OT age for being dry at night

[tam626]

I copied this from Webmd
Bed Wetting in Children
Try as she might, your child can't seem to make it through the night without bed wetting. You're frustrated, she's frustrated. You're worried that something may be seriously wrong.

Usually, bed wetting is outgrown with time, and rarely is anything seriously wrong. Sometimes, though, medical help is needed. Here are some answers to many of the questions you may have about incontinence in children.

How common is bed wetting in children?
About 40% of 3-year-olds are affected by bed wetting. Experts don't fully understand why one child continues to wet the bed and another doesn't. It could be a matter of development. Sometimes a child's bladder is simply not developed enough to store urine for an entire night. Sometimes a child has not yet mastered the ability to recognize when the bladder is full, wake himself up, and get to the bathroom.

What's "normal" when it comes to bed wetting?
The range is very wide regarding bed wetting. Typically a child becomes toilet trained between ages 2 and 4. But some won't be able to stay dry through the night until they are older. By age 5 or 6, 85 percent of children can stay dry, but some children still wet the bed from time to time until age 10 or 12.

Sometimes a child who has been dry at night will begin to wet the bed again. This may be triggered by family stress or school problems. As bed wetters' systems mature, they are less likely to wet at night. By the teen years, or much earlier, almost all bed wetters have outgrown the problem with only one percent or less still having issues.

Most children of school age who wet the bed at night have what doctors term "primary enuresis." They have never had nighttime control of their bladder. Family history plays a role, too, in incontinence in children. If you were a bed wetter, don't be surprised when your child is, too.

When should we talk to the pediatrician about bed wetting?
Bring up the subject any time you are concerned about bed wetting, of course. But if your child has been dry and then starts to bed wet, tell your pediatrician right away. Your child's doctor can evaluate your child to be sure the problem isn't due to an underlying condition. That likelihood is small. Only 1% of all bed-wetting problems are traced to diabetes, infections, abnormalities of the bladder or kidney, or another medical condition. If your child has any unusual symptoms such as burning while urinating or passing bloody urine, talk to his doctor right away.

How can I help the doctor solve my child's bed wetting?
To help solve your child's bed wetting, be a good detective at home. Be prepared to answer these questions:

Is there a family history of bed wetting?
Do certain conditions or foods and drinks trigger more bed wetting episodes?
Are there any unusual symptoms such as bloody urine?
What happens next?
Your pediatrician may order urine tests to see if there is a urinary tract infection, which can trigger bed wetting. The doctor may also request other tests to check the health of your child's urinary tract system.

What else can be done about bed wetting in children?
To reduce bed wetting, your pediatrician may suggest a variety of measures such as the following:

Limit fluids before bedtime
Use an alarm device that wakes up the child as soon as wetness is detected. This is “conditioning training”, which, if used steadily and consistently for 3–4 months, appears to work at least 75 percent of the time. The devices are inexpensive and readily available and should be tried before any medications.
Increase the interval between daytime urinations so the bladder can hold more urine over time
Try prescription medication that forces the body to make less urine at night. Normally, this isn't an option until the child is at least 7 years of age and other methods have failed.


How can I help my child feel less frustrated about bed wetting?
Assure your child that bed wetting in children is common. It's nothing to be ashamed of and almost all children eventually outgrow it. Make sure siblings understand this as well. Don't allow them to tease the bed-wetter.

 

[TxRabbit]

My DS is a heavy/sound sleeper. He had to start wearing the Goodnights because the Pullups weren't cutting it anymore. He wore them until he was around 7.

We never did anything about it. I figured it would run it's course. It did. He finally started waking up dry. Bladder was big enough and strong enough to make it through the night. He stopped wearing overnights and has only had one accident since. He just turned 8.

 

[Sydnoahmom]

We began using the alarm from the bedwettingstore.com last month on DS9. He is a sound sleeper, but does wake up to it. This week, he is on night 5 of being dry. We will soon have a reward for 7 nights in a row (I hope)

We tried the no liquids at night and waking him up when we went to bed (around 11ish), but it didn't work. More often than not, he would still wet on the nights we took him. Oddly enough, we are finding out now that he wets before midnight. He goes to bed at 9 and goes then.

Some things that I have read or been told by our doctor: dairy in the evening will relax the bladder; try to get daily requirements of calcium/dairy during the day. Carbonation and caffeine will also increase bedwetting. Constipation also plays a role-make sure your child has a regular bowel habit and adjust fiber accordingly (there are awesome additives out there that are tasteless) I just found out this weekend that tomato based products might also play a role. Bad news for us-we eat a lot of homemade pizza, pasta and DS loves his ketchup.

I am pinning our hopes on the alarm. The premise is that it will condition the child to wake up normally instead when wet. Taking the child to the bathroom is on your schedule, not the bladder's.

Whatever route go decide to take, good luck. I know how frustrating it can be. Hang in there!

 

[Kez250]

DS now 7 was 3 when he suddenly decided that he didn't need to wear a pull-up at night and has had very few accidents since then

DD5 is another thing altogether - she still wears pull-ups at night, she'll go like 5 days without wetting them then for the next 3 nights she'll not only wet them but overflow them, and the routine is no different, no drinks after x time, potty before bed, bed time is always within a 15 min range.

so we know that she can be dry it must just be those nights that she is so very tired and just can't wake herself up - we figure one day it'll just click and it won't happen anymore - we don't mention it at all anymore, we figure she'll not be 16 and still doing it so 5 or 6 or 7 really doesn't matter

 

[Tammy296]

My DD (now 10) was still wetting the bed at about the same age. What stopped her --- two words.

Potty Pants

All I had to do was bring out those older kids potty pants that big kids wear overnight and have her wear them when she went to bed in case she wet the bed. She got so sick of wearing them, and just didn't want to anymore.

Needless to say, they worked! Your child will outgrow it. I was actually 10 the last time I went the bed and I got a huge spanking for it. I'll never forget it but to say the least, accidents happen. So what can you do??

Your child will outgrow it. Be patient.

-T

 

[whitneyNC]

I have three boys and two are bed wetters. Oldest was completely night trained before he turned 3, but the middle son wet the bed until just after he turned 11; 9 year old still wears goodnights and wets the bed regularly. We have made no big deal, but did get the doctor's advice at around 7 or 8 years old. We did the nasal spray and pills and they were sporatic in their effectiveness. This was disappointing to the kids; so we said forget it. We were told their bodies have to produce a hormone that keeps your bladder from overly producing urine as you sleep and it will kick in at puberty for sure. It's true, as our middle son showed signs of puberty early; just before he was 11. As they were able they changed their own clothes, sheets, etc. if needed...not as punishment, just as responsibility. We have been told it is hereditary and prevails in boys.? Kids are stressed enough; I can't believe some parents punish and stress out their kids who are already embarassed about wetting the bed. No kid wants to wet the bed.

 

[tam626]

I remember seeing on some show like Dateline a while back, this dad use to embarass his son when he would wet the bed by telling his friends so the boy just made himself stay awake as much as possible so he would'nt wet the bed. How sad.

 

[verlee]

Poor kids! I can't believe anyone would think humiliation would solve the problem. That just makes me sad.

 

[TxRabbit]

I'm not a doctor, so don't quote me on this one, but it has been my understanding that heavy sleepers just don't wake up to that "urge." It makes sense logically, I guess. But who knows about biologically.

I'll just keep telling myself that, though . . .

I don't mean this in a bad way - I am truly wondering - how does being a heavy sleeper affect wetting the bed? I know that it can stop you from waking up if you have to go - but does it actually "cause" a child to wet?

I'm not a doctor, but I read a bunch about this topic being a heavy sleeper and having a son that takes after me. I was a chronic bedwetter and my son didn't become night trained until he was 7. This comes from my research only. No expert here. OK.

So when you sleep, your body goes through many different levels of sleep. One of the levels of sleep is a very shallow level that you cyclically go back to throughout the night. It's a safety thing really. It allows you to wake up and take care of yourself and then hopefully, return to sleeping more comfortably. Sometimes, you don't have to totally wake up to take care of yourself.

This will explain how you might move around when you sleep. Your body senses that it is uncomfortable, and so you move. You do it in your sleep. This also explains a sleep cycle. While a nap for a certain amount of time may make you feel refreshed, another makes you feel more exhausted. Waking up during the light sleep to feel more refreshed, during deep sleep to feel more exhausted.

A heavy sleeper doesn't quite achieve that shallowness of sleep to receive body signals and/or they lack the ability to actually get themselves awake to take care of business even if their body gets the signal.

I and my son have both woken up with our bodies literally shaking, doing the little potty dance in our beds because our bodies were trying so hard to wake us up. Luckily, we both have the bladder control to make it through the dance now!

Now when I am talking heavy sleeper, I mean a heavy sleeper. Not too long ago I found out that I can, indeed, sleep through a hurricane! LOL!

 

[mamacatnv]

We began using the alarm from the bedwettingstore.com last month on DS9. He is a sound sleeper, but does wake up to it. This week, he is on night 5 of being dry. We will soon have a reward for 7 nights in a row (I hope)

We tried the no liquids at night and waking him up when we went to bed (around 11ish), but it didn't work. More often than not, he would still wet on the nights we took him. Oddly enough, we are finding out now that he wets before midnight. He goes to bed at 9 and goes then.

I am pinning our hopes on the alarm. The premise is that it will condition the child to wake up normally instead when wet. Taking the child to the bathroom is on your schedule, not the bladder's.

Whatever route go decide to take, good luck. I know how frustrating it can be. Hang in there!

We just packed up the alarm to return to for the 50% rebate! It took a couple of months but DD 10 has been constantly dry since the beginning of January. The alarm encouraged the drinking of fluids before bed. DD has always had a glass of water near bed time, this didn't make her a bed wetter. She still has her water but she has learned to recognize even in sleep when she needs to go.

FWIW DH and I both had issues - DH outgrew it, my parents purchased an alarm system when I was about 9 and it worked.
DS had issues also but the DDAVP nasal spray worked for him when he was 8. It did not work for DD. Our Ped laughed and told us that we "doomed" our kids.

We did some research and then we told DD about the alarms that were available and told her when she was ready to give them a try we would get one. Last Oct. she told us she was ready so we ordered it and she took it from there. We ordered the top of the line "Malem" alarm, it was approx $125.00. with a 50% rebate if returned with all booklets, box etc. (they resell on ebay)
For the first week or 2, the alarm along with the vibration did not wake her up so we moved her into our bedroom where I heard it and immediatly woke her up. She stayed in our room for about a month until we were confident that she was being woken up and was "awake".

She kept track of wet/dry nights on her calendar and went all of January dry with her alarm on and now she has gone almost all of February still dry without the alarm on, we have passed the 30 day mark without incident. She is thrilled and no more night time pants.

Also, I stopped buying Goodnights and just bought adult small overnight "Depends" I actually bought the store brand. Cheaper and they worked better.

Good luck, it is frustrating for the child especially as they get older. The night time pants get expensive and sleepovers with friends become challenging. Remember it is not their fault, they can't help it or stop it. Rewarding and or punishing don't work. Witholding fluids and waking them to go doesn't solve the problem.

I highly recommend the bed wetting alarms.

 

[PrincessBelle39]

My dd#1 is a really lite sleeper. In fact getting her to sleep at all is an effort. She was dry during the night just after she turned 3. My dd#2 is a fantastic sleeper. She falls asleep within minutes of going to bed and we dont hear a sound out of her until morning. She is 4 1/2 now and still in pullups which are really wet in the morning. There is no sign at all that she is ready to give the pullups yet.

 

[jel0511]

My dd almost 11, is still wetting at night. She now takes DDVAP, which does help her get through the night dry. she goes to a pediatric urologist, who diagnosed her as having an immature bladder. On her last appt, he was encouraged by the results of her latest tests, so we're going to start weaning her from the DDVAP, hopefully she's now "mature" enough to not need it anymore. If we forgot one night, she'd wet the bed....

 

[dis75ney]

My DS8 jus stopped wetting recently. We have found that the only times he wets is if he's sick and sleeps really hard (which doesn't happen often at all) or if he does not use the toilet immediately before bed.

Nowadays, we make sure that DS uses the toilet before he goes to bed - even if we're out late and he falls asleep on the ride home. We just wake him up to use the toilet...

We did have DS checked by both his regular doctor and a pediatric urologist when he was 7, just to rule out any bladder infections or anatomical problems that could have caused wetting. The urologist said that bed-wetting is still fairly common for kids - especially boys - at his age and not to start worrying about it until DS hit double digits. She gave us some helpful hints (no drinks past 8pm, make sure to attempt to use the toilet right before bed, etc), and it seems to have worked...

Good luck, OP!