Bedwetting help needed

[Moxie]

We've been using the alarm for about a month. After the first 2 nights, my 8 year old really seemed to get it and spent the next three weeks totally dry, no alarms, just waking up dry. He has wet the bed every night this week. Usually he wakes up and changes and goes potty but twice this week he has turned off the alarm and went back to sleep in soaking wet jammies. What do I do???

[athena1277]

:lurk5:

 

Bump.

[mlgbug]

i was considering this for my 4 year old. i cant get her dry, and buying diapers for her and not my 2 year old seems so wrong! plusm she HATE diapers. tells me they are for babies. but, she wont stay dry

[Ferdie]

When we used an alarm for my dd, I got up when it went off and got my dd out of bed. I think the whole purpose of the alarm is to become fully awake when you urinate. Your ds sounds like me. I hate getting up in the middle of the night. LOL!

 

Also someone suggested to me that we put a pull up on over the alarm and underware so there isn't much clean up in the middle of the night.

 

It sounds like you are almost there. I do have to add that it was totally worth it. My dd has been dry for 5 years, never an accident. I was too lazy to use an alarm with my youngest, (I hate getting up in the middle of the night) and he still wets and I still wash 2-3 loads of sheets every week. Keep going - it is worth it.

[Moxie]

I guess I'm asking what would make him start wetting everynight after so long of being dry? What can I do about it?

[Sandra in NC]

This is our life story.

 

Alarms would train my son for a while, but there was always relapse (until as old as age 14). Whenever he relapsed, we'd pull out the alarm again. It was a constant cycle of train/relapse/train/relapse. All in all, the alarm worked better than anything else we tried.

 

Hang in there.

 

Sandra

 

PS: We ended up adding a pad-alarm (like a mattress pad) as well as a clip on alarm. Sometimes he'd pull off the clip on alarm in his sleep. The pad was a good back-up.

Edited September 29, 2009 by Sandra in NC
added ps

[Pamela H in Texas]

I had the consultation with the Enuresis Center just this morning. It is extremely expensive but it's guaranteed and makes so much sense to me, especially in light of other sleep-caused issues over the past 8 years. I really wish I had done this sooner.

 

One thing I believe that the director said this morning was that we're really FORTUNATE that he didn't seem to outgrow it. Now we can address the root issue so he doesn't have the other associated issues.

 

I just wish I had done this when ds was 6 or 8 rather than everything we've done (about ALL of these issues) since.

 

ETA: Melissa, according to the Enuresis Treatment Center, bedwetting is caused by a sleep disorder. Getting him dry temporarily (or even permanently) only fixes a symptom. The underlying cause is still there.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Any changes in his diet? Constipation? (BTW, constipation may not show up as hard, difficult-to-pass stools. The child could simply be very backed up and this could be putting pressure on the bladder.)

 

I wish I had more help for you. I feel for your son (and for you.) I was a bedwetter until I was 10. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

[Dawn in OH]

I have an 8 year old boy bed wetter.

 

After much stress and frustration (for both of us), he wears pull-up type thing to bed. They sell several different brands, and we decided that this was best for both him and myself.

 

This is my night owl child. He has always been difficult to get to sleep. He can stay up until midnight. He has amazing willpower.

 

We have found that if we can get him to sleep at a decent hour, he can wake up dry. But when he stays up late (which is most of the time) he always wakes up wet.

 

My husband used to wake him up and take him to the bathroom twice a night, but he works nights now and I don't wake up.

 

We're still working through this, but I will say the pull-up at night has made both our lives a little easier. I am trying to work on wearing him out during the day to the point that he goes to sleep at a more reasonable hour as that is when we had the most dry nights.

Edited September 29, 2009 by Dawn in OH

[Pamela H in Texas]

From ETC's website: If a seven-year old wets every night,they will almost never stop without getting proper help. This study found that if a seven-year old is wetting just one or two nights per week, he has a 96% chance of wetting until at least age 15. If they wet three to six times, they have a 76% chance of wetting until at least age 19.

[Moxie]

I have an 8 year old boy bed wetter.

 

After much stress and frustration (for both of us), he was a pull-up type thing to bed. They sell several different brands, and we decided that this was best for both him and myself.

 

This is my night owl child. He has always been difficult to get to sleep. He can stay up until midnight. He has amazing willpower.

 

We have found that if we can get him to sleep at a decent hour, he can wake up dry. But when he stays up late (which is most of the time) he always wakes up wet.

 

My husband used to wake him up and take him to the bathroom twice a night, but he works nights now and I don't wake up.

 

We're still working through this, but I will say the pull-up at night has made both our lives a little easier. I am trying to work on wearing him out during the day to the point that he goes to sleep at a more reasonable hour as that is when we had the most dry nights.

 

 

We've done pull-ups for years. We're trying to get out of them now because a) the 3-year-old no longer wears them and the 8-year-old was starting to feel bad and b) his best friend is having a sleep-over in January that he really wants to go to without pull-ups.

[Evergreen State Sue]

As a child who had to deal with the embarrassment of bedwetting until I was nearly a teen, please consider getting professional help. I wish my parents had done that for me, but I'm sure they thought they couldn't afford it or that I would grow out of it. I would have had happier childhood memories without that issue.

[Samiam]

I promise, taking your child to see a chiropractor is so worth it. Here's the theory: As you know, messages are sent throughout your body from the spinal cord. If the spinal cord is out of alignment, messages can be delayed, missent, not felt, etc. Children's spines are OFTEN out of alignment, ever so slightly, just from their active lifestyle (how many times has your child fallen down in their lifetime????). For many, a slight misalignment may have no affect, but for some, it cause issues such as migraines, and even bedwetting. Why bedwetting? Because if the message is delayed or not felt when the child is in a heavy sleep, then they wet the bed.

 

I would recommend seing a chiropractor before another type of Dr who wants to give a prescription to "mask" the problem. Many chiropractors are well aware of this and work with many children. Look for one who does. The thing with a Chiropractor, they will take an X-ray and SHOW you the spine, SHOW you were the problem is coming from, versus some random diagnosis with medical jibberish.

 

I have heard of several friends who's children's bedwetting was solved by a chiropractor.

 

I finally took my DS5 to a chiropractor, after getting TIRED of bedwetting every. single. night. And, constant "leakage" during the day, that he almost seemed not to realize he had leaked.

 

It's is not an overnight fix. It might take a month or two, with weekly visits. But it worked for us. Two months of Chiro and he has not wet the bed since (it has been over a year now for us)...again, coming from a boy who wet every single night without fail, regardless if we woke him up, or held back water.

 

I know some will say they can't do Chiropractice as their insurance doesn't cover....but really, it's not too horribly expensive, and since Chiropractors know their services are often not covered by insurance, they are often willing to work with families to help finances.

 

If you have any sort of leaning towards natural remedies, and holistic care, you will find many Chiropractors who are very holistic-minded, since they are often labeled "quacks" by the medical field, the ones who like to give out prescriptions for everything which only serves to mask the true problem.

 

Okay, off my soapbox, but I highly recommend you do your own investigation with info online and see what you think about Chiropractic care in solving bedwetting issues.

hth

K

[TravelingChris]

My dd stopped wetting at age 9, I believe. She definitely had and still has other sleep issues. But her wetting just stopped. We never used alarms or anything, just pull-ups and waking her and stopping drinks before bed. But none of that helped till she grew out of it.

[Pamela H in Texas]

My dd stopped wetting at age 9, I believe. She definitely had and still has other sleep issues. But her wetting just stopped. We never used alarms or anything, just pull-ups and waking her and stopping drinks before bed. But none of that helped till she grew out of it.

 

The person we talked to at the center today said my son was fortunate that he was still wetting because now we can address the sleep issue rather than just the symptom of wetting. Where so many kids wet long term with no relief, too many kids stop wetting but are left with the original issue so don't get help. Hopefully, you can help your daughter even though you don't have this particular symptom.

[mamagina7]

I can't help but wonder if your son is in stress. The statistics are in that older children, who have been potty successfully, and begin wetting the bed are under some kind of serious stress.

 

We had a similar experience and I just thought he was being lazy or a hard sleeper or physically challanged in this area...or just being a boy. Almost 13 yrs. later we found out our son was experiencing horrific stress...and we never saw it. He never said a word.

 

I don't want to sound doom and gloom...but now I know to take it much more seriously than I did then. I hope this is not the case for you, but felt I should say something.

[TravelingChris]

The person we talked to at the center today said my son was fortunate that he was still wetting because now we can address the sleep issue rather than just the symptom of wetting. Where so many kids wet long term with no relief, too many kids stop wetting but are left with the original issue so don't get help. Hopefully, you can help your daughter even though you don't have this particular symptom.

 

Yes, her sleep issues are mostly resolved. SHe had night terrors for a few times later and also sleep walking but hasn't had that in the last three years. She also has had most of her insomnia problems resolve with medication for her PMDD. I do see that in our family, the only one who had night terrors and sleep walking, was the only one who had bedwetting.

[lynn]

I have btdt and I totally understand. I resolved that bedwetting was something my son would eventually outgrow and he did around 10 or 11. He was responsible for removing his sheets and brining them to the laundry room. We did use goodnights for a while. We tried 2 different alarms, amazing they can sleep through those things. We did get some meds from the pediatrician that he took when we traveled out of town and he took to be able to go to summer camp. They stop the bedwetting but do not solve the problem, they would become more of a crutch if used regularly thus were used on an as needed basis. Know that you are not alone. This is a very frustating thing for a mom not so much that the child is wetting the bed because this is out of their control most of the time, it's having to face the bedding every morning that wears on you and I have had to scream silently many mornings when I went to make beds and the sheets were wet yet again. Hang in there for this to shall pass.