go enough wake them up? I don't know if your son is a deep sleeper, but if he is that may be where the problem lies. Just be patient. As everyone tells me, they have never seen a graduating senior wearing pull-ups/diapers. I know it is aggravating, especially if you have friends and they are saying their children are potty trained at night.....all children are different. My oldest was 5 when she was night trained, but she was reading fluently at 4.....by her choice. So all kids are good at something....patience is the key.

I have responded about bed wetting because my son who just turned 6 still does it sometimes...very rare now tough. I limited his drinking and such and it worked for me. Your situation is different though because your child is dehydrated. Obviously you take him to the doctor to have his hydration checked and you said he has ADHD...I don't know a lot about diabetes, but has he been checked for that? It seems like I have heard that sometimes dehydration is a sign of that. What kind of fluids do you give him? Surely the doctor has some clue as to why he is dehydrated all the time? I'm sorry I can not be of much assistance.

my daughter wet the bed til she was 10yrs but also she had a bladder problem so you nay want to check and make sure there is no kidney or bladder problems to start with

My oldest son had the same prob with wetting at night. He is now 10 and rarely has an accident. His main thing i think is that he sleeps extremely hard at night. There is a pad you can put in his undies that when he starts to wet it sounds an alarm to wake him so he can get up and potty. It didnt really work for my son cause of how hard he sleeps. You might want to try that. When that didn't work I would wake him about 2 hours after he went to sleep and made him potty, this helped a little. I later found out when he was in first grade and was having accidents at school that he has extra thibk bladder walls. But it is not uncommon for boys to have accidents. Maybe some of the things I tried will help you. Good luck and be patient.