October 28, 2010

A little daily ritual

Someday, I will not have to change the sheets on my bed everyday. Why, you may ask, do I change the sheets everyday? Is it because I am a clean freak? Clearly not if you saw my house. Do I just like to do laundry? No, not really, and even if I did really like laundry, I have plenty without my bed sheets to satisfy my craving. And no, Husband does not wet the bed, neither do I for that matter, and believe it or not, the baby isn't the reason for the daily bed change. My friends, let me tell you why I do this daily ritual. Husband gets up out of bed to go to work around 4:30am. I fall back to sleep after feeding Caleb about that time and when I wake up, Isaiah has crawled in bed with me. When we get up for the day, Isaiah is soaked. Not just full diaper soaked, but wet pants and shirt. He leaves a huge wet pee soaked spot on Husband's side of the bed, wet pj's, saturated diaper. You may think "Well, get him potty trained". If only it were that easy!! Or "Why doesn't Husband change his diaper when he gets up for work?" Well, that's because Isaiah is still sleeping when Husband leaves...and I don't wake up when he crawls up in bed because, well, I'm tired from the nighttime feedings. I suppose we could wake him up in the middle of the night and change him, I have considered that, but with as horrible of a sleeper that Isaiah is, I changed my mind. You wouldn't wake him up in the middle of the night to change him either, trust me. Bedtime is a huge battle we've been fighting with him for a long, long time so once he finally goes to sleep, we don't want to wake him up. We've tried limiting drinks, and he goes to bed with a fresh clean diaper every night. Sometimes he will sit and use the potty before bed...other times he just plain refuses to sit and try. We've tried so many things (that have failed), every old wives tale, every trick others have used, all have failed. I've decided Isaiah has a bladder the size of the water tower, and can store fluid like a camel. I've even gone so far to do a little dance around a fire and gave a sacrifice of a pack of diapers, hoping to appeal to the dry diaper gods, or at least to the not-saturated-and-overflowing, diaper gods. They haven't heard me. I may need to go buy a few more sets of sheets, maybe a set for each day of the week. I guess I could look at the bright side - if Husband irritates me, I could always NOT change the sheets!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your last line made me LOL! :-)

But could your husband put a waterproof pad or mattress cover or something where Isaiah comes in and lies down?

Don't sweat it about the link between potty-training and night-wetting. My older son has been potty-trained while awake since he was about 2.5, but he still occasionally wets the bed (at almost 6). The other day he said that he wouldn't wet the bed any more because he wasn't scared of the dark any more; we'll see if he's right. And as long as he took a nap (till after he turned 4 y/o), he would often wet the bed at nap-time as well.

My younger son, on the other hand, usually woke up dry from a nap, and even overnight, well before he was potty-trained! [Though he still (4 y/o) occasionally wets the bed, though he potty-trained around 2-2.5 y/o.]

Kids are different!

-Kathy

Jessica said...

Haha...my son was the same way! Unfortunately, at 7 yrs old, he is still a bed wetter even after trying EVERYTHING! I woke up this morning to him coming in my room saying his bed was soaked. Hey...guess it's better than MY bed being soaked!!!

Misha said...

I was wondering if my child was the only one that did this. She sleeps in her own bed but I have to change her sheets everyday because EVERYTHING is soaked. I always thought she must have a giant bladder lol

Sheryl said...

We went through this with our 2-year-old earlier this year, and tried a few things. What worked in the end was using the special nighttime diapers (a bit more expensive but worth it) and adding in a diaper liner. Tried the reusable ones and disposable ones, found that 3 disposable/flushable diaper liners (intended for cloth diapering, they come on a roll like toilet paper) inside of a nighttime disposable diaper was the winning solution. Haven't had a toddler wet enough to soak through his PJs in a few months now, and I have a kid with kidney issues so he drinks (and pees) a lot.

I would also get your husband to put a waterproof pad (there are really big ones intended to cover the whole bottom of a crib) down on his side of the bed when he gets up.

Unknown said...

Went through this with our son--tried all different diapers and ended up just going up a size in the diaper he currently uses. Just needed a little more absorbency I guess. Good Luck!

Jenny said...

What worked for us is going up a size or two for night time. We use the next size up nighttime diaper and it looks like we'll have to go up the next size on that soon. Good luck, and hopefully your laundry load will go down soon!

Beth said...

Thank you for this post - I thought I was the only one washing sheets every morning too! But mine are only toddler sized ones....

My oldest is a super soaker and will often wake up with a saturated diaper, pjs, bedsheets and mattress pad. Most mornings all of his blankets have to washed in addition.

And my middle son (same age as Isaiah) isn't potty trained either. In fact, he almost flat out refuses to sit on the potty all together. I so understand what you mean, and I appreciate that I'm not alone! They will get there eventually.

How are you doing with 4? Are there any things that have surprised you with the transition? Any tips, tricks, words of advice or warnings are all welcome ;) In March we will have 4 ages 4 and under ~ I am mostly excited, but I have to admit, I'm a bit overwhelmed on some days!

Julia said...

Please try something called GOODNIGHTS. Its a pull up but very great and keeping everything dry. I put them on my 18 month old because he was a belly sleeper and would leak every morning. They look huge, but you need huge to soak it all up. They are a lifesaver!

Shary Lopez said...

I did this every day for probably 7 months. It's all so fun, don't you know?