Bedwetting ... need advise

[justcruisin]

DS6.5 continues to wet the bed nightly, so he wears pullups. DH insists it's laziness , but I'm just not seeing that. There are nights he pees through the pullup, has wet pj's and sheets but does not wake up!

Limiting liquids does not help, we have, on occasion taken him to the bathroom in the middle of the night, without much success.

DH says I should just stop using pullups, but he's not the one who'll be changing sheets in the middle of the night.

Dr. suggested a moisture pad. Any suggestion on how to handle this?

Fortunately, DS is not outwardly bothered by all this.

I want to have a plan in place for upon our return from the World next week.

Thanks!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Our DS wore PullUps at night until he was 5 yr. 7 mos. old. Our pediatrician said he would most likely outgrow it, and he did.

If we would put him to bed in underwear he would wet and not wake up, so it seemed cruel to put him in underwear! During the day he stayed clean and dry with no problems. Eventually he started waking up with a dry PullUp, and after about a week of dry PullUps in the mornings we started putting him to bed in underwear. He hasn't wet the bed since, and he is 9.

Have him use the potty right before he gets into bed, and use the PullUps. Many little boys take awhile to stay dry all night. As long as he isn't taking a cup to bed with him (I know kids who do this and the parents can't understand why the beds are always wet!) I don't think it makes a tremendous difference.

For kids who don't outgrow it there is medication, the pads with the "alarms" to wake the child, and probably other things I am not aware of. Good luck with your little guy!

 

[Karel]

My teenager still has problems with this. It gets a little better every year but he just deals with it. When he went to sleep over camp a few years ago, we got special medicine. He know he has to watch what he drinks.

My best advice to you is to get him up every night. My husband thinks it's laziness too but wouldn't he stop if he could? My son doesn't even wake up in the middle of the night to wake us up.

 

[disneyxo]

My daughter also was a very sound sleeper, and therefore a bedwetter too.What ended up working for her a bedwetter alarm. The doctor also had told us that some kids bladders just take longer to mature (not sure if thats the right word) and also some kids are just more sound sleepers.

 

[horsegirl]

Don't sweat it! Nighttime wetting is comon for many kids, and most likely he will grow out of it. He is still young! Our pediatrician reminded us that there are not many teenagers still in pullups! When he starts worrying about what other kids think when he goes to sleepovers and can't stop then, maybe you should do something more. There is a bell and pad, medication, and a great book called Dry All Night, and your pediatrician could help with the medication and bell/pad. But I would not make a big deal about it. Some children bodies just develop at different stages. My oldest is 6 and 1/2 and still has daytime and nighttime accidents very frequently. The more we put pressure on him, the worse it became. He has done better when we backed off. His younger sibs both were completely dry at night by age 3, and he doesn't really care that much that he is in pullups and his baby brother and younger sister aren't. Again, I think when he becomes more cognizent of how his peers views this, he will care and hopefully this will be enough to help him stop. If not, the above aides should help. Good luck.

 

[MNmom2]

My oldest ds wet until he was over 5. I think it is really commom in boys. He simply slept so soundly and just did not wake up to go to the bathroom.

My little brother also wet until he was 6+ and my parents go thim the 'alarm' system. My mom didn't know what else to do at the time, but now with hindsight says she never would have gone that route. She also used to wake him up in the middle of the night to go, but he would basically sleep thru that as if he were sleepwalking. It is humiliating enough for these litle guys to still be wetting, why add the alarm and 'attention' to the already embarrassing situation. kwim? I'd say if your ds is okay with it to just stick with the pullups. If he wets thru one of those he can tell you, otherwise if just the pullup is wet he can throw it away on his own and not feel embarrassed. Hang in there!!

 

[CindyD]

I too struggled with this with my DS (now 9) but he was still wetting at the age of 8, almost nightly. Pediatrician suggested either medication or a night alarm. Also tested the child for diabetes, as he had an accident at school. The alarm had a sensor that when it gets wet it sounds an alarm. The sensor must be placed inside the underwear. It is supposed to train the brain to wake up the child when the bladder is full. We paid about $60 for this. The first night we used it, DH and I awoke to an loud noise
you guessed it the alarm!! I went down the hall to help DS shut it off. WELL, the alarm was goin' off to beat the band, 4 inches from DS's head and he was still SOUND ASLEEP.....

It was then we realized that he just sleeps that hard. I would continue to try to wake him up at about 12md to help him to the bathroom to help prevent accidents. He finally outgrew this and has not had an accident in about 6 months. I feel your pain as it is a pain to wash and replace the bedsheets every morning. You can purchase some type of pads that have a plastic backing with adsorbent cotton on type, similar to what is used in a hospital under a patient. This may help your laundry problem. It appears to be a mostly "boy thing".....my daughter who is 8 has never wet the bed.

Ask if you have any other questions.......Cindy

 

[cara loves the poly]

So what do you do in a hotel? I'm sorry for your problem but I don't want my children sleeping on a bed that has been urinated on. I'm sure you would not want that either.

 

[cara loves the poly]

Also, knowing this ahead of time I would think you would take a plastic mattress cover with you. I don't mean to sound harsh, just the other side of the coin here.

 

[CindyD]

In a hotel...bring a pad as I described above OR cut open a large plastic trash bag......place several towels on top and instant bed pad created.

Also I can understand your concern for your children, but surely you realize that other "bodily fluids" probably seep through the sheets into the mattress.

Urine is sterile and contains no bacteria

 

[horsegirl]

So what do you do in a hotel? I'm sorry for your problem but I don't want my children sleeping on a bed that has been urinated on. I'm sure you would not want that either.

Have you ever seen any of the 20/20 or primetime stories on hotel linens? I have, and urine is just the tip of the iceberg, and the least offensive IMO of what is on most bed linens. I have been so grossed out by those stories that I never, NEVER use the bed spread, or even touch it other than to remove it from the bed. Most times, pullups work pretty well for little ones, but I suppose extra care could be taken when staying at a hotel. But this really is off topic, as the OP seemed to be needing support for how concerned to be about her little guy.

 

[kikakeko]

we use ddavp for a lot of the children we see at our practice. mostly the nasal spray kind for younger kids- 1-2 sprays every night - your dr can write a rx for DME (durable medical supplies) and you might get a insurance break or full coverage for chuxs or even the pullups.

 

[BuzzLightYear3]

My DS, now 12, was a bed wetter. We just dealt with it without making a big deal out of it, and he gradually out-grew it (but as I recall, it was pretty much an every night event until he was about 9-10, and then it gradually got better.) We did the "wake him up at night thing", but lots of times even that didn't work. Our pediatrician suggested that we try the alarm, but we never did.....he slept through every loud noise, so I expected we'd have the same experience as the other posters. I've heard of the medicine....that would seem like a good thing to try for special events (e.g. sleep overs where they don't want to have to deal with friends finding out).....we didn't get to that though as by the time he really did many sleep overs, he had grown out of it. (And they never seem to do much sleeping at those sleep overs, so maybe that's why it was never a problem.)

My youngest, also a DS, is 6, and he's also now a bed wetter....at least now they have Good Nights so we're no longer constantly changing sheets!

At least with bed wetting it's contained to the bed. My middle child, a DD, has never been a bed wetter, but she does wander around the house and go in some unusual places.....I found her one night squatting on her trash can in her room. I also figured out after a couple incidents that on occasion my oldest was getting up at night, opening his t-shirt drawer, and peeing in there in the middle of the night! See, it could be worse!

I think the best advise is to just use Good Nights, be understanding, and don't make a big deal out of it. I talked with lots of people about this when my oldest was going through it, and everybody indicated that their kids did eventually grow out of it.

Good luck!

 

[barkley]

when ds was about 3 1/2 or 4 he was still having nitetime accidents. for a completly unrelated reason he was put on a couple of medications, and within 2 weeks he was dry through the night (or getting up to go). i mentioned this to his pediatrician at a follow up visit and was told the medication he was given was also a common one used to help bed wetters. although he discontinued the medication a few months later the cycle was broken and he's been dry ever since.

i look at it like insomnia (which i have terrible trouble with), sometimes you have to take a medication to break the cycle and get into the right rythm. if a medication helps a child break the cycle and "learn" how to either get up or hold it till morning it will over time become habit and the medication can be discontinued.

 

[peanut12392]

My DD had the same problem. The Pediatrician said we could use medication, but we did not want to, as it wouldnt cure the problem. He then suggested the alarm, which woke up everyone in the house but her. Online we found a vibrating alarm. We tried it and have never looked back. It worked very well, after only a couple of times she has never had another accident. We needed to do something as she was starting to go to sleepovers, and it was really bothering her. It has been about 6 years now.

 

[fireman17]

Our DS is seven and still has this problem. There are some days he wakes up dry and other days his pullups are wet. We have him go to the bathroom at least three times before bed by the advice of his Dr., and sometimes he still wakes up wet.
We have also been told he will out grow this and that's the way I look at it. I can't make him stop it it's his body and he really tries to help us but, he is such a sound sleeper nothing wakes him up.
His DS who is four has no problems at night and my DW and we never say to him that she can do it and he can't that would not solve the problem.
So, for now we'll just wait for him to out grow this problem..

 

[ebarj1098]

HI, just my two cents. Many doctors like to say "They'll grow out of it" or "the bladder isn't growing fast enough." But no matter the size of the bladder, the child should feel it to wake up. As has been mentioned, the cause is sleeping too deeply. Yes, he could grow out of it, but there are teenagers and adults that still wet the bed. The nasal spray isn't a cure either, though it works for some. I've talked to some parents who found that their child snored or had sleep apnea, (also symptoms of sleeping too soundly) so they had the child's tonsils and adnoids removed; and the bedwetting stopped. Any major life change (moving, a new sibling, surgery) can change sleep habits enough to stop bedwetting. Basically, the body has to be trained to wake up.

Its NOT laziness! As someone said, of course he'd wake up if he could. Let your husband know, that's not it at all.

This is mostly just my opinions here, I'm not a doctor or anything, just have a little experience. Good luck! I"d say keep up with the pull ups for WDW, no need to try anything before then.

 

[Tissa]

My DS 10 still wets the bed at least 5 out of 7 nights. Dr said the same thing about outgrowing it and if he put him on meds he would have to be on them a long time. Since he outgrew pullups I buy Goodnites that are for bigger kids and they work great. I just don't make a big deal out of it because he can't help it. I'm waiting for it to start bothering him then we'll talk to the Dr. about medication.

 

[alisonbestford]

DS (now 18) was 5 before he was dry at night due to sleeping soundly.
There were no 'pull ups' that long ago but we just carried on with normal nappies.
As others have said, go with the 'pull ups'
DD (7) has the occasional hiccup - again, when she is very tired and is in a deep sleep

 

[cara loves the poly]

So what do you do in a hotel? I'm sorry for your problem but I don't want my children sleeping on a bed that has been urinated on. I'm sure you would not want that either.

I apalogize, when I went back and read this today I realized it sounded very insensitive.