Hi Madeleine, while it perfectly normal for your son to be still wetting the bed at night, any type of daytime wetting after the age of 5 years should certainly be checked by a doctor. Daytime accidents often occur as a result of children holding on for too long or refusing to stop the activity they are involved in order to go to the toilet. Sometimes this behaviour also occurs in response to the child trying to exert their independence, a friendly reminder to Mum and Dad that they (being the child) is in control of the situation. If his daytime wetting is behavioural then the best thing to do is to return to those strategies you used when first toilet training. Praise his successes, while ignoring accidents. Talk about all those behavioural cues he needs to be aware of which tell him that he needs to go and empty his bladder. Remind him that whatever he’s doing will still be there when he gets back and in fact he will be able to return to it quicker than if he had to go and change his clothes due to wetting them. In terms of managing his nighttime wetting, the first thing you need to do is put him into DryNites. Pull-Ups are designed for daytime use therefore offering less absorbency. You can try and help develop better nighttime bladder capacity by encouraging him to fully empty his bladder just before he goes to bed, it’s also important that he adopts a regular drinking pattern throughout the day (about 1 litre of water at his age is a good measure). All the best!

Regards,
Dr Cathrine

Ask Dr Cathrine a question