Bedwetting - miracle solution for us

[zurgswife]

The first alarm we tried we got the alarm and info second hand from a close friend that had had success.....I wasn't bothered by it...

 

[LKS]

I am keeping mine for now, but there is nothing about it that would be bad if someone bought it second-hand. It looks brand new. There is only a little clip at the end of a wire that clips onto the underwear and you can rinse that in warm soapy water. So, no, I don't think it would be bad to buy one second hand.

NadineNurse, I do think there is something to the heavy sleeping. My 6yo eventually started waking up, and now he wakes up without the alarm to go at night, BUT, he falls asleep on the bus on the way home from school everyday. The bus monitor says that is not allowed - Yeah, right.... She woke him up FIVE times one day last week. But he sleeps hard and he sleeps a lot. If we go on a car ride in the afternoon he sleeps without fail - no matter how long he is in the bed at night. I'm sure that in the case where they just CAN'T wake up, the meds are better. I just wanted to try the alarm first and luckily, for us, it worked. It probably helped us that my room was too far away to hear the alarm so it just buzzed and vibrated right up there on his pajama shirt (by his head) until it finally woke him up.

 

[threeboysmom]

Thank you so much for posting this! I have a 12 year old son who is an extreme bedwetter. Doctor keeps saying he'll outgrow it (been saying it for 6 years now!) How long do I wait....

I just ordered the alarm - my son can't wait to try it! He is a very deep sleeper, so I'm a little doubtful whether it will wake him or not (the rest of the house will probably be up and he'll still be sound asleep!). If it doesn't work, I'll look into that medication someone mentioned. Also, I have a 7 year old who wets too so he can try the alarm if it doesn't work for his older brother. If it cures at least one of them, I'll be happy Life is SO fun in my household

Thank you again! You've given us hope!! It's also comforting to know that we are not the only family going through this.....

 

[Lorix2]

My DS6 is a bedwetter, as was his uncle until he was around 9. He can go 2 weeks staying dry, but then have 2 bad weeks too.

I just don't understand how the alarm will stop them from wetting. The alarm goes off after they've already wet themselves, right? I don't see how this solves the situation.

My DS does this now, he wets his pullup then gets up to throw it away and puts underwear on for the rest of the night and stays dry.

I don't mind using the pullups because I really feel it's out of their control. Besides, he would NEVER let me hook him up to anything.

I think that the kids and parents sleep is interrupted too much by this and don't think it would work for my son who is an extremely deep sleeper. It would be a waste of money and energy for us.

I think the most natural approaches to this is not letting them drink after 6 PM (a sip maybe, but not a full drink) and trying to wake them before you go to bed at night to see if they can "go".

 

[Blackunicorn]

The theory is that since the alarm goes off when they wet, it will start to wake them up when they have to go to the bathroom. After a few weeks, it'll be a habit for them to wake up at that time of night, so they'll be able to get up to go to the bathroom. I also have a theory that in the case of the really deep sleepers, this enables them to learn to sleep more lightly. I know that it is said that sometimes bedwetting is caused by the brain not producing a chemical that tells the body to stop producing as much urine in the sleep, so I'm guessing that's the medication that's being given.

I have a family member who wet the bed almost every night until she was married, and then it stopped. I think that having someone else in the room helped keep her from sleeping too deeply, so she was able to wake up when she needed to go. She had a couple of recurrances in the first few years, but nothing since. (Her husband is a real cool guy.) It's my guess that in families with a strong history of bedwetting, like mine, that would be the reason that the pediatrician isn't too concerned.

That said, maybe some kids NEED to sleep deeply, like the boy who is falling asleep in the afternoon. I think it's like everything else in parenting--every family has to evaluate what they think will work best for them.

 

[LKS]

I think it's the pavlov's dog response. The body learns to anticipate that the alarm will go off if urine is released. That leads to learning the feeling that one needs to go. Personally, I wake up at night if I need to go, but my son didn't. I was also somewhat skeptical, but after 2 weeks of waking up to the alarm already wet, he started staying all dry. Now he wakes up at night if he needs to go, just like most of us. You know, now that I think about it, he is doing better in the day too. Not that he wet then, but getting to the bathroom was always an emergency. I think he didn't get the signal until the last minute, but now he notices the feeling.

Lorix2, believe me, if witholding liquids after 6pm and getting him up at 11pm had helped at all, we would not have gotten to the point of trying the alarm. If your son actually wakes up to throw away his wet pull up and then sleeps dry the rest of the night, plus can go two weeks dry, you are way ahead of where we were. I don't think my son knew he was wet until he woke up in the morning.

I also agree that it is a definite committment by parent and child to get up at night. I would never suggest it to any child who didn't want to do it. I showed my son the pictures on the internet, he begged me to order him a certain color, couldn't wait to get it, couldn't wait to go to bed that night, etc...

We just didn't want to wait for him to outgrow it at 12 or whatever (family history rears it's ugly head.) He is still very proud of his accomplishment and now he might like to go to sleep away church camp this summer and not take pullups.

Oh, and I guess I should have added that my son fell asleep every afternoon even before he became dry at night. I didn't mean to imply that it was a side-effect of getting up to go at night. I was blessed with three kids who can sleep 12 out of every 24 hours if I could let them. One was sleeping through the night at 7 days old - they all took 2 long naps and still slept all night, napped until they started 1st grade, etc... I think they get it from me.

 

[Tinks]

I just want to also thank you, LKS, for posting about your experience. It motivated me to get the alarm for my DS, age 6. He has been wearing it for three nights now. First night, he was very wet. The second night he woke up slightly wet and went to the bathroom to finish and last night he was dry all night! We are just at the beginning of the process, but he is very encouraged. He will try the alarm because he knows it is helping him learn to stay dry and he knows that it is temporary. Thanks!

***I know it won't work for all kids---there is no cure that fits all people all the time*** just wanted to say thanks for planting the idea to try it in my head! It seems to be working for us, too.

 

[Wendaeh]

It is totally Classical Conditioning. Children who wet the bed ARE typically deep sleepers and they have not come to associate the feeling of a full bladder with the need to wake up. To begin with, the alarm will go off, and many times they won't wake up or won't remember getting up. It's important that you make them get out of bed on their own before you turn the alarm off -- then send them to the bathroom and get them changed and back to bed (if you carry them, they won't learn). In the beginning, they may soak the bed, but as learning takes place, they begin to wake up earlier in the bedwetting process (there's less of a wet spot and they are able to finish up in the toilet). Ultimately, they learn to wake up BEFORE they urinate. They must have 14 dry days in a row (and 2 nights with a liquid challenge -- you give them more liquids on two nights and see if they don't wet the bed) before stopping the alarm -- this is called "over-learning" and helps to prevent relapses.

If you order from the link at the beginnning of the posts, you can get a package that includes a book with how to use the alarm, and detailing the process the parent needs to take to help them succeed. Used properly, the alarm method has an 80%+ success rate in 10-12 weeks (compare that to 15% for waiting and carrying them to use the bathroom in their sleep; the medication often has a high relapse rate as well when you stop it).

FWIW, we had out first totally dry night last night!
Wendy

 

[woodybuzzy]

thank you so much for posting this topic. I had no idea so many other parents are up with their 6+ kids at night cleaning them up....and washing sheets so often.
I bought the alarm the day I read this and we've been using it for 6 nights so far. I also got the large pad that fits across the bed and tucks under the mattress. It's been good so far, each day we make a little progress. Unfortunately we leave for disney in 8 days with his 3 brothers so we can't use the alarm, don't want to wake the entire family for 6 nights every night with an alarm. Hopefully this won't put us too far backwards with the progress we've made.