Why would bedwetting be getting worse

[newlifemom]

My ds now 8 does not stay dry through the night. It runs in my family and so we haven't done much about it except limit fluid intake in the afternoon/evening and make sure he goes to the bathroom several times prior to going to bed.

 

However, it seems to have gotten worse. For almost a week straight he has peed out of his pull-up.

 

Normally I would say he wakes up wet about 4 out of 7 nights. So not only has it increased in volume, it seems to have increased in the number of times he actually wets. :confused:

 

He is going for a challenge in his co-op that involves mastering a lot of material, but he memorizes effortlessly. He is really close and all we are doing now is rew the material he has already learned.

 

Should I be concerned? I don't know. He is my only bed-wetter and I didn't have this problem as a child so I cannot speak to it.

 

Any advice?

[Embassy]

My ds now 8 does not stay dry through the night. It runs in my family and so we haven't done much about it except limit fluid intake in the afternoon/evening and make sure he goes to the bathroom several times prior to going to bed.

 

However, it seems to have gotten worse. For almost a week straight he has peed out of his pull-up.

 

Normally I would say he wakes up wet about 4 out of 7 nights. So not only has it increased in volume, it seems to have increased in the number of times he actually wets. :confused:

 

He is going for a challenge in his co-op that involves mastering a lot of material, but he memorizes effortlessly. He is really close and all we are doing now is rew the material he has already learned.

 

Should I be concerned? I don't know. He is my only bed-wetter and I didn't have this problem as a child so I cannot speak to it.

 

Any advice?

 

I'm not sure why. I do know that when I complimented my son for being dry every night when he was almost 6 years old he started wetting the bed again. When my son turned 5 we would wake him up and take him to the bathroom in the middle of the night. That helped him be dry every morning. After about 6 months of doing that he started having dry nights. Once he started wetting the bed again we just woke him up and took him to the bathroom in the middle of the night. We did this for about 2 weeks before "forgetting" one night and he hasn't had a problem since. But you can bet that I'm not saying anything to him about being dry.

[Lovedtodeath]

My brother wets the bed if he has milk or milk products too late in the day. It has always been that way. He is 37 now.

[Guest janainaz]

My son is 10. He stopped wetting the bed around 8 years old (and up until then, it was every single night). He went for about 8 months of solid dry nights. Then it started up again, and it was almost every night for a few months. Nothing was going on in our lives that was different and I have no clue why it started again. But as quickly as it started, it just completely stopped. Since about September of last year, he has had solid dry nights. He also wakes up at night to go to the bathroom, or very early in the morning. That was a big change because he had never woken up to go until his 9th year. Although most of his bed-wetting stopped around 8 (with short periods of starting up again) - he would have dry nights, but never before last September had he ever actually woken up to go. That was new.

 

My son had been a bed-wetter since he was potty trained and has always slept so deep that he just never woke up to go. He could not help it. Even if we limited fluid intake, he would still wake up wet. I would wake him at night myself and that helped a little, but sometimes early in the morning, he'd still go. I believe it is hereditary and that it can be outgrown. There are different reasons given for bed wetting (sleep patterns, small bladder, hormones, etc.), but with my son I have always believed it had to do with his sleeping patterns. At one point I did consider taking him to the doctor, just because of his age and not wanting him to be embarrassed when his friends sleep over. Every time I've decided to take him in (unannounced to him) it would stop. So, your son may need more time. If you feel like there might be some other problem, you can take him in, but it's not uncommon for some kids to wet the bed for a longer period of time. My dh's brother was a major bed-wetter and I was until I was about 7.5.

[Shasta Mom]

believe it or not, with her then 9 year old boy...Someone had suggested this to her, and as soon as they tried it the bedwetting stopped immediately....

[wapiti]

My ds now 8 does not stay dry through the night. It runs in my family and so we haven't done much about it except limit fluid intake in the afternoon/evening and make sure he goes to the bathroom several times prior to going to bed.

 

However, it seems to have gotten worse. For almost a week straight he has peed out of his pull-up.

 

Normally I would say he wakes up wet about 4 out of 7 nights. So not only has it increased in volume, it seems to have increased in the number of times he actually wets. :confused:

 

He is going for a challenge in his co-op that involves mastering a lot of material, but he memorizes effortlessly. He is really close and all we are doing now is rew the material he has already learned.

 

Should I be concerned? I don't know. He is my only bed-wetter and I didn't have this problem as a child so I cannot speak to it.

 

Any advice?

Since it has gotten worse, if the problem continues, I'd check with the ped. FWIW, there are kidney and urinary issues that run in families.

 

(disclaimer: my ds had both kidney surgery as an infant and later surgery to release a tethered spinal cord that was causing voiding dysfunction and constipation - a rather tricky problem to catch. There are some issues that can cause permanent damage the longer they are allowed to fester. So I don't like to mess around with this stuff for long. That said, I've been procrastinating on doing something about the accidents that ds7 has been having occasionally, both day and night. Mostly he doesn't feel it due to his past history and/or is too preoccupied to go to the bathroom. but I sometimes worry about an unlikely re-tethering.)

[Marie in OR]

My oldest wet until he was 10, then just suddenly stopped. Before that we tried the drugs and an alarm. The alarm seemed to work very well. We just had to use it several times when the wetting started up again.

 

My second son is now 11, and he too has had several dry periods, then starts to wet again. We just start using the alarm again, and within a couple of nights, he is back to dry. He has been dry now for a month or so, keeping our fingers crossed that he has now outgrown it.

 

I highly recommend the alarm. It gives the boys a chance to take control of the situation themselves. We have the kind that snaps to underwear, with a wire up to a clip on the pillow.

 

Marie

[RamonaQ]

Maybe a growth spurt? Or extra-deep sleep patterns?

 

FWIW, we had excellent luck using a little night-time alarm for ds who was very motivated to stop wetting the bed. It worked wonders and he has not wet the bed since we did this method almost 3 years ago.

[Carol in Cal.]

--Emotional problems

--Bladdar infection

--UTI

--Diabetes

 

Still, I think that there are a some children who have this issue and don't fall into any of these categories.

[Moniksca]

My brother wets the bed if he has milk or milk products too late in the day. It has always been that way. He is 37 now.

 

I had heard this as well so I stopped dairy products in the evening and this has helped so far, it's been 2 weeks.

[TracyR]

Since it has gotten worse, if the problem continues, I'd check with the ped. FWIW, there are kidney and urinary issues that run in families.

 

(disclaimer: my ds had both kidney surgery as an infant and later surgery to release a tethered spinal cord that was causing voiding dysfunction and constipation - a rather tricky problem to catch. There are some issues that can cause permanent damage the longer they are allowed to fester. So I don't like to mess around with this stuff for long. That said, I've been procrastinating on doing something about the accidents that ds7 has been having occasionally, both day and night. Mostly he doesn't feel it due to his past history and/or is too preoccupied to go to the bathroom. but I sometimes worry about an unlikely re-tethering.)

 

My youngest was born with tethered spinal cord ( among other things). These children usually have neurogenic bladder. Even more so if they had tethered cord for an extended period of time before it being found.

Neurogenic bladder is when the signals from the bladder and brain do not connect properly. Of course there are varying levels of Neurogenic bladder from being mild , noneneurogenic neurogenic bladder, and to where children can't void at all on their own. My daughter is sort of in the middle of mild and severe , where she urinates but not with a normal stream. She definitley doesn't know when she is going either. I always worry about retethering as well.

 

 

As to the original poster I would get structural stuff checked out to rule out any issues first. Sometimes children can have what is known as kindey/bladder reflux and this can be a cause of bed wetting as well.

The only way to find this out is by having a VCUG done and its not the most pleasant of tests but its worth doing to check the kidneys/bladder and ureters. Once its ruled out then you can seek other treatments.

 

My oldest was a bed wetter until she was 7. We had structural things ruled out , my 2nd daughter had mild kidney reflux, and she was all good there. Just was a heavy sleeper and a very heavy wetter no matter how much I limited fluids and such. She really didn't stop bed wetting until she was about 6 when she started swim team. It was almost like she just needed to grow into her bladder or something or maybe the exercise helped. I don't know. We took some time off and she started wetting again, then we went back to swimming and she stopped and she is 12 now and well, she doesn't wet the bed anymore.

I don't think I'll ever know what caused her bed wetting.

There is a yahoo group for families with children who have urological/bedwetting issues. You may want to go there to bounce off some ideas as what others have done to help as well. The name of it is Urology Kids.

Edited April 10, 2010 by TracyR

[wapiti]

My youngest was born with tethered spinal cord ( among other things). These children usually have neurogenic bladder. Even more so if they had tethered cord for an extended period of time before it being found.

Neurogenic bladder is when the signals from the bladder and brain do not connect properly. Of course there are varying levels of Neurogenic bladder from being mild , noneneurogenic neurogenic bladder, and to where children can't void at all on their own. My daughter is sort of in the middle of mild and severe , where she urinates but not with a normal stream. She definitley doesn't know when she is going either. I always worry about retethering as well.

My ds also had an abnormal stream (more like spurts) but it became normal after the surgery to release the tether. We didn't figure this out until he was 5.5 y.o. He was potty trained at 3, then the problems set in about six months later (though he was constipated since birth and our old ped had said that was "normal" for him. grrr). He has a skin tag inside the gluteal crease that was the indicator. We haven't been back to the urologist since before the surgery, mostly because I'm still annoyed that I was the one to figure out the problem - some late night googling turned up neurogenic bladder, and I thought hey, he's got that thing in his butt crack... I thought the ped would think I was crazy for sure but she had me bring him in right away, and ordered the MRI. He has a filum lipoma, which, interestingly, can be genetic. My mom had a major problem with bedwetting in her 20's but somehow the problem went away (they always told her it was emotional. She's now in her 70s). She also has a lipoma, a more visible lump, but I never knew about it until recently (though, thinking out loud, that wouldn't be a filum lipoma, I'm guessing, because it is visible). No one ever put it together with her bedwetting, though I suppose because that was fifty years ago. Anyway, one of these days we probably need to go back to the urologist, for a renal ultrasound - he had an obstruction fixed as an infant and we do a follow up ultrasound every couple of years - and I wonder if he's a candidate for PT for voiding dysfunction yet. I think there's some weird therapy - I don't suppose you happen to know anything about it? His bladder is gigantic, all stretched out, at least it was when he had the MRI a couple years ago. It's still unclear to me to what extent the nerve damage is permanent, since the stream got back to normal.

 

As to the original poster I would get structural stuff checked out to rule out any issues first. Sometimes children can have what is known as kindey/bladder reflux and this can be a cause of bed wetting as well.

The only way to find this out is by having a VCUG done and its not the most pleasant of tests but its worth doing to check the kidneys/bladder and ureters. Once its ruled out then you can seek other treatments.

 

My oldest was a bed wetter until she was 7. We had structural things ruled out , my 2nd daughter had mild kidney reflux, and she was all good there. Just was a heavy sleeper and a very heavy wetter no matter how much I limited fluids and such. She really didn't stop bed wetting until she was about 6 when she started swim team. It was almost like she just needed to grow into her bladder or something or maybe the exercise helped. I don't know. We took some time off and she started wetting again, then we went back to swimming and she stopped and she is 12 now and well, she doesn't wet the bed anymore.

I don't think I'll ever know what caused her bed wetting.

There is a yahoo group for families with children who have urological/bedwetting issues. You may want to go there to bounce off some ideas as what others have done to help as well. The name of it is Urology Kids.

:iagree:OP, I wanted to mention reflux also, since that is one of the more common issues and can also be familial (I was just afraid to mention the vcug :D).

 

Also, constipation can be a cause of urine accidents, so ask your son about that end of things.

 

Tracy, thanks for mentioning that group - I'll have to check it out. As I said, I've been procrastinating on dealing with this :o.

[Sara in AZ]

If you notice accompanying excess thirst/peeing during the day, too. Crazy bedwetting is a very common symptom of diabetes. Our 6 year old was an occasional bedwetter, but when she started flooding her bed every night without fail we knew something was wrong.

 

I hope it's something else, but it's worth a trip to the doctor if you notice other symptoms.

[Susan in TN]

Food issues are common - especially dairy and peanuts/butter.

 

Another issue can be that his nerves simply aren't responding to the urge. I'm not sure why he would have a problem with it "out of the blue". Growth spurt? A remedy for this can simply be deep pressure - twice a day, press very firmly up each finger/hand/arm/shoulder and toes/feet/ankles/legs/hips. If this is the issue, it may take a few weeks for the nerves to redevelop their sensitivity.

[juelle]

Ds had this problem for months when he was 6-7ish. Some of it was stress - he didn't feel safe, for a couple of reasons which we dealt with. He was still wetting probably 3 out of 5 nights.

 

So, being the lover of homeopathics that I am, I found that there are bedwetting remedies! KingBio makes a spray which I just misted into his mouth before bed. Hyland's has tablets which dissolve in the mouth.

 

Either way, the situation improved. He would make sure to ask for his spray. Until he/I 'forgot', and we've had no problem since!

 

Definitely check for structural/endocrine problems, though, if it continues.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

As to the original poster I would get structural stuff checked out to rule out any issues first. Sometimes children can have what is known as kindey/bladder reflux and this can be a cause of bed wetting as well.

The only way to find this out is by having a VCUG done and its not the most pleasant of tests but its worth doing to check the kidneys/bladder and ureters. Once its ruled out then you can seek other treatments.

 

 

Although unusual in boys...a UTI or bladder infection is possible. Yes, it is possible to have one without experiencing the "normal' discomfort. A VCUG isn't the only diagnostic technique for kidney reflux. Many physicians begin with a imaging test such as an Ultrasound. That can show much of kidney health a structure. Also urine and blood tests assist.

[ThePurpleLady]

My son stopped wetting the bed right around the age of three. No accidents until he turned 6. I took him to the doctor to rule out diabetes and felt confident that emotional distress was not a reason. My doctor told me my son was probably going through a growth spurt, so I decided to be patient and hoped that the issue would resolve itself.

 

I tried a few different approaches along the way, but the bed wetting went on for close to a year. I saw on another message board the book Dry All Night mentioned and bought it. It took two days of reading the book for my son to stop wetting the bed. I think he had fallen into a habit of wetting the bed and just needed a new mindset.

 

The book worked for us and may or may not for you, but wanted to share our experience.

[Rosie_0801]

Try a chiropractor. Bed wetting can be caused by their lower back being out of alignment.

 

Rosie

[Barb_]

I quickly scanned the responses and didn't see sleep apnea mentioned anywhere. My 13yo wet the bed solidly until she was around 8 or 9 and sporadically until recently. She is also the one recently diagnosed with moderate to severe apnea. A sleep study might be in order if the bedwetting is getting worse rather than better with time.

 

Barb

[Karen in CO]

I have a friend whose son has several food allergies, but he wets the bed if he eats corn (corn meal, corn starch, HFCS). It is fairly 100% of the time. So it is another thing to look at in his diet.

[Mothersweets]

My first thought was diabetes, too. It is really easy to check out - take to your ped. and ask to have his blood sugar levels checked.

[myfatherslily]

I tried a few different approaches along the way, but the bed wetting went on for close to a year. I saw on another message board the book Dry All Night mentioned and bought it. It took two days of reading the book for my son to stop wetting the bed. I think he had fallen into a habit of wetting the bed and just needed a new mindset.

 

Thanks for this suggestions. I'm not the OP, but my DD has wet almost every single night of her life. I'm going to review the book and see if it's something I'd want to look at with her. I do think, for her, it's because she sleeps like a rock! I can't even wake her to go potty in the middle of the night. She sleeps straight through her brother's frequent screaming night terrors. She just doesn't wake up for anything:) But I just requested the book from the library because I'm curious if it might be something that will help!

[Guest janainaz]

Try a chiropractor. Bed wetting can be caused by their lower back being out of alignment.

 

Rosie

 

Maybe this is not connected, but my son completely stopped wetting the bed and started waking up when he stopped sleeping in his bed. He got a sleeping bag last September and he sleeps in it every night on his floor. I don't know why, he just does. He has not had one wet night. I've wondered if it has something to do with it being a harder surface, but I have nothing logical necessarily to connect it with. Hmmmm, interesting.