Dear Diane
oy five-year-old was toilet trained at two, but has begun wetting the bed again since he started school. We do all the things people have suggested – not letting him drink after dinner, getting him to go to the toilet before he goes to bed – but he’s still wetting two to three times a week. I always try not to appear angry when he does it, but with winter coming I’m starting to get worried about all the washing and drying that’s required. Can you suggest anything we can try?
Marianne
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Dear Marianne
The odds are that he’s getting very tired toward the end of the first term of school, and is sleeping so deeply that he’s missing the cue from his bladder that he needs to get up and go to the toilet. Avoid restricting his fluid intake in the evening. The trick is to try and catch him early enough in the evening when he has a full bladder but is still dry. This could be as early as 9pm or even 8.30pm.
Carry him to the toilet, prop him up and hold your hands a little way away from his shoulders, so that he sways enough to rouse him but not enough to frighten him.
When he has finished weeing, walk him back to bed. Two things happen with this method. Firstly, you are cueing the appropriate behaviour in his mind and secondly, he’s practising this for himself – by going to the toilet during the night when he has a full bladder.
Best of all, by having an empty bladder before 10pm, the odds are very high that he can “hang on” for the rest of the night until he wakes up, or get up for a second time, and keep his bed dry.
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