Lower your expectations. Most kids aren't able to stay dry through the night until they're 5 or 6 years old or older — either because their bladders are too small, they're genetically predisposed to wet the bed, they're constipated, or they sleep very deeply and aren't able to wake up in time.
Yes, it is normal and expected for your child to keep wearing diapers at night and during naptime while potty training. Daytime training is typically achieved before nighttime training. This is because the ability to control one's bladder overnight is typically not achieved until closer to age 4 or 5, sometimes even 6.
Most children are between 3 and 4-year olds before they are regularly and reliably dry at night, and many will continue to have accidents up to the age of five or six. This is normal, and nothing to worry about.
By age four years, most children are reliably dry in the day. It's normal for night-time potty training to take longer. Most children learn how to stay dry at night when they are between three and five years old.
One should wear diapers or pull-ups until they are potty-trained. Developmentally, the average child has the cognitive ability to be potty-trained before age 2. But, many are not ready until 3–4. Trouble after this age could be a sign of developmental issues or poor parenting.
Explain to your child what they'll need to do in the night now they no longer have night nappies/pants. Talk about going to the toilet – be encouraging and offer lots of praise and support. Let it be an adventure – let your child feel excited about being grown-up! Try not to apply too much pressure.
Mostly it is simply maturation of the urinary system. For most children, around the time that they are trained to use the toilet, they naturally fall into the practice of staying dry through the night too.
It is not uncommon for children to use diapers or training pants well into elementary school as their bladders are still developing the ability to hold urine for long stretches. Deep sleepers also may need longer to learn how to wake up at night to use the bathroom.
Waking your child to go to the toilet can affect sleep
Therefore, waking your child to pee may be counterproductive to becoming dry at night, and may additionally lead to a very tired and grumpy child, on top of all the stresses of bedwetting.
What the Expert Says. Over my past 20 years in the early childhood industry, I observed that it's normal for some children up to 5 years old to still require diaper for the night as they're unable to control their bladders or have strong enough signals to wake up to clear their bladders.
Generally, bed-wetting before age 7 isn't a concern. At this age, your child may still be developing nighttime bladder control.
Although most children are toilet trained between 2 and 4 years of age, some children may not be able to stay dry at night until they are older. Children develop at their own rate. For example, studies have shown that 15% of 5- and 7-year-olds wet the bed. But by age 15, fewer than 1%wet the bed.
Children whose sleep is disturbed by snoring, television or pets, and children who are deep sleepers are more likely to wet the bed. Stress or life changes. Going through big changes like moving or a new sibling, or other stressors, can lead to children wetting the bed after being dry for a long period. Medical.
BEDWETTING IS NOTHING UNUSUAL IN KIDS OF THIS AGE. THEY ARE CLOSE TO DRY NIGHTS! Many children are having dry nights by the time they reach school age, but there is certainly nothing unusual about four to seven-year-olds wetting the bed.
To help motivate your child to work on staying dry and to work with the alarm, parents can try taking off the potty training pants and put the child in regular underwear. Parents also can have their child help do his laundry and change the sheets to get him more motivated, Dr. Khoury says.
Experts estimate that 15 to 20 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 7 wet their beds at least occasionally. The numbers drop steadily as children age, down to about 2 percent at age 16. “About 15 percent of children who wet the bed will become dry every year,” says Kirk.
Misconception #3: Using nighttime diapers and pull-ups only prolongs bed wetting. Taylor hears this a lot, too, but says there have been studies showing this isn't the case. It goes back to maturation. “Kids are not aware of what they're wearing once they're asleep,” she said.
Use the Bathroom Often
If you're still awake an hour or two after your child's bedtime, think about waking them for a quick bathroom visit. (Or if your child is older, they might be able to set this habit for themselves.) It won't stop bedwetting, but it can reduce the amount of pee that might end up in bed.
Daytime wetting (sometimes called “diurnal enuresis,” or “daytime urine accidents”) is twice as common in girls as it is boys. About 3 to 4 percent of children between the ages of 4 and 12 have daytime wetting. It is most common among young school-aged children.
Change in a standing position.
Release the diaper side-tabs while holding the diaper in place. Use your other hand to wipe the area clean, starting at the back. Once it's clean, pull down the diaper, wipe the front area clean with a fresh wipe, then dispose of the soiled diaper and wipes.
How old is too old for a child to wear diapers or pullups while they sleep? There is not a set age as to when a child should be out of diapers at night. Each child is different and will become dry at night when there body matures enough.
While your child may have worn training pants during the day while potty training, to stay dry overnight Pull-Ups aren't the best option. Instead, try Goodnites® NightTime Underwear. Unlike Goodnites, Pull-Ups are designed for daytime use.