A soggy, filthy mess to be in
January 20, 2009 by Jennifer Walker-Journey
Filed under Parenting
My son and I are at an impasse. He doesn’t want to wear pull-ups to bed and I don’t want to get up at 3 a.m. to change his sheets. He just turned 5 and my inner parent is telling me that he should be diaper free by now. My doctor (yes, I consulted him) says he is normal. That he will soon learn to mind his bladder at night and besides, he says, no 18-year-olds are heading off to college in pull-ups anyway.
Still, try to tell that to a 5-year-old “big boy” who is sobbing at his bedside because the pull-ups make his bum itch and he WILL go to the potty before bedtime and he WILL try very hard not to wet the bed. Just PLEASE NO PULL-UP!
So, last night I gave in. And I was up at 3 a.m. yanking sheets of his bed. My son cried, “I’m sorry Mommy. I’m sorry.” How can you fuss at an adorable, soggy little kid after he says that? I put him back in dry underpants and parked him in the upholstered glider my husband thinks we should get rid of; took the wad of wet sheets and threw them over the banister to the foyer downstairs; went to the linen closet to get fresh sheets where I knocked over one of those long, skinny fluorescent light bulbs that had no business being propped up in there anyway; grunted loudly as I fought to stretch on the mattress a clean pad, fitted sheet, flat sheet, blanket, and two pillow cases; threw the cat out of the room because she apparently found the whole bed-making process amusing; and carried my darling little boy back to his bed and tucked him in. Then I dashed downstairs and checked to see if my husband was still breathing. He was. (Why can’t I sleep like that? Oh yeah…that mother thing.)
I must have drifted back off to sleep at some point because I was jolted back awake at 5:45 a.m. by sobs coming from my little boy’s room. And once again I was yanking sheets off the bed. I swear, I thought his bladder was empty after that last wetting!
Today, I’m up to my bra straps in laundry and am really starting to wonder what we’ll do tonight at bedtime. I wonder if a few days of middle-of-the-night sheet-changings might cure him of this habit. I’m not sure I’m up for another night of sleeplessness, though, or another day of laundering. I need to buy one of those parenting books. I need … I need… a nap.
If you’re going to be up at 3 am changing sheets anyway, have you considered setting an alarm for 2 am so that either he can get himself out of bed and go potty, or you can take him and then go back to bed?
I have this same problem. My 4 year old is a very sound sleeper and doesn’t wake up when she has to go to the bathroom. My doctor too said this is normal. My husband and I have purchased some of those waterproof matress pads (size of a crib matress pad) and put them on top of the fitted sheet. Then instead of having to change all the sheets I just need to swap out the top matress pad. We do as feefifoto says and set an alarm. However she sleeps so hard that she doesn’t hear it. We have a night routine where we make her go potty before bed (7:30) we wake her up to make her go at 10:00 when we go to bed and then the alarm goes off at 1:00 a.m. It is a lot of work, but we have cut down on the wet messes a lot. Just recently she has been starting to wake up on her own, so it is working. Hope this helps a bit.
Good tips. I guess I worry if I wake him it’ll take hours for him to get back to sleep. But I love the waterproof pads idea. I think I’ll run out and grab some of those today…
I know I’ve seen some ads for some big-kid nighttime wear that’s supposed to look and feel more like pajamas, that allow the kid to feel the moisture and wake up but keep it from getting the rest of the bed soaked. But I can’t remember what they’re called!
Thanks, Deborah. Do let me know if you find out the name of those big-kid PJs.