Oh no! You’ve just woken your child up and realized they’ve wet the bed again. You try to be encouraging and to avoid nagging, but you’re really getting tired of the extra laundry and the smells associated with bedwetting. There are ways to help your child stay dry at night and these tips may provide the help you need.

You may feel frustrated about your child’s bedwetting because you know they can remain dry all day without accidents. You’re eager to move past this season of your child’s life. Remember, however, that it is not uncommon for children under the age of five to still wet the bed while they sleep. In fact, some young primary school children do so, as well.

Just because they have mastered going to the restroom during the day, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they’ll be able to wake up at night to use the restroom. Even though it’s frustrating, it might be helpful to think of night-time potty training as an entirely different training period.

Here are some ways to help your child stay dry at night:

• Learning to stay dry overnight is a big accomplishment and it’s important to praise any effort they make to do so.
• Be sure your child can get out of bed and remove their pajamas on their own. If they can dress themselves from top to bottom, you know they have this skill mastered.
• Talk to them about the importance of using the restroom before going to bed and then what they can do if they need to use the restroom during the night. Will having a training potty in their bedroom make this process easier or should they come and get you to help them?
• Use a waterproof pad on your child’s bed to keep the mattress from becoming wet.
• Leave a night light on in the hallway or restroom so they can see where they’re going.
• If your child wakes up before you head to bed, ask them if they need to use the restroom before going back to sleep.
• Don’t pressure or criticize your child for wetting the bed. It’s a normal part of growing up and your child isn’t the only one that still wets the bed.
• If having to do extra laundry bothers you, use overnight training pants that will keep this from being an issue. Of course, they will be an added expense to your budget.
• Don’t punish your child for any accidents they have. If they are anxious about punishment, it may cause them to start wetting during the day, as well.

If everyone is getting stressed out about bedwetting, you may want to relax and tell them you’ll begin again in couple of months. While it would be great if your child were staying dry through the night by the time they go to school, it really isn’t a big issue.

Children can sometimes take years before they’re completely bedwetting accident free. Realize they’re not wetting the bed at night on purpose, their bodies simply haven’t matured to that level yet. Remember to relax; your child will stop wetting the bed when their body is ready.