Bed Wetting

[jensen]

My 6YO DD just started wetting the bed. She was nearly 5 when she was finally dry at night. But, she had stopped being wet at night over a year ago. All of a sudden she's started up again. I have been watching her fluid intake and it's not higher in the evenings and she always uses the potty at bedtime. I'm not aware of any major traumas or emotional situations - she just started Kindergarten, but she LOVES it, so I don't think it's stress.

I am at a complete loss as to why or what to do about this. Who has some ideas/suggestions from experience?

 

[happygirl]

My 6YO DD just started wetting the bed. She was nearly 5 when she was finally dry at night. But, she had stopped being wet at night over a year ago. All of a sudden she's started up again. I have been watching her fluid intake and it's not higher in the evenings and she always uses the potty at bedtime. I'm not aware of any major traumas or emotional situations - she just started Kindergarten, but she LOVES it, so I don't think it's stress.

I am at a complete loss as to why or what to do about this. Who has some ideas/suggestions from experience?

You might want to take her to the Dr, and her checked out. Also you might wake her up before you go to bed and take her

 

[Acklander]

It might be a UTI - definitely get it checked since it's unusual for her.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

Talk to her pediatrician....could be something as simple as a UTI.

Any family changes recently ~ additions to the family, loss of attention to her? Sometimes they will backslide for no reason at all but it is also common for the regression to be due to attention she thought she was getting before being directed elsewhere ~ new pet, new sibling, etc.

Good luck!

 

[Jennasis]

Sometimes kids just wet the bed. PErhaps she is a sound sleeper with a small bladder? Talk to her ped about it, but try not to stress over it. Rubber sheets and a change of bed clothes would be helpful.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Talk to her Dr. As others mentioned, bed wetting could be a sign of something medical such as a UTI or diabetes (although if she isn't drinking excessively diabetes is most likely not the case.) Until then, buy a water proof mattress protector. I would also seriously consider putting the kid in Good Nites. Tell her that it is not as a punishment, but to help her so she doesn't wet. You might want to set a cut off for how late she can have something to drink as well.

 

[Mommy2three]

My kids are 4, 7 (soon to be 8 in a few weeks) and soon to be 10, and they all wet to bed. My 7 year old pees at night like a firehose....it just doesnt seem to stop...so he gets put into a pullup at night, and soaks right through that. My 10 year old daughter wets to bed also occasionally. It has slowed down, used to be everynight, but doctor put her on DDAVP for bedwetting...doesnt work for my son though. Hoping my 4 year old will grow out of it eventually

 

[mefordis]

Aside from getting her checked out by the Dr. - probably nothing physically wrong, get some pull ups and don't sweat it. I wet the bed till I was 9 or 10 and I lived through it. Wish they had pull ups then!

 

[NAB]

I would say not to sweat it if she was a bed wetter off and on for the last year. Heck my son went to the age of 10 they do out grow it or should I say grow into there bladder.

But since she went a whole year with out doing it I don't think it is just because she is a heavy sleeper. I would get it checked out with the dr.

 

[LMC]

.... they do out grow it or should I say grow into there bladder.

Thank heavens! My DS9 still wets the bed even though we limit evening drinking, and he goes right before bed. He wears goodnites but sometimes soaks thru. His pediatrician ran some urine tests and says he's fine and I have talked to his psychiatrist about it. I about ready to take him to a urologist!! My other two were not bed wetters so this is getting old.

 

[minkydog]

My kids are 4, 7 (soon to be 8 in a few weeks) and soon to be 10, and they all wet to bed. My 7 year old pees at night like a firehose....it just doesnt seem to stop...so he gets put into a pullup at night, and soaks right through that. My 10 year old daughter wets to bed also occasionally. It has slowed down, used to be everynight, but doctor put her on DDAVP for bedwetting...doesnt work for my son though. Hoping my 4 year old will grow out of it eventually

I so sympathize with you. My oldest son wet the bed almost every night until he was about 13. We had him tested, we tried the DDAVP, we restricted fluids, took him off milk, just about everything. I never made a huge thing out of the wet sheets--when he was about 7 I showed him how to gather up his wet sheets and pants and bring them to the washroom. By the time he was 10 he was washing his own sheets. It was just a fact of life for us. For all I know he may still be having accidents. My younger sister wet the bed all through high school and college and she admits that it sometimes still happens. She's 45 and a type 1 diabetic. Her husband is very understanding.

 

[terri01p]

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

I took my DS7 to a pediatric urologist even though my pediatrician said that my son would grow out of it. He ran many tests and found that my DS7's bladder holds less than 1/2 of what it should. He is on Detrol LA which will slowly stretch his bladder over the next 2 years. The urologist said that it is hereditary. I guess that is why I know where every bathroom is in every store!

 

[englishteacha]

I second waking her up and bringing her to the bathroom before you go to bed. Talking to her doc isn't a bad idea either.

My sister started rewarding her son when he was older and kept having accidents. He'd get a dollar for every morning he woke up dry. It was enough of an incentive to make him a bit more aware of his surroundings and he woke up on his own to use the bathroom. In his case, he's a really heavy sleeper.

 

[NAB]

Thank heavens! My DS9 still wets the bed even though we limit evening drinking, and he goes right before bed. He wears goodnites but sometimes soaks thru. His pediatrician ran some urine tests and says he's fine and I have talked to his psychiatrist about it. I about ready to take him to a urologist!! My other two were not bed wetters so this is getting old.

My son was 10-11 and wore good nights to bed. He was a heavy sleeper too.

I noticed the goodnights were warm in the morning so he was going first thing and not getting up. That is when we stopped using them. It was a learning curve for him after that , he didn't like being wet in the morning so he started to get up. Then he only had accidents once and while then not at all. He is now 12.

The Dr told us that you don't see grown ups wetting the bed they will out grow it. He also said only 1% don't and it would be for another reason. Also said if one parent wet the bed chances are you will have a child that does it.

 

[TxRabbit]

Gotta recommend taking her to a dr. I was your DD. I was officially dry for about one year, then I started wetting the bed. My mom did take me to see the dr. They couldn't find anything wrong. Finally, when I was a SENIOR in high school and heading off to college, I talked to my mom about wanting to see a dr again about the situation. Nothing appeared to be wrong with normal tests, etc.

They did a scopy procedure (don't remember the official name, it ends in -scopy). It is classified as a surgery although they don't cut anything. They put a microscope up into your bladder to take pictures of it. They put me under for this. The dr. said he had never seen such an irritated bladder as mine was. A round of meds and my regular bed wetting issues were over.

My mom and I always wondered why the earlier drs couldn't do anything, but maybe it's just how things develop and change.

 

[Shoshana]

My dd6 is also in kindergarten and she wears Good Nites. My hunch, assuming there are no physical problems, is that your dd's sleep is deeper than pre-kindergarten or summertime because of all of the learning that is going on in the daytime and all of the processing that is going on in her brain while she sleeps. My dd was dry this summer except for one, maybe two nights a week. Now it's the opposite pattern. The pediatrician said that it's perfectly normal for children under 7 to wet the bed. I guess they might do more testing if the child is over 7.

From what I've read, the best solution to bed wetting in older children (or even younger, for that matter) is called the urine alarm system. Have any of you tried it?

 

[clovergirl5]

It might be a UTI - definitely get it checked since it's unusual for her.

This was my first thought too.

 

[dismom2]

I remember reading about setting an alarm clock so the child can get up and go before they have an accident. You are suppose to determine about what time she or he has the accident(s), and set the alarm to go off before that. Do you think that would work for you? Of course, it will probably wake you up, too, but maybe you can get up with her for the first few days, then see if she can do it on her own.

 

[JVL1018]

From what I've read, the best solution to bed wetting in older children (or even younger, for that matter) is called the urine alarm system. Have any of you tried it?

My child wet the bed(or would have, we used Good Nights) every single night almost.
We bought an alarm, it took 2 and a half weeks and he never wet the bed again. Best $100 we ever spend, we got it from Amazon. And it was covered by our medical flex spending, just had to have our ped write an rx for it. <DS wanted to pick a smiley..