Riley wakes up early in the morning, earlier than the rest of the household. He used to come get under the covers with us but the sweetness of his presence couldn’t overcome the annoyance factor of having an impatient, squirming, pointy-elbowed bed partner who repeatedly asked if it was time to get up yet (to which we’d hiss back NO IT IS 5:45 AM OH MY ACHING GOD), so we asked him to stay in his room, which he does. He turns on his bedside lamp, he gets out books and toys, and he generally keeps himself happily occupied until the adults come staggering out in search of caffeine.

He also gets dressed on his own, which blows my mind. He goes to bed a pajama’d wee boy, his scrawny butt padded with his nighttime Pull-Up, and by the time we greet him in the morning he’s outfitted himself in t-shirt and jeans, Spiderman underwear lurking underneath. Suddenly he’s some kind of hulking kindergartner or something, chattering away at top volume and likely as not sporting his custom-made water pistol holster, fashioned out of a sock and a belt by yours truly.

Oh, he’s getting to be such a big boy. Which leads me to a delicate question about that aforementioned Pull-Up — at what age do kids typically stop using those at night? He’s rock solid on the bathroom thing and has been for a long time, but not peeing all night long (or waking up and using the bathroom) seems like a lot to expect from a 4-year-old. But maybe not? I have no idea, really.

As far as diaper-related issues go in my house that one overnight Pull-Up is pretty far down the give-a-hoot list, but I thought I’d ask those of you in the know. When did your kid start sleeping without a safety net, so to speak?

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Michele Renee
14 years ago

We have never bought a Pull Up before. When each of our 3 boys showed all signs of being ready (around age 2.8) we committed to a weekend of staying home. We have a ton of new underwear and did lots of laundry. Made his bed up with a shower curtain on top of sheets and then another set of sheets on top, so if there is an accident in middle of night, it is easy to strip the bed and everyone get to sleep again. IMO kids have to know what it feels like to wet the bed and something in their brain at night shuts down the peeing as a result. I think it is key to be in “big boy bed” before this starts. It takes one weekend and it is done. P.S. also have worked outside the home always.
P.S. I think my Hubs may have told the boys we are out of diapers.

Kelsey
14 years ago

Well after skimming the comments it really looks like you don’t also need my two cents, but I saved this post in my reader because my five year old daughter still soaks her pull-up nightly.

She’s been day-trained for nearly three years but nowhere near ready to go w/out at night. And forget waking her to pee – I would rather wake a bear from hibernation. She’s horrible to wake, which probably has a lot to do w/ the still soaked pull-up.

Our ped. says no big deal and I choose to believe her. Glad to know there are others out there because once in a while I start to feel paranoid about it!

Kelsey
14 years ago

P.S. For what it’s worth, we tried just letting her feel what it’s like to wet the bed at night. I washed the sheets every damn day for two weeks and decided that approach wasn’t working for us…

Kate
Kate
14 years ago

I have the same question/problem. We use 2 pullups a day, one at night and one at nap. I am too lazy to change the sheets daily so we haven’t done anything yet. But I guess we are going to have to give it a try soon….

Kate
Kate
14 years ago

I should add my daughter is 4 and also refuses to pee at school. WTH is that about?

Melis
Melis
14 years ago

The day he came home and said “I don’t want to wear pull-ups anymore” was the end of pull-ups, day or night. We had 1 accident. He was approximately 3 1/2? We do keep a plastic mattress pad on his bed and enforce the “pee before bed” routine but even with a sippy of water with him in bed (which I think is more of a comfort thing more than anything since it’s almost always still full first thing in the morning), only the 1 time of having to change sheets in the middle of the night.

Now you watch…tomorrow he’ll be soaked.

saly
14 years ago

Wow, I am late to the party. But I just wanted to say that my son just turned 6 (SIX!!) and is still in a pull-up at night. He has been completely potty trained since he was 2, mind you, but the whole night thing…nope. He is a really sound sleeper, and just doesn’t wake up. We tried for a whole month last year, to just let him sleep and wet and hopefully wake up. No go, and I washed pissy sheets and clothes to the point that the smell of piss was so far up my nose that it was all I could smell. SO we will try again sometime, though the dr assures us it is completely normal.

Jennie C
Jennie C
14 years ago

Hi Linda!

I have a 6 1/2 year old son and we still use the night time pullups. He is such a hard sleeper (as I’ve heard many boys are) he really doesn’t have that alarm that goes off when he needs to go. If we eat late, that means he’s had a drink late and that would induce the night time wetting. I make sure he goes before he goes to bed, but sometimes that doesn’t matter. He just wets anyway. I have seen an improvement over the course of the last year, but he is nowhere even close to being without them. We don’t make a big deal about it… never have. I suspect we’ll be needing them for at least another year. We’ll see. Good luck with yours!!!

Tamsin
Tamsin
14 years ago

My dd was 12 before she was regularly dry at night. And even now 6 years later has very occasional accidents. Thank God for protective underwear her ‘safety net’ even now!