Anyone have a bed wetter

[BettyCv]

I was quite saddened by the original post because, to me, it also came off sounding like she's annoyed with him.

I respectfully disagree. I think the OP sounded annoyed with her SISTER. I can hardly blame her for worrying about how she will handle the mess on vacation. As long as she doesn't make a big deal about it to her nephew, he will probably not be embarrassed.

Wish I had an aunt that took me to Disney...

Betty

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

Please ensure that you don't make him feel bad about this. He absolutely cannot help it and will need a great deal of reassurance and TLC. I can guarantee you that he is already *painfully* aware of what a nuisance this problem is and I am sure his life has been impacted many times up to now (e.g. sleepovers in friends' houses, camping trips etc.). I find it very helpful to have my son look after his own bed clothes because it cuts down on his discomfort with the problem. Every morning he strips his bed, puts the bed clothes in the wash, grabs his towels and goes and has a shower, first thing.


It is a very delicate area and can shatter a child's confidence if not handled with sensitivity and care.

EDITED TO ADD: Please don't go down the road of using the dry-nites unless he already wears them every night. They are HUMILIATION in a fancy packet. We gave up on those when my son was 6 and started crying one night because he "felt like a baby". I could have kicked myself. Never again.

ITA

 

[Skroops]

Great idea about the bed liner. It works great. Housekeeping is used to "soiled" sheets, not a big deal. It happens, try to not blame the kiddo and be thoughtful of his feelings.

My sisters' family swears that their chiropractor eliminated the bed wetting by adjusting the spine from pressing on the bladder. Good luck! You'll have a great vacation!

 

[hannahouse]

I would suggest mom taking her son to the pediatrician. They will most likely prescribe ddavp, which is a synthetic hormone (vasopressin). Studies have conclusively shown that bedwetters have a much lower amount of natural vasopressin than children who don't wet the bed. "Talking to him" isn't a solution, as bedwetting can't be controlled.

 

[schrodstrip]

Wow, am I getting flamed for asking for help?? I was only looking for bed wetting advice while at the world.
I have a very hard sis to deal w/ and love the crap out of my nephew. I did not mean to make it sound as if I blamed him. I take him camping w/ us every chance I can, and this has happened several times, and dealt w/ thoughtfully.
I wanted to talk to him about it myself and she absoloutly(sp) refused. I know he can't help it. He is already on the meds, and if i was his mom I would try things like limiting water after 7 PM. Unfortunately, my sis is not...enough said, I love her too.
Thanks to all for the good, nice advice

 

[PolyHereWeCome]

Wow, am I getting flamed for asking for help?? I was only looking for bed wetting advice while at the world.
I have a very hard sis to deal w/ and love the crap out of my nephew. I did not mean to make it sound as if I blamed him. I take him camping w/ us every chance I can, and this has happened several times, and dealt w/ thoughtfully.
I wanted to talk to him about it myself and she absoloutly(sp) refused. I know he can't help it. He is already on the meds, and if i was his mom I would try things like limiting water after 7 PM. Unfortunately, my sis is not...enough said, I love her too.
Thanks to all for the good, nice advice

You sound like a great Aunt to me! You don't mind any of those flames -- here's some water to put on them (oop, couldn't find a water icon so here's an umbrella instead)

 

[IvyandLace]

from another auntie of a bedwetter! I've taken my nephew to WDW two times (2000 and 2002) with a DCL cruise this past November...all the time dealing with his bedwetting. I would definitely bring a bed liner (cheap shower curtain will do it)-have found this works well. My Dnephew (age 12) wears Goodnights very sporadically, takes meds, limits his liquids and watches his diet, but still he has not had success.

I would HIGHLY recommend bring an Oust fan (or something similar)-I am SO glad that I brought this on our DCL cruise as it got rid of the smell immediately! It was my first time using the Oust fan, but I love it! Worked really well. Whatever you use just make sure it will work with the smell.

You might also want to keep check on his nightclothes...we have to really keep up on my Dnephew as my sister has *different* ideas as to what is expected of him daily. She doesn't keep up on it so he's not used to washing his clothes/sheets daily. We have to continually remind him...nicely...in an off-hand manner, like, "Hey, buddy...umm...I'm doing some wash-you might want to wash your PJs." Something of that sort.

Hope that helps! Aren't nephews great!??

IVY

 

[DebIreland]

Wow! Sorry you took it that way. I got the wrong impression from your first post. I thought I was helping by pointing out what a sensitive subject it is. Didn't mean to flame.

 

[leight]

wow! Can't wait to show this thread to my dh. My just turned 5 dd is still in pullups and we don't allow her fluids before bed, always insist that she goes to the bathroom before bed but invariably she wets several times a week. I also use a waterproof liner on top of the sheets in case she moves the wrong way in the pullups. Dh thinks I'm ridiculus letting her still weat the pullups- he thinks she's just lazy. I don't want to wake her up in the middle of the nite to pee- she's not easy to get back to sleep. I tell him that she'll out grow it when she's ready but it's a very sore spot with him. She has already said she doesn't want other kids to know she wears them and I told her that it's ok.
I don't feel it's an issue that needs to be discussed with her Ped at this point- she is trying hard right now but if it happens I don't want her to think that there is anything wrong with that.

 

[swilshire]

One of my sons wet the bed from time to time until he was around 10. We never made a big deal of it, just using the mattress pads. My DH had the same problem as a child and refused to let anyone tease my son about it. It was a bit of extra laundry from time to time, but nothing compared to all the other things you go through with kids.

I'm glad to hear this will be handled delicately.

Sheila

 

[DebIreland]

wow! Can't wait to show this thread to my dh. My just turned 5 dd is still in pullups and we don't allow her fluids before bed, always insist that she goes to the bathroom before bed but invariably she wets several times a week. I also use a waterproof liner on top of the sheets in case she moves the wrong way in the pullups. Dh thinks I'm ridiculus letting her still weat the pullups- he thinks she's just lazy. I don't want to wake her up in the middle of the nite to pee- she's not easy to get back to sleep. I tell him that she'll out grow it when she's ready but it's a very sore spot with him. She has already said she doesn't want other kids to know she wears them and I told her that it's ok.
I don't feel it's an issue that needs to be discussed with her Ped at this point- she is trying hard right now but if it happens I don't want her to think that there is anything wrong with that.

I think you have a good attitude to it. I can understand your DH worrying initially because we hear so much about kids being dry by the age of 3 or so and we hear very little about bedwetters. But actually, one in eight children still wet the bed at the age of 9, the number is even higher for a child your DD's age. It's worrying if they were once dry for a long time and then started wetting the bed, as it could be indicative of a psychological issue or a bladder problem, but when they've never been dry at night it's a common, even 'normal' problem'.

>>> I don't want to wake her up in the middle of the nite to pee- she's not easy to get back to sleep. <<<

There's no point anyway! It doesn't work. In fact, it delays the problem. The bladder gets the signal that there is no need to hold in the urine (as mom or dad will come to the rescue, lol) so it slows down maturity of the bladder. We took out DS to the bathroom twice a night for years and most days he'd still be wet the next morning. I think, finally, he's actually getting better though. Fingers crossed, but he was dry two nights this week.

Interestingly, experts differ on their opinions about limiting fluid intake at night. It makes sense of course not to drink too much but funnily enough, a psychologist friend our ours recommended that we stop limiting DS's drinks because, again, it sends the message to the bladder that there is no need for it to learn to hold in the urine! But you'll get different opinions on it. For us, it made no difference one way or the other.

Good luck! Your DD is doing fine.

 

[DebIreland]

One of my sons wet the bed from time to time until he was around 10. We never made a big deal of it, just using the mattress pads. My DH had the same problem as a child and refused to let anyone tease my son about it. It was a bit of extra laundry from time to time, but nothing compared to all the other things you go through with kids.

I'm glad to hear this will be handled delicately.

Sheila

Sheila,
Can I just ask what happened when he stopped wetting the bed. Did it stop gradually or suddenly? I think our 11 year old DS might be coming to the end of it (he has had 2 dry nights this week). We won't pressurise him of course. Just wondering how the problem resolved itself for your son. Thanks.

 

[Shagley]

I know this sounds crazy, but my 9 year old cousin was having problems with bed wetting, and it didn't seem to get any better. After reading articles about how jaw size and alignment can cause bedwetting, my Aunt took my cousin to the dentist. My cousin had to use a expandable plate to widen her jaw (it isn't as horrible as it sounds, I had to use one years ago when I got braces). The bed wetting stopped suddenly after about 6 weeks or so. I'm not saying this will work for everyone, but we were amazed that it worked for my cousin (after they had spent years trying everything else).

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/71/81256.htm

 

[SpecialK]

I, too, have a nine year old DS who wets the bed. He does wear Good Nites every night. We've tried both the drugs and the alarm with no success. He has been waking up dry one or two nights a week so I'm hoping that this is coming to an end for him. We've had to deal with the sleepover issue lately and it just breaks my heart.
Anyway - if your nephew does use the Good Nites, also take some plastic bags (like grocery bags) to tie them up in whem he throws them out. In addition to taking care of the odor problem, it helped my DS maintain his sense of privacy.

 

[HeatherPage]

I told my sis that she is going to have to get him some depends or something because I can't have this mess while on vacation. Plus, how rude would it be to ruin a mattress.

Sorry if you took my post as a flame also, I guess I misread/mistook who the above line was aimed at (your sister not your nephew). Trust me I know first hand as a bedwetter. When I was about 9 I started wetting my bed for no apparent reason after a few years of no problems. It only lasted a few months but I (vaguely) remember that I would dream that I had to "go" and in my dream I would get up and go to the bathroom and go back to bed. Well guess what, I guess my dream was so deep I really thought I had already gotten up and had gone to the bathroom, but in reality, I had gone in my bed (and then would wake up - whoops). It was a quick phase luckily but maybe I was overtired and couldn't realize that I needed to actually wake up...At any rate, I'm sure you'll handle it fine and I'm sorry I couldn't give you any actual advice to use.

 

[ducklite]

At age 12, they finally put her on a miricle drug-DDAVP, it worked wonders!!! Has little to no side effects and effectively stopped the bedwetting. We went to DW several times and never had a problem while she was on this drug. She was the proverbial 1 in a 1000 that didin;t outgrow bedwetting till her teens. Casll your family doc and look into meds. It made a world of difference to both the child and the parents.

This is SUCH good advice!

Especially in boys the body grows faster than the bladder, and that's what leads to recurrent bedwetting after a child is toilet trained.

The DDAVP comes in an inhaled and a pill form, and works like a charm. My son used it for a couple of years. It gave him so much self-confidence!

Anne

 

[simzac]

We have been dealing with a bed wetter for some time now. Our youngest DS, now age 11, has had this problem for quite some time, although it has gotten much better, can't remember the last time he wet his bed. I am a light sleeper, get up a couple times each night, so when we travel, I just get him up to use the restroom so he doesn't wet the bed. So far, this has been successful.

 

[BrinxFam]

My DD15 still takes DDAVP. The dosage wasn't high enough so she was still having problems. Her new Dr. is wonderful and told her that we would try the meds at this dosage for a while and if it didn't work we would try adding an alarm to the mix. So far she is doing great! It has been quite an embarrassing problem for her but he assured her that it isn't her fault. Her dr. also told us that the problem is lack of communication between the bladder and brain. She was instructed to decrease her caffine intake with no caffine after about 6:00 p.m. Like I said she is doing great now. Maybe the OP could share the responses in this thread with the sister and seek medical advice for the nephew. It is really worth it, for everyone involved!

Good Luck!