My DS is a wily little dude-OT

[Poohbug]

My DS now five has been wetting the bed for the last six months. Just out of the blue he started wetting the bed. I washed sheets every night for a month before breaking down and buying pull ups for bed time. He has been wet every night since except for a few odd nights here and there.

Well last weekend he was dry one night-we told him what a good job he did and encouraged him to do it again. Since this started I told him if he was dry two nights in a row, he could pick out a toy. He was dry the next two nights and we went to walmart yesterday to pick out a toy.

This morning I asked him if he was dry again-he said yes. We did this:
Then DH finds a wet pull up in the garbage can.

He has been waking up early, taking wet diaper off and putting on a clean one before the rest of us get up.

We took away the toy and are trying to think of what his punishment will be. I did not want to go off on him today because it is his first day of school and did not want a meltdown before school even started. I hate that he lied and tricked us but have to applaud his problem solving. Going to have to be on our toes with this one.

 

[Juliegirl1]

That's so funny - he's a smart little bugger! He'll probably grow up to be a successful business man and solve problems for a living.

My son is a "deal maker" - 'Mom, if I do this can I have that?' He makes deals for everything. 'If I finish my dinner can I watch an hour of tv?', 'If I clean my room can I go to Toys R Us?' - I've decided he's probably going to be a lawyer. Not only does he come up with some funny and creative deals but he knows how to wear down the opposition (me!).

Good luck!

 

[Disney1976]

My thought would be to punish for the lying, as opposed to the bedwetting, if anything, and to make sure he understands the difference as to WHY you're punishing him. It sounds more like he's embarassed that he's wetting the bed, and when he woke up dry one morning and you were happy, he wanted that same type of praise again. So, he came up with the "solution", not realizing you'd figure it out!

Poor thing. Do you think he even knows it's common for kids his age to wet the bed? My former stepson had no idea, and thought he was the only kid in the world with the problem! Actually, I think the number of kids who wet at night is somewhere between 5-7 million.

What has his pediatrician said about the wetting? Usually secondary enurisis (where a child was dry and then starts wetting again) is triggered by an event or stress -a sudden move, a change in schools, a divorce, a death in the family, etc. Sometimes if you can identify the "cause" it can help.

In the meantime, I think you're doing the right thing with the pullups. It will stop in time, if nothing else.

 

[emdav]

That's too funny. I think my ds used to change himself so we thought he was dry all night too. We finally had to switch to Goodnights and those gave him a rash so we are washing sheets now.

 

[CampbellScot]

it also helps in a HUGE way to get him up to potty around 11 or 12pm. I know it sounds like a pain in the rump...but it stopped my step son wetting his bed right in its tracks. A lot of kids still have little bladders as they are going through a growth spurt. They drink and eat like bigger kids but have little kid bladders.

we started restricting liquids after 7pm, sending him potty several times throughout the evening and once before bed. When we'd get him up at midnight to potty again, he'd go A TON. it's no wonder he couldn't make it through the night.

good luck! sounds like you've got a bright little boy on your hands. Sneaky little buggers aren't they?

 

[mjkacmom]

Oh, dd5 used to do that a lot! What's even funnier is that when I told ds5 to please remember to bring down his wet pullup, and not leave it in his room, he said "oh, I've been putting them under Jack's (big brother) bed." Sure enough, a bunch of wet pullups under ds10's bed! And I was wondering why it smelled like pee in there...

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Please tell me you are not punishing your child for wetting the bed? If you are then I have to ask you how you think the child is doing this on purpose? Kids don't pee the bed because they want to. Kids wet the bed because they cannot help it. How can he control what his bladder decides to do while he is sleeping? He probably hid the pullup because he knows you will be mad at him. I am sorry if I misinterpreted your post but I can't imagine this poor little kid getting in trouble for something like wetting the bed.

 

[belle&beast]

My thought would be to punish for the lying, as opposed to the bedwetting, if anything, and to make sure he understands the difference as to WHY you're punishing him. It sounds more like he's embarassed that he's wetting the bed, and when he woke up dry one morning and you were happy, he wanted that same type of praise again. So, he came up with the "solution", not realizing you'd figure it out!

Poor thing. Do you think he even knows it's common for kids his age to wet the bed? My former stepson had no idea, and thought he was the only kid in the world with the problem! Actually, I think the number of kids who wet at night is somewhere between 5-7 million.

What has his pediatrician said about the wetting? Usually secondary enurisis (where a child was dry and then starts wetting again) is triggered by an event or stress -a sudden move, a change in schools, a divorce, a death in the family, etc. Sometimes if you can identify the "cause" it can help.

In the meantime, I think you're doing the right thing with the pullups. It will stop in time, if nothing else.

I agree. My DD has secondary enurisis and we dealt with daytime wetness as well as nighttime, although her cause is chronic constipation- sorry if TMI. She is 7 and had a lot of wet nights and some days this spring. Please keep in mind that he is not wetting the bed on purpose, he just was smart about how to get rid of the evidence! If he is really having a problem, I would not give rewards for dry nights, he probably can't achieve it and it would feel like punishment.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I agree with not rewarding dry nights since it's basically beyond his control. I would limit liquids in the evenings and make sure he goes before bed. Other than that, keep using the pull-ups until his bladder grows. We had our son in pull-ups at night until he was around 6. Suddenly he stopped wetting at night and that was that. I would try not to make a huge deal of it. It will resolve itself soon enough.

 

[Poohbug]

Please tell me you are not punishing your child for wetting the bed? If you are then I have to ask you how you think the child is doing this on purpose? Kids don't pee the bed because they want to. Kids wet the bed because they cannot help it. How can he control what his bladder decides to do while he is sleeping? He probably hid the pullup because he knows you will be mad at him. I am sorry if I misinterpreted your post but I can't imagine this poor little kid getting in trouble for something like wetting the bed.

We don't punish him for wetting-we just tell him to try again the next night. I am, however, going to punish him for telling us he had a dry diaper to get a toy. We really don't make a big deal about it but we still want to encourage him to get up and go if he feels it.

 

[bellebud]

just to make you feel better, my ds (just turned 7 late july) still wears pullups at night. and sometimes he pees through those and onto the bed. he's a DEEP sleeper. While I'm tired of buying pullups, I also hate washing sheets, and having him feel his bed soaked under him when he's trying to sleep (and then feeling bad for making a mess). Everything i've read is it's normal, so I'm not worried about it. And sometimes he'll go for a long time w/out wetting, so we switch to underwear, then he'll wet. So till we go a really long time, it's pullups. He doesn't care either way.

 

[nilseks]

My DS4 (almost 5) just started wetting the bed again a few weeks ago. I'm thinking it was probably brought on by all the excitement of preschool coming up. I acted like it was no big deal. He was upset and embarrassed and I just told him "Oh it's okay honey, it happens sometimes. Don't worry about it at all." (And then I silently prayed that it would stop soon, lol). Then told him we would make sure he pottied more before bedtime. So then we started making SURE he went before bed, getting him up before I went to bed and putting him on the potty. We have had no more problems and I'm sure it's not always that easy of a solution, but worth a try to wake him up before you go to bed.

 

[cheap traveler]

My brother wet his bed until he was around 11. He saw 3 different doctors for it, and they tried 2 different medications for it before trying a nasal spray. It solved the problem within an month. Then the problem was finding out that he wasn't wetting the bed any more - he was just too lazy to get off the couch in the morning to go to the bathroom!! Once they figured that out his goodnights were right in the garbage. The problem is - did the medication end his problem, or did he grow out of it?? We'll never know

 

[jeepgirl30]

Do you think he is nervous or anxious about school? He will grow out of it! Maybe you are putting a lot of pressure without realizing it on him. Are you calling it a "diaper" to him? That could really be embarassing him thus adding to the stress of wetting the bed.

I would not punish him this time but tell him why he needs to let you know he wet the bed and not lie about it. Be reassuring that sometimes that happens and he doesn't need to be ashamed he did it but to try harder to get up and go if he feels it.

As a child I was a bed wetter. Didn't even know. Turned out I had a very underdevloped kidney. My dad was a saint, he'd come home from 2nd shift and faithfully put me on the potty so I wouldn't wet the bed. Most nights it worked but not always. Never did I get in trouble though and yea, I was majorly embarassed. I had a great doctor that got me on lots of vitamins and soon enough the problem went away.