The transition for a child from wearing nappies or pull ups at night, can be a tricky one. Some are ready quickly and are dry at night, and bed wetting is something you may not have to face, or you may have a little one who is not quite dry overnight (which up to a certain age is totally normal as being dry and in control of your bladder during the day is an entirely different physiological process to being dry overnight, as a child) and either wets the bed occasionally or wears a pull up or night nappy but you need that extra protection for mattresses and bedding. There is nothing worse than having to strip a bed of wet sheets and covers, and then deal with a wet soggy mattress too, in the middle of the night (I can tell you this from exeprience as a parent, I know it well) and having to get things clean and dry.
So you need something to protect your child’s mattress and keep it from getting wet, stained and smelly.
I personally prefer to use an adult style bed protector sheet, a disposable one, that slides under the sheet on top of the mattress, and then is covered by the sheet. If there is an oops or an accidnet overnight, then you simply remove the wet sheet and mat, replace the mat with a clean sheet and you can all get back to bed and asleep more quickly (hopefully!)
I prefer mats designed for adults, because they are bigger, so cover more space (you wouldn’t think a small person can get a lot of urine over a bed, but believe me they can) and they also are designed for adults so they are more absorbent. Also, price wise, they work out as more economical, because frankly, the brands that aim to sell mattress protector mats to parents price them higher. Having worked as a nurse, I know that mats used for adults with continence issues actually work out cheaper cost wise than those branded to parents.
You can choose the ones that are cute, with pretty designs on them, that might look nice when you put them on the bed, but the reality is, they are covered by a sheet, no one can see them when they are covered and when the need arises, you really need waterproof and absorbent. These fit well on a toddler bed, or on an adult bed, and cover a lot of surface area and are easy to put on the mattress and to remove quickly. They are disposable which is one less bit of laundry in your life too, not a bad thing.
We use these because for us, cost and reliability are more important. I have spent 20 years as a nanny/nurse and now being a parent, and I have tried many, many mats and ways of protecting mattresses, and these have me sold, and they really work. So if you are working through bedtime night wetting with your little one or slightly older one, we would recommended them for protecting the mattress and saving you just that little bit of extra stress.
Just a tip, from a mum who knows… 😉
*we were sent an item for review, but all opinions are our own and we don’t recommend a product unless we are thoroughly happy to*