Results of my Dry Nights Experiment

JUST AN UPDATE TO THIS.....30TH JUNE 2006 - 27TH OCTOBER 2006, HE HAS NOT WET ONCE - and we haven't done the chart since the end of July.

OK.  My son was still wearing nappies at night, and that was fine by me and by most healthcare professionals.  "They do it when they are good and ready" they tell me.   Now, I'll start by saying I only did this with my 4 year old for these reasons

• he had several dry nights
• mornings were the times he would wet
• at times he would get into our bed at 6am; dry nappy and get out of bed an hour later wet

I came to the conclusion that it was entirely possible this habit was due to laziness.  Well, he has a nappy on, it's for pooping and weeing, so I'll use it.  Before the experiment, Luke had woken on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June wet.

I began by purchasing pullups, which we strictly called big boy undies.  On the third of June, we created a chart for the month of June.  I explained to Luke that when he was dry he would get a tick.  If he wet, he would get a cross.  If at the end of each week, he remained dry for that week, he would get a small surprise present.  The end of each week had a picture of a gift wrapped box.  His eyes lit up.  And if he remained dry for a whole month, he would get a big present.   He was so excited.  I told him he would be wearing big boy's undies to bed each night now and not nappies, and he needs to try really hard to get up to go to the toilet to keep his big boy undies dry.

WEEK 1                     DRY              HE GOT A SPIDERMAN2 QUILT COVER SET

WEEK2                      DRY              HE GOT SUPERMAN HEAT VISION TOY

WEEK3                      WET 1 DAY AFTER I HAD GIVEN HIM 2 CUPS OF WARM MILO BEFORE BED AND HIS COUSIN STAYED THE NIGHT- YES MUM, PUSHING IT THERE

                                                        SEVERAL MAY DISAGREE WITH THIS, BUT HE STILL GOT HIS SURPRISE TOY AT THE END.  I FELT THAT HE HAD BEEN DRY FOR TWO AND A HALF WEEKS AFTER STRUGGLING TO STAY DRY FOR A FEW DAYS.  I WANTED TO KEEP UP HIS CONFIDENCE.  HIS WET NIGHT COULD HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY TWO CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: COUSIN STAYING THE NIGHT AND STAYING UP TOO LATE AND OF COURSE THE MILO.  YES HE STILL WET, BUT HEY.....I FELT REALLY BAD.  :)

WEEK4                    WELL, WE HAVE TWO MORE SLEEPS BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH AND SO FAR HE HAS ONLY WET ONCE THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EXPERIMENT.

I believe this is not suited to everyone, and stress emphatically to try this only if you feel the encouragement will help.  Not all children wet out of laziness.  There can be medical reasons associated with bedwetting, and as mentioned earlier, some children just do it when they are ready.  I would have discontinued the experiment immediately if I felt it put undue stress on him.  I spoke with a healthcare professional in week 3 to ensure I had not placed to much pressure on him.

When Luke wakes in the morning, the first thing he says is "look mum, my big boy undies are dry.  I want to tick my calendar."  Then we count the sleeps till his next surprise present.

Regardless of what happens over these next two sleeps, I believe this sleep dry chart was a great success and hope that it helps someone else.  I think the best part for me was, I had no expectations and really didn't think it would work.

UPDATE 30 JUNE 2006: FROM 4TH JUNE - 30TH JUNE 2006(27 NIGHTS) HE WOKE UP WET ONCE