My son is almost five and fully toilet trained during the day. Night times, however, are a different matter. We used "dry night" pants for a while with him and then he got chicken pox, so wearing them was uncomfortable and he went without. During this time and for about 10 weeks after, he was getting up to wee during the night and keeping the bed dry (without needing the dry night pants). That was several months ago and since then, for reasons unknown, he has been wetting the bed 9 nights out of 10. He tends to wake up during the early hours and come through to me to tell me that his bed is wet. Circumstances at home have not changed at all, I have tried stopping his drinks after 5.30pm and he always goes to wee before he gets into bed. I just do not know what to do about this, so if anyone has any advice, I would be very grateful. I don't really want to go back to pants after so long without, but is this the only option to save my washing machine?! HELP!!!!!

Have you tried to talk to his doctor about this? Maybe he is having nightmares or something.

Try looking at www.eric.org.uk for information about bedwetting. Eric is a charity based in bristol that deals with bedwetting and soiling. Their waterproof bedding is very good. More expensive but worth the money because it lasts.

It is also now not usually advised that you restrict drinks before bedtime. Maybe while he had chicken pox he was not sleeping so deeply and was more aware he needed to go. I also found with my son that additives in some brands of orange squash made him more likely to wet the bed.