Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
As your child grows, there will be more and more occasions for them to spend the night away from home, whether staying at a friend’s house, going on a school trip, or going on a holiday camp. A child that experiences bedwetting will be reluctant to spend the night away from home, with the understandable fear that they will wet the bed and that teasing may result. Bedwetting can be a real stressor for a child, and they may feel ashamed and refuse to talk about it.
Dr Michael Mol, brand ambassador for DryNites® Pyjama Pants gives parents tips on preparing your child for a sleepover:
- Get to know the parents
If you leave your child in the care of someone else, you entrust that person with your child’s wellbeing and safety. Most parents would prefer to be prepared for a sleepover by having several daytime play dates and being relatively friendly with the other parents. Show your child you are comfortable with the other parents and they will be more secure in staying with them. Let the parents know about your child’s bedwetting so that they can discreetly help your child should the need arise.
- Let them know it’s OK to call
Some children just need to touch base with home when it is bedtime. For others, a call home can exasperate feelings of homesickness. Either way, let your child know it is OK to call at whatever time, whether to be picked up or just to say hello.
Some parents find the ‘after hours callout’ frustrating and embarrassing, however, it is simply an indicator that your child is not ready to stay the entire night just yet. By giving your child real freedom to come home whenever they would like to – you’re making it easier for them to sleepover.
- Make sure that they are ready
Each child is different, and each child will be ready for sleepovers at different times. If your child still has issues with sleeping in their own bed, having nightmares or sleepwalking, perhaps consider waiting a bit longer and overcoming these issues before embarking on a sleepover in an unfamiliar environment. If they experience anxiety or separation issues when away from you, it is also wise to wait.
Cautioning your child not to go to sleepovers because they wet the bed is not a good idea and may even be harmful to their psycho-social development. Remind and reassure them that many other children wet their beds too and that it’s just a phase that they will grow out of. With your child’s permission, tell a responsible adult who will be able to manage the potential accident in your absence.
DryNites® Pyjama Pants are extremely useful in these situations. Suggest to your child that they slip them on unnoticeably at bedtime. They are very discreet and quiet, so will not be seen through their pyjamas or noticed by the other children. Your child can simply throw them away the next morning – nobody will be any wiser!
Remember that a child who has a long history of sleeping in different beds due to travel or family transitions, may find the idea of sleeping at a friend’s house quite comfortable. Other children may thrive on routine and hate the idea of change. For them, a sleepover may require a lot of mental preparation. Or, it may just not be their thing, and that’s all right – every child is unique!
For more information on DryNites® Pyjama Pants, or to ask Dr Mol a personal question or to request a free sample, visit www.drynites.co.za. DryNites® Pyjama Pants are currently available at selected retailers nationwide.
DryNites Giveaway
Stand a chance to win one of 5 DryNites Hampers to the value of R1000 each by entering your details into the form below.
Each hamper consists of the following items:
- Branded Fleece Blanket
- Branded Backpack
- One Pack of DryNites
- Mr Price R 150 voucher
Increase your chances of winning by gaining extra entries:
- Leave a comment below this blog post sharing your bedwetting tips
- Share this post on social networks, tag @Kaboutjie and include the hashtag #winwithkaboutjie
The winner will be announced via blog post on Thursday 16 August 2018, as well as notified via email.
Please note that this competition is only open to residents of South Africa.
Please be sure to check our competition terms.
***COMPETITION CLOSED***
Great articles and tips.
We will soon start with potty training JD and hopefully everything will be going smooth. Luckily day care’s and pre-primary schools helps us parents with this transition a lot. 🙂
Having a baby in the house, and having to buy so many nappies and formula until now, I wish I could keep him small for just a little longer.
I don’t even want to think about sleepovers yet. But my day will come and it’s always good to have a few handy tips on hand.
My brother and I both went through the bed wetting stage and thankfully we had great parents that handled the issue in the correct way.
It is so important to let your little one know that most kids go through this and that it’s nothing to feel ashamed about.
I think the concept of Drynites pajama pants is awesome. If you have a little one that is prone to bed wetting, it is a good idea to pack a drynite pajama pant for the sleepover. What is great about them is that they have cute design and they look just like under pants. They are discreet and aborbent. I think it would be less traumatic than having the parents at the sleepover having to deal with a bed wetting incident.
I have been reading reviews about the Drynite pajama pants and saw ads before. And I was thinking to myself that this is something worth considering.
A few tips for bedwetting:
*Shift fluid intake – more fluid earlier in the day, less at night.
*Don’t resort to punishing.
*Don’t wake a child to go for a pee.
*Be encouraging.
Awesome giveaway. I will share this far and wide.
Thanks @loupie – those are some amazing tips. Both my children have taken a long time to have mostly dry nights and even now we have oopsies every now and then.
Be patient and supportive. Reassure and encourage your child often. Do not make an issue out of bedwetting each time it happens. If you or your spouse wet the bed as a kid, remind your child that mommy or daddy had the same issue and eventually outgrew it.
Thanks for sharing this valuable pointer @rothar – you are so right, it is important that they don’t feel ashamed of wetting the bed, that won’t help resolve the bed wetting issue. It is essential to ensure out children are confident and happy.
Not all children stop wetting the bed at the same time.
I did use DryNites with my little boy at the age of three, he is now four and has mastered being dry through the night.
Here is my advice that worked well for me:
1. Please do withhold, or severely restrict liquids for 1 hour before bed time. Do not let them keep a drink at her bedside during the night.
2. Have them sit on the toilet and ’empty out’ just before bedtime every night. You might also get them up just an hour after they go to bed and have the, sit on the toilet again to ensure they go to sleep with a flat bladder.
3. Let them wear the disposable pants for bedwetters. If they are dry in the morning, praise them. Do not offer a treat, just praise them and give them a hug. If they wet them during the night, do not make a fuss or worry. Dispose of the pants. Tell them that they will do better at keeping them dry soon. Set them up to expect that they will be able to stay dry on their own soon.
The only worry a parent always has is that if your child goes for a stay over nobody is going to maintain that routine with them which can lead to mishaps.
This is an awesome giveaway, will share with all the mothers I know. 😊
Please remember: you are your child’s best champion. If you feel there is a problem, trust that feeling.
Nonetheless, do remember that ‘normal’ is a spectrum, like colour is a spectrum or sound is a spectrum. There are acceptable ranges of normal. Some children catch on to staying dry sooner than others. Some take a while.
Be sensitive and understanding. You can do this. You can be a good parent!
Good luck!
Thanks @ron03 – spot on that kids all achieve things at different times! My kids took much longer than their peers to master making it through the night – my daughter very rarely has any accidents but my son still has oopsies. He will get there when he is ready!
100% each child’s development differs and children should never be pressurized.
We went through a tough time with my daughter until she was about 5. For some reason she just has a weak bladder at night and she is now almost 8, and she gets up during the night – every night to use the bathroom.
We stopped her fluid intake at night, we even used to wake her at around 11pm when we went to bed to use the bathroom, and she still would wet the bed – heaven knows where all that liquid came from.
She just eventually, as she got older, I guess her body just wakes her up now – Thankfully.. coz it really wasn’t fun changing bedding in the middle of the night.. 🙂
My daughter also took a very long time @lynn0505. My son is now 4 1/2 and still has regular accidents. It really used to bother me and I thought it was a problem until I spoke to my mother about it and she (very rightly) said not to worry about it, they won’t still be wetting the bed at 18 years old, at some stage they will grow out of it and I must just be patient until they do.
My top tips for this which seemed to work with my daughter is make sure you take them to the toilet before bedtime and only offer sips of water from about 4 ( depending on what time your child goes to bed and nothing at all from an hour before bedtime do your self a favor and invest in a waterproof mattress protector.
Thanks for the tips @stefeg – that is what I do with my two kids. It does get difficult though when my son cries and screams because he is thirsty. He tells me he will die of thirst if I don’t give him enough to drink lol, so yes sometimes we still have accidents but it is getting better all the time.
And YES to the mattress protectors!
Please remember to enter the competition using the form – writing a comment will give you an extra entry, but only if you enter!
Motherhood is tough and each child is different but glad its getting easier with the less bedwetting i suppose all trial and error 😊 shoot must have missed the form entry sorry
Just remember to use the entry form for the other giveaways – we have loads on the go at the moment! Good luck @stefeg!
1.reduced evening fluid intake
2.reward the child for remaining dry
3.enforce a “no teasing” rule in the house which may discourage the child
4.be patient
Thanks for these tips @tkatsen 🙂 I’ve found number 4 to the toughest, it is not easy to stay level headed and calm when your sleep is disturbed every night!
I first do potty training then when we sleep I wake up my lil ones every hour or 2 to go and pee and eventually they stopped bed wetting
Thanks for that tip @khuselwan – I woke my kids up to go to the toilet before I went to bed each night for a while and that certainly helped the process a lot!
Tips would be to reduce fluid intake after 5 in the evenings, to assure your little ones not to be ashamed of “glipsies” and just encourage them!
Thanks for sharing your tips @olivier – yes it is just a process like everything else that needs to be learned. Patience was something that I struggled with when I started suffering from lack of sleep but thankfully my hubby stepped in to help some nights too!