Name: Dee

Number of kids: 1

Ages of kids: 3 years old

Problem: My son has been potty trained (including getting up during the night to go) since he was 2. The past few months he started wetting the bed. He doesn't wake up. We've tried waking him up, and he will go, but we have to hold him up because he's not awake. Is this ok? Will he learn to get up by himself if we keep waking him up?

Solution submitted by Bec from Vienna, VA: When we trained our oldest daughter, there were no pull-ups. And she was a big girl so diapers were getting small. Within a month of being trained in the daytime, she was trained at night.

Our second daughter wasn't so simple. We made a major move when she was 3 1/2 and she immediately regressed in bed wetting at night. I couldn't take getting up all of the time (she would wake up and want the bed changed immediately), so I broke down and put her in pull-ups. Then she got so she would just get up herself in the night if she woke up wet, take off the pull-up, stash it under her bed, put on a new one and go back to bed. No bother for me until I had to find the odors! At that point, we decided it was time to stop the pull-ups -- if she could get up to change them, she could get up to go to the bathroom! So we talked about it and went cold-turkey. WE told her if she wet the bed she had 3 choices: put her sleeping bag out on the floor and sleep there until morning; get a towel out of the hall closet and cover the wet area and go back to sleep; or find a dry place in the bed and go back to sleep. Then in the morning she had to help me change her bed. The first night she wet she came into our room crying and asking me to change the bed right away. I reminded her of her choices and we went through quite a temper tantrum. But I held my ground and she wound up pulling out her sleeping bag and crashing on the floor. Second night she came in and asked but as soon as I reminded her, she went back to her room. Third night she was dry. She continued on and off for about a month and then was regularly dry all night.

Our third child has used pull-ups until last week. She'll be 4 in Dec. We waited to push the dry at night until schedules were more regular, she was back in pre-school, sisters were back in school, summer activities were over, etc. We have good nights and we have wet nights. But when she is dry we have a great big celebration in the morning. She gets hugs from all of us, we cheer and become slightly crazy. But she loves it. She's a heavy sleeper and I expect this to take some time, but we're just hanging in there. I took her quilt off of her bed so it doesn't have to be washed all of the time and we just do what we have to -- just like we did when she potty trained for the daytime.

Your know your child best. Watch for signs to indicate s/he is emotionally ready to understand what needs to happen and go for it. Good luck!

Another solution submitted by Piasa from Carrollton, IL: My brother had a bed wetting problem, and my mom used diapers on him more to shame him than anything. The problem is a tough one. There is no one set cure, but the important thing here, is just dealing with it. Use plastic sheet on the bed, and give lots of encouragement. I feel that no child over the age of 3 should ever wear diapers for any reason. Don't nag, show disgrace, or embarrass him. Just give him love and support. In time, it will end.