Silly question, son still struggles with bedwetting?

[MPatelleMom]

Please forgive me if I sound like a complete newbie with this folks. Our first (planned) cruise actually was cancelled, during the worst of the pandemic, and we're finally - JUST now getting around to actually going on a (slightly altered) similar cruise finally.

We've literally *never* been cruising before, but we were invited/will be traveling with some friends of ours that are seasoned pros. They do not - however - have kids of their own, which is why I thought I'd come running here to ask for help.

My son (7 yrs old) is somewhat of an infrequent bedwetter. Some months, it'll only be once a week or so, and then for no obvious reason, it'll suddenly happen every single night in a row, for a while. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to it - and we try and keep his bedtime routine fairly consistent.

The ONE exception to this rule, unfortunately for us - seems to be whenever we travel/are on vacation. Even if we try and keep things consistent, he always seems to have more accidents at night when we're staying somewhere besides our own home. No idea why this is.

How on Earth do ya'll handle this, while on the ship...? DS will be sharing a bed with his younger brother (who is 100% dry at night already) so this has been somewhat of a dilemma. He used to wear pull-ups in the past, but grew out of them. The accidents at home are infrequent enough that I've been OK with just doing laundry whenever it happens/using a mattress protector. But, obviously that's when we're at home..

...help?

 

[scrappinginontario]

My nephew struggled with that for many years. He wore nighttime underwear, similar to pull-ups, but made for older children/adults. Nobody ever knew but it gave him peace of mind and his parents too.

 

[bsmcneil]

Please forgive me if I sound like a complete newbie with this folks. Our first (planned) cruise actually was cancelled, during the worst of the pandemic, and we're finally - JUST now getting around to actually going on a (slightly altered) similar cruise finally.

We've literally *never* been cruising before, but we were invited/will be traveling with some friends of ours that are seasoned pros. They do not - however - have kids of their own, which is why I thought I'd come running here to ask for help.

My son (7 yrs old) is somewhat of an infrequent bedwetter. Some months, it'll only be once a week or so, and then for no obvious reason, it'll suddenly happen every single night in a row, for a while. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to it - and we try and keep his bedtime routine fairly consistent.

The ONE exception to this rule, unfortunately for us - seems to be whenever we travel/are on vacation. Even if we try and keep things consistent, he always seems to have more accidents at night when we're staying somewhere besides our own home. No idea why this is.

How on Earth do ya'll handle this, while on the ship...? DS will be sharing a bed with his younger brother (who is 100% dry at night already) so this has been somewhat of a dilemma. He used to wear pull-ups in the past, but grew out of them. The accidents at home are infrequent enough that I've been OK with just doing laundry whenever it happens/using a mattress protector. But, obviously that's when we're at home..

...help?

Do you feel comfortable requesting an extra change of sheets (and alerting mousekeeping if it comes up)? I apologize for not having direct experience (haven't been on a cruise); but, I had a similar issue at a hotel (though mine was a weird bleeding issue) and was super apologetic but they were fine with it since I let them know and didn't just surprise them. I also didn't want anyone to touch anything that might have fluids - so I was trying to avoid surprises.

 

[MPatelleMom]

My nephew struggled with that for many years. He wore nighttime underwear, similar to pull-ups, but made for older children/adults. Nobody ever knew but it gave him peace of mind and his parents too.

Interesting, never really heard of these!! My guy used to wear pull-ups, he's on the smaller side - so we were able to get away with the 4T-5T size for a long time. But it's been a long time since he's worn something like that. Dunno how he'd feel about it, mostly because his younger brother will be wearing undies etc.

But, may look into it - even if just for the cruise! He seems to deal with this WAY more when we travel, so I'd hope he'd understand if I find something that might be OK.

 

[MPatelleMom]

Do you feel comfortable requesting an extra change of sheets (and alerting mousekeeping if it comes up)? I apologize for not having direct experience (haven't been on a cruise); but, I had a similar issue at a hotel (though mine was a weird bleeding issue) and was super apologetic but they were fine with it since I let them know and didn't just surprise them. I also didn't want anyone to touch anything that might have fluids - so I was trying to avoid surprises.

In a perfect world, I'd rather not pass that off on mousekeeping - simply because I'd feel guilty! But, at the same time, I'm guessing our clean-up options will be limited, on a cruise. Those folks surely earn their pay/tips many times over I'd imagine!

 

[bsmcneil]

In a perfect world, I'd rather not pass that off on mousekeeping - simply because I'd feel guilty! But, at the same time, I'm guessing our clean-up options will be limited, on a cruise. Those folks surely earn their pay/tips many times over I'd imagine!

I recognize it - and I realize I may feel different if this happened with my kids - but goodness, this feels like part of the job and not a bad thing. I get the discomfort - but these things happen and I think you're good. I might ask if it happens if they prefer that you put it in a plastic bag or how they'd like to handle it (but that's mostly because I am an over-functioning people pleaser, lol). I'm the guy who tries to take care of the room so house (or mouse) keeping doesn't have to do much - but that said, I don't think you need to do too much to help the situation. <3

 

[AgentMama]

I would take a plastic mattress cover to place under the bedsheets and you can buy the same plastic lined individual chucks ( like they have in hospitals) for him to place under his midsection sleeping. I understand he might not love the low profile bed wetting underwear, but from having an occasional bed wetter, having to get beds changed on a cruise is a pain, and so is sleeping with a bed wetter when you're not.

Good luck! They do grow out of it. We found when we traveled, we'd wake our kiddo up in the middle of the night to pee.

 

[unrequited23]

There are larger nighttime products called "Goodnights" that might help. They now go up to a boys size 14-20, 95-140 lbs. I honestly didn't know they expanded the range so far, as we haven't needed them in 5 years when my child was barely squeezing into the largest size made at the time in first grade.

Vacations always made my oldest sleep much deeper and be more likely to have an accident.

I would explain that vacations are different from home and have different rules. On a cruise you can eat ice cream every day. On a cruise you share a bed and need to wear this type of underwear just in case.

 

[Debonna]

Another brand for bigger kids is Ninjamas. Just for vacation, like another person commented.

 

[mjkacmom]

My boys had this issue, they’re in their 20’s now and it’s a distant memory, but just buy some Goodnites for the trip and don’t worry about it.

 

[shosh1530]

Our son is dry like 99% of the time but still struggles on vacation, especially since he ends up drinking more in the later evening than at home.

He slept on the pull-down couch on the Wonder last year. It had a stay-dry mattress cover on it, so thankfully it did not do anything to the mattress (even bigger beds at Disney hotels have had this in my experience).

We just strip the bed, clean him up, and let housekeeping know in the morning. They've always been gracious. We are always sure to tip extra.

With the laundry facilities you could also launder the sheets your self if you wanted.

Is it possible to not have the two kids share a bed? For that situation, I agree some sort of night time protection would be good. We also try to limit liquids after dinner but it hard with the free soda machines on DCL.

 

[lanejudy]

We used Huggies GoodNites -- both the pull-ups and the bed mats. Even long after we didn't really need the pull-ups we traveled with the bed pads for several years. Exhaustion from vacation makes them sleep deeper and/or just being in a strange place seems it's harder to get up when they need to do. The pads go on the sheets and work great!

 

[barb969]

I was a bed wetter until age 7. My brother and sister were worse. I started sharing a bedroom with my grandmother. I swear she never slept. During the night if I started moving around she‘d say “Bobbie do you have to go to the bathroom?” I always said no, then a couple minutes later I would get up and go.After a while I would get up myself and I was cured.

When my daughter was 4 she was still wetting the bed. Unfortunatly my GM was no longer with us. Every night I set my alarm for 1am and took her to the bath room. She was trained by the age of 6.

I agree Pull-ups are probably your bet for the cruise.

 

[FrannyFrogs]

Plenty of adults also experience nighttime incontinence. Lots of underwear and pad products are available in all sizes! You just need to visit a different aisle at CVS

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

My kiddo was an always nighttime bedwetter until almost 9 when she actually started a medication for it. We took big kids Goodnights with us on vacations.

 

[auntlynne]

You can strip the bed and put the sheets in the bathtub. Your room steward will probably have dealt with this before. (In addition to using disposable pads and some form of disposable, absorbent underwear.)

And you can tell your steward when you meet that this may be the situation, so he will have a head’s up - and may tell you the preferred method for handling it.

They have plenty of linens. Urine is sterile. Workers wear gloves.

I had this problem as a child (not just on vacation). They say it is from very deep sleep. It was cured by a sensor with alarm. First bit of liquid triggered it. I think it took about two incidents and it never happened again. And I never woke up to the alarm - but the rest of the family did! I continued to be a sleep walker; again, never aware that it was happening. So glad that ended naturally.

Fortunately, I was never shamed for this. (I saw the Michael Landon story of his childhood and this, so sad).

 

[Mom2Anna&Elsa]

My youngest daughter is almost 8 and still has bed-wetting issues, I think her ADHD plays a large part in that.

I am conflicted on what to do as well. We do use large sposie pads in her underwear at night sometimes and will probably bring them on vacation. I notice that increased amounts of soda or extra fatigue from a change in her sleep schedule exacerbate the problem.

Is it terrible that I felt so much better when I started reading all these comments? As a parent, I've felt like a failure that we've had trouble getting her to go all night without wetting herself. It makes me feel not as alone when I see others have struggled, as well.

 

[lklgoodman]

M

My dd still wet the bed at the same age as your daughter. Her pediatrician told me it is very normal for some kids. Don't feel bad or worry about it. My daughter eventually outgrew it, just like her pediatrician said she would.
OP, when we cruised my dd would wear under jams. I also brought those disposable pads that had 2 sided tape to put on the sheets. I would tell our cabin host so they would know why the pad was on the bed. I'm sure a lot of families deal with this when cruising, so it's not unusual for the hosts to see. If my dd went in the underjam, we put it in a plastic grocery bag and put it in the bath trash. They empty your trash every day, even if it just has 1 thing in it.

 

[kmmfl2va]

You may want to try a bed wetting alarm before you leave. Both of my kids were late bed wetters and this cured it within 1-2 weeks of starting use.

 

[cinnamoroll]

I packed doggy pee pads when we traveled when my daughter was going through nighttime potty training. They don't take up that much space and some come with tape that stick to the sheets underneath. A giant garbage bag under the sheets works just as well.