Night Training a heavy sleeper?

DS is almost 4 years old now. He day trained himself for wee's at 3? A long time ago either way. He only got the hang of poo's a few months ago but there were unlying issues.

He has an interest in undies. Mostly because his step brother (different house) wears undies and there has been some pressure from there to train for the nights. We tried here a few months ago and he just didnt get it, so left it here for a while. Recently we've started trying again because he will ask at random to wear undies of a night. So, that brings me to the issue at hand. He is happy enough to go with undies. In fact he like the idea. Unfortunately he wont wake up to wee. If he does wee himself he will literally sleep in it until he wakes some hours later, and then he is distressed by it. If I try to catch him before he wees, he is like a zombie on the toilet.

Is this something he will grow out of? I know my sister was/is a heavy sleeper and mum had many issues trying to train her, well into primary school years. I dont really want that legacy for my DS. Is this just a matter of time? Will he just get it one day like he did the day training or should I keep pushing him to wake up before he wees?

He has never woken up overnight without being very wet. He has always been a heavy wetter overnight.

Thanks

I hope someone knows because I want to know too!!

I have a deep sleeper too. She's 6 and we still have accidents regularly. She wore a pull up until at least 4. I wash a lot of sheets. I do take her before I go to bed and I have more success with that when I have to wake her (as she's far too tall and heavy for me to carry asleep) than when DH does it and carries her without waking her.
My SIL bedwet until she was in her teens and I was devastated to find out it's familial.
I haven't found anything except time to improve it. Sorry.
I keep meaning to get some brolly sheets so I don't have to change whole beds, but I'm so adept at changing sheets and keeping mattresses clean...I probably never will.

My ds1 who is 6 1/2 has only come out of pull-ups at nighttime in the last 3 months. He was a very heavy sleeper, and a very heavy wetter at night. We tried a few times, but it never stuck and he'd get upset by it.

In the end hubby ended up getting into the habit of taking him to the toilet around 10:30-11pm each night, asleep or awake, we did this for about a month, then oneday he forgot and ds woke up by himself to go. We haven't looked back since!

My DD took quite sometime after being day trained to be night trained. I never pushed the issue and just had to change bedding if she had an accident. It really is like day training, they have to be ready and there is something in their brains that makes them aware they have to get up and go to the toilet. I would look for the cues from your DS and I read another thread somewhere that said limiting drinks before bed and getting them up during the night to go doesn't help.

The only thing that worked for my heavy sleeper was an alarm but before we used that we made sure that he was drinking lots during the day to stretch his bladder.

DD1 was day toilet trained in a week at 2 1/2. She never had an accident. Excellent bladder control. She can hold on for an extraordinary amount of time, once she had to wait half an hour on a long trip when she was bursting. But she wasn't night trained until she was 5. We stopped using pull ups at about 4 1/2, but the brolly sheets were invaluable for the next six months!

She eventually became dry in her own time. But her bladder has to make it from 7pm-7am, because nothing wakes her during the night. I figured she would get there in her own time. There was another little girl in her class who took the same amount of time too.

(We tried getting her up, that didn't work. We decided withholding drinks to dehydrate her wasn't a good idea).

We also have a heavy sleeper and she was in pullups until 6 1/2. We could not take her to the toilet as she will just not wake once she is asleep. She would wee most nights at either 1am or 5am. We got an alarm and it worked very quickly and she confessed she was just too warm and comfy in bed so would just wee instead of getting up! I can remember wetting the bed myself in primary school days. Now that she is 9 she rarely needs to get up during the night to go.

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The only thing that worked for my heavy sleeper was an alarm but before we used that we made sure that he was drinking lots during the day to stretch his bladder.

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This is interesting, I never thought of it that way until now.

I think we might be giving up for a little while longer and try again in another 6 months or so. He just slept through an entire night drenched, so I dont think he is going to wake up for anything at the moment. Hopefully as he gets older he will become more aware.

I know for my sister she had to have an alarm to force her to wake. Hopefully he just needs more time though.

You can visit a physio who specialises in urinary incontinence although 4 is probably too young to bother because he might have grown out of it by the time he is old enough to see one.

It might sound a bit odd but our physio asked about constipation - apparently a lot of children with night wetting problems have constipation. Often using something like benefibre and increasing liquids can have very quick results.

From my reading it is a developmental thing you can't rush. They need to have enough of a hormone to reduce the amount of wee that is produced overnight and the part of the brain that registers they are wet and to wake up needs to be developed enough to do it. So if these 2 things aren't there it will be an uphill battle. I would give it a break and if there are still problems take him to see someone if you are concerned but it can be quite common to not be dry overnight for a long time especially boys.

I also read the same as Lana - that is why I never worried about it. Also DD was happy to wear pullups every night. I was happy for her to do that as I am far too lazy to wash sheets every day and she would also lie in it and would not wake up so i did not want her lying in it.

DD #2 was our heavy sleeper/night wetter. We used bed mats for her until she was about 7 when I gave her an alarm (my mobile phone) with two alarms set over night. Eventually she didn't need it and now at 8 is dry at nights.

I think 4 is still fairly young to be honest... *shrugs*

He goes through phases when he wants to do it because of his step brother and I dont want to discourage him when he is wanting to. But I also dont want to have him asleep wet and waking up in the morning upset because he couldnt do it either. So just really want to know the best way to help us navigate through these periods. It makes sense about the connect Lana, thanks.

Im not the one pressuring him, just trying to go with what he wants and if he wants to do it here then I will not discourage it either. I know that 4 is young but I dont want to tell him that he cant do that or whatever because he isnt ready either. If he wants to try then I will let him. The issue is he just doesnt wake and the cycle continues. So just trying to navigate with a boy that "wants" to be like his brother but isnt physically able to yet. I dont think it helps that his brother is younger either.

Have you tried putting him on the toilet before u go to bed I wouldn't worrie About him being a zombie when you do as this just means that he will go back to sleep I also when I trained son1 got up to wee myself several times through the night note I was pregnant at the time And put him on and he would wee even if he was still asleep also I don't allow drinks after 6 so after dinner