DS 7.5 still wetting the bed

[Tiffany1969]

Good morning.  This is my first post here as I just came across this website.

I would love to hear ANY tips, advise and suggestions on what I can do to help me with my son.  He is 7.5 and I can count on 1 hand how many times he has woke up dry.  I have tried limiting drinks after a certain time, trying to get him to go potty before bed (which he always says he doesn't have to go and more times than not refuses to even try), waking him when I go to bed and again in the middle of the night, consulting his pedi many times, alarms and nothing helps.  

I am currently using pull ups which he doesn't mind but...what do you do when the pull ups just don't cut it?  He leaks out of them almost every night.  I even tried the ones made for older kids but those are not much better.  Even the smallest size they make are still too big for him.  He is 7.5 and has been stuck at 38 lbs for the longest time (he has a high metabolism and his pedi assures me that he is perfectly healthy).  What does everyone do with slightly older kids when pull ups just don't work??  I know its not his fault and I never get upset with him over it but...I wont lie, I am very frustrated over the extra laundry its causing.  And, he HATES waking up in a soaking wet bed in the morning.  HELP!!  I just don't know what else to do anymore.  He is a very heavy sleeper and I am patiently waiting for him to out grow it.  His pedi has said many times that's its still quite normal for kids to still wet the but till 8 or 9 years old.

[Mbelle]

hmmm...new poster

Edited April 21, 2020 by Mbelle

[Tiffany1969]

Just now, Mbelle said:

For us it was sugar and juice.  We don't let him have any sugar or juice after the afternoon snack.   When we first figured that out we also woke him up to go pee before we fell asleep.  A sip of water at bed time doesn't seem to be a problem.

We use a puppy pad under the sheet just in case, instead of pull ups.

Thanks for the tip.  I have a case of puppy pads that was donated to me.  I also have a mattress vinyl cover to protect his mattress as he is on his 3rd one and I will tell you, they are NOT cheap.  I limit any soda drinks and he typically only drinks milk, water and juice.  I do attempt to wake him at night but is usually results in WWIII and  he fights me tooth and nail when I try to get him out of bed to try to go.  I have even tried one of those bedwetting alarms which he just slept right through.

 

[8filltheheart]

bed wetting alarm

[73349]

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Edited October 2, 2020 by Carolina Wren

[hs03842]

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Edited June 8, 2020 by JoyKM

[Rosie_0801]

For my kids, it meant a trip to the chiropractor. That would fix it until they knocked themselves out of alignment again. After a few months, they outgrew the need for it.

[Ellie]

My older dd was still wetting the bed when she was five or six. We tried all the things with no success. Finally, her pediatrician prescribed Tofranil. She took it for 10 days, then I cut the dosage in half; 10 more days, in half again; 10 more days, done. She never wet the bed again, from the night she took the first pill.

[EKS]

This may seem like an odd suggestion, but when my older son was 6, he was still using pull ups and they would overflow every night.  So I told him that the pull ups were no longer working and that when he had to go the the bathroom at night he needed to use the toilet. That was all it took.  I remember waking him up when we went to bed and leading him to the bathroom for a while, but it didn't last long.

So if you haven't explicitly told him to use the toilet instead of the pull up, you might want to try that.

ETA:  Come to think of it, I did this with both kids.

Edited April 21, 2020 by EKS

[Abraham]

This DS didn't grow out of it until he was nine. I used to wake up in the middle of the night to go, but I never had a hard time going back to sleep. If your son does then this might not work. Otherwise, wake him up at midnight, bring him to the washroom, and let him go back to sleep. He won't even remember it in the morning.

[sweet2ndchance]

Two of my kids didn't stop bedwetting until they hit puberty. Frustrating for  them and me but it happens sometimes. We tried all kinds of things too. FTR, my ex-husband, their father, wet the bed into his teen years. My other kids, both from that marriage and my current marriage, had no problem night training so I know it isn't environmental or situational. We just invested in good waterproof mattress protectors that didn't feel plastic-y and changing the sheets almost everyday and washing one set and having another set on the bed was just a part of life for us for a long, long time.

[Abraham]

I'm sure this is obvious to all, but I'm going to add it in anyway: make sure he doesn't feel like a baby for bed-wetting. It's not something he has any control over. I remember vividly the mortification I felt when a member of my immediate family "outed" me to a cousin. These are things that can leave scars for a long time so please, please, please make sure he understands that there is nothing wrong with him - it's totally normal and there are so many people going through what he is who just grew out of it.

Edited April 24, 2020 by Abraham

[lots of little ducklings]

We discovered this book when our oldest DS was 7, and needing waterproof pads changed on his bed at least 2x/night, often 3  (we layer-caked the pads between extra sets of fitted sheets, btw, just to save our sanity in the middle of the night).   I'd never heard heard that constipation could be the root of it (especially since DS seemed to have the opposite problem) but the book was an eye-opener and a game-changer.  We followed the "clean-out" protocol it recommends (and continued for many months... I think we tapered down to one clean-out per week by the sixth month). But we continued because it was so successful:  DS was dry through the night in the first two weeks, and even the very rare relapse disappeared within a year.  A few of our younger children also had wetting problems, though not as severe, but responded just as well to the approach. 

YMMV, of course.  A friend of mine gave it a try and had great success with one child, and less success with another.   But it's certainly worth a try.  Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.  

 

[kiwik]

Check there is no constipation or physical issues.  Actually get it checked as it can appear OK on the surface when it really isn't.  Check for allergies such as to yeast and for yeast infections.  Check for spinal alignment.  All this requires the right doctors.  If all is OK buy a bunch of bedpads, mattress protectors, sheets and easy wash blankets and wait for th to grow out of it.  Ds13 is pretty much right now but still uses a pad just in case.  In his case he just slept way too soundly until puberty started.  I wish I hadn't worried about it when he was 7/8/9/10 as it served no purpose.  There are some stats somewhere and it is still fairly common at 7.5.

[Reefgazer]

I've got (had; said child is finally outgrowing it now) an older bedwetter and I wet the bed until 10-11.  The kid will outgrow it in time; some kids just wait longer and can't be rushed on it.  I would not worry about it at all, in the absence of other, related physical issues.  My best advice:

1.  Contact North Shore Care for samples of teen /adult absorbency diapers that don't leak.  They will help you choose the correct diaper and send several types off free samples for you to try.

2.  Buy a washable, waterproof pad for bed that can be laundered easily.  Or buy disposable underpads for bed (but they aren't as big as the re-usable and washable ones).

3.  I was late bedwetter; please remember the kid hates that he wets the bed and isn't doing it on purpose.

 

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[theelfqueen]

It is very common for children, especially boys, to wet the bed til puberty. In some cases there are things that can help and it's worth trying them. Limiting fluids, use of alarms (we used the "potty pager" for a time).... these things may work for some kids. But for others, they simply do not produce the right hormones. Or there can be other causes - diabetes, apnea, etc. Talk to your doctor.

For most - puberty resolves it. There is medication that can help (we used desmopressin sparingly for scout camp, vacations, etc) ... but it's not a solution just a treatment 

[alisha]

A Bed wetting alarm worked for us. My son was 9 when we tried that, he's now almost 10. It actually worked! We had tried various things throughout the last few years, and this was what finally worked. It was SO frustrating, and so I empathize with you.