5 Y/o Bed Wetting

My sister had this problem with her second child. She did a little research and bought him alarm underwear - an alarm goes off we he starts to pee. Sice using it, he does not wet the bed. It costs about one hundred dollars, but you'll spend that on pull-ups or night pants.

I was a bed wetter and so was my daughter. I stopped at about age 8 and so did my daughter. We just used pullups at night. My advice is to not fight it. She can't help it.

A.,

My son just turned 9 and has just stopped bed wetting over the last 6 months! His was in waves. Wouldn't happen for a couple months then every other night. It helped to not let him drink anything close to bed time and to make him use the bathroom before he went to bed. I personally bed wetted until I was about 11 years old. I think my son like I just didn't wake up until it was too late:( Good Luck!!

-A.

I just took my son for his 5-year well check. My son also wets the bed at night, but only 1-2 times per week. The doctor said that 15% of boys his age still do this, and it's not something to worry about. Also, it's not something he can help or control. We attempted to get a urine sample but my son would not pee in a cup, so we'll try it the next time. The doctor put my mind at ease. It's just another thing that I refuse to freak out over :) even if I DO have to buy size 7 diapers for him.

Have you checked with a doc to make sure her bladder is of normal size and all is functioning properly?
If so, try waking her at the same time nightly and having her use the bathroom, until it becomes a routine and she can wake herself.

A.,
I was a bed wetter until the age 11, My mother took me to the Doctor and the doctor gave me some medicine to take for 1 month and after the medicine i never wet the bed again, my daughter now 9 also was a bed wetter and when she was 5 i took her to the doctor and asked for the medicine for her and she took it for 2 weeks and never wet the bed again. I suggest you insist on the medicine . It worked for us and dont take no for an anwser. It doesnt hurt to try anyways. I personally dont think i drinking anything before has anything to do with it but thats my opinion. I hope you try it. I cant remmber the name of it , But it worked wonders.

My daughter started wetting the bed about 3 times a week and one thing I started doing is not only having her go potty right before she goes to bed, but I get her up and put her on the potty one more time when I'm going to bed a couple of hours later. I don't turn the bathroom light on, just the hall light and I just carry her from bed to bathroom, she pees right away and I put her back in bed. She barely wakes up and since I've started making that a part of my nightly routine, she has only wet at night one time. She doesn't complain about me getting her up, like I say, she barely wakes up and when I put her back in bed, she's instantly asleep. I also started using pull ups at night (make sure to use the night time ones, the regular ones leak). That saves laundry, although my daughter has been dry for about 2 weeks now! Hang in there. I know how frustrating it is, but it will pass. Good Luck!

Have you stopped her from drinking anything at least 2 hours prior to her going to sleep? Have you woke her up at night and taken her to the bathroom?

You may also try some kind of reward system. If there is a toy or something that she really wants, give her money in a clear glass (so she can see her reward building)toward getting it.

Hope this helps.

Hi A.. It's frustrating to have to get up in the middle of the night facing washing sheets, etc. It's going to be even more embarrassing to your daughter than anything when it comes to staying over at friends homes or other relatives. Most of the time it isn't that she "can't get the hang of it", it's that her brain is not getting the signal from her bladder to wake up in time to go to the bathroom. I have several friends that have experienced this exact issue. One in particular was given medincine to help that bladder/brain connection and it worked like a charm. Until they get a little older and "grow out of it", they will need to stay on the meds. Have you talked to your pediatritian about this? Best wishes and good luck!

A lot of the time, it's a body maturity issue. My son, age 7, still has occasions where he wets the bed at night. He just gets into such a deep sleep, that he doesn't recognize the feeling that he has to go until it's too late. I would suggest using the larger pullups, to at least save you from tons of laundry. If it's a nightly thing, I'd talk to her pediatrician. There might be something more going on there. But if it's just occasionally, I wouldn't worry too much about it. That is fairly common.

You could switch back to pull-ups that have the cool-touch when the pull-up is wet. Also, try waking little one up a couple times during the night. Perhaps, starting the habit of waking up to go potty during the night will be enough for little one to start doing that on queue everyday. Perhaps you could set an alarm clock for potty time. Let little one turn on and off the alarm, so they learn how. After monitoring this behavior for a week or so, then see if little one can do this on their own.

Also, try reducing the amount of fluids available to drink 2 hours after dinner. Give little one at least 2 hours before bedtime without fluids.

Often children revert back to wetting the bed once they reach age 5-6. It's a stage. Perhaps talk to your pediatrician for tricks of the trade. My ped is great... Dr. Andreanna Hodgini... ###-###-####

____@____.com
myspace.com/staceefrane
staceefrane.edcdiamond.com
###-###-####

Try laying of drinking to much before bed, having go to the bathroom before bed. Also my son do awesome of getting adjusted at a chiropracter.

Hey A., My daughter is 12. We had the same bedwetting problem. Unfortunately, it isn't a matter of her getting the hang of it. Her body is not yet mature enough for it to wake her to let her know when she is wetting herself. My doctor told me her nerve endings were not mature enough to help her respond. We all grow physically and mentally at different speeds. I thought I was home free with the potty training when my last child was a girl. The night time thing was difficult for her for years. We would pray together before she spent the night at friends houses. For awhile she used a nasal spray prescribed by her doctor that worked well. It helped her bladder to hold it. She had difficulty until she was about ten. The last few years it was intermittent. We never knew what would set the circumstances off. Have patience and good luck.

well i actually had this prob myself growing up and it could be i phase or there could be a medical reason i wet the bed till i was about 10 the best thing i can say is talk to your doctor and a little trick my mom did for me was.. she taught me to make my own bed when i was very young (about 5) and she kept extra sheets blankets and pillows under my bed and she would not let me have anything to dring one hour before bed now i did not have a medical problem or anything and it didnt compleatly stop it but it did slow down and insead of it happening everynight it went from everyother night to 3 or 4 times a week and so on just remember it is just something that happens everyonce in a while so good luck i hope i have been some what of a help...

I am just curious if you have talked to your pediatrican? Both my brother and I were bad bed wetters, til ages 10 and 11. Today we are 28 and 30 and still have problems. My mother couldn't get anyone to listen to the idea that there might be a problem it was all "we didn't care" or wouldn't wake up. Problem is overactive bladder/weak bladder.. while sleeping the muscles didn't hold back, while awake we were aware and able to "hold it". Not saying this is the case, but something to consider.

My son also was a sound sleeper and wet the bed until around 10 yrs of age. i was told to take away all milk products by 6:00 p.m. This did the trick and it took only about a week for him to stop wetting the bed. (milk turns to sugar and therfore causes more urine.)
B.

My daughter, Brianna, is 8 and still wets the bed. The doctor told me she has an immature bladder. The doctor did test my daughter for diabetes as frequent urination is a symptom. The test was negative. The doctor said children do not have complete control of their bladders until about age 12 and as long as she has control during the day not to worry about it. Brianna is also a very deep sleeper which is another reason she is wetting the bed.

I sometimes worry that she may be embarassed at sleepovers putting on her Goodnight. She has no problem with it and tells the other kids she has to wear a goodnight becuase of a medical condition. Sometimes she wants to try to make it through the night without a Goodnight as she will go through periods of 2-3 days without wetting. I let her try, if she wets I just get out my carpet shampooer! My husband just got me a SpotBot for Christmas and it is wonderful for things like this!

I hope this helps.

Hello, I also have a 5 year old that still needs pull ups at night and has yet to wake up dry even once. I too have heard that it is extremely common to have night issues up to age 6 so they only thing I am doing at this point is limiting the intake of fluids about 3 hours before bed and making him go to the bathroom before bed. I, too, am not willing to get him up during the night because he is very hard to get to sleep. I have an appointment with his doctor next week and I will be discussing this so if I get any pointers, I will pass it along but I wouldn't sweat it too much just yet. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that they all develop differently!

My daughter is 4.5 and weare still struggling with the same thing. We are usling pull up at night but sometimes when she naps during the day, if she naps, she wets herself. My son who is 21 months is starting to take and interest in potty training, much earlier than I expected and much earlier than my daughter took interest. I did bring this up with the peditrician at my daughters check up and she said sometimes it just takes kids longer to master the night sleep.She suggested that she does not drink anything an hour before bed and that we make her pee before getting in bed even if she does not feel she needs to go. We are at 6 months of doing just that and she still wets. So I do understand your frusteration. But as I understand it just takes longer in some kids. Someone told me one time it depends on the bladder size and control that they can have. One thought is that if you get up at night or your husband to go in and wake her to go. I personaly don't want to do this, it was something that was suggested to us, because it is hard enough to get her to go to sleep.
Good luck and I truly understand how you feel.

have you thought about food allergies? a friend of mine was unsuscessful with getting 3 of her children to stop wetting the bed after 3 yrs old - the youngest was 7 when someone told her to wean them off milk products entirely.
Within 2 weeks everyone was completely dry through the night, every night. I do know she did work with a chiropractor as well. It is best to find a chiropractor who is trained in pediatric chiropractic care (palmer schoold of chiro is the best for that).
My friend did have her kids tested for food allergies, and they were allergic to milk and nitrates as the highest allergins-- and according to the allergist, those two allergies often make their presence known by bed wetting

Hi A.,
i don't know what your bedtime routine is, but have you tried not giving hime any liquid a hour and half to 2 hours before bedtime? and make sure he empty they bladder right before getting in bed. my son who is 6 will for sure will get his bed wet the night this routine is forgotten or overlooked at my house. Kids bladder are not small but their bodies is still in developmental stages, so routines like this help the body learn, specially at night when everything is on stand by.Good luck.

Hi, A.,
I have twin boys and I think they wet the bed once since they were potty trained. First, I never gave them anything to drink atleast a hour before they went to bed, then I woke the boys up in middle of the night. Try to keep the routine and hopefully they will get use to it and start getting up.

I'm still working on this with our 5-yr-old son!! At first I figured he was like me - I wet the bed until I was around 5-6 - I think I did because I'm such a heavy sleeper... and he seems to be also. I read Potty Training for Dummies & talked to his pediatrician & both said it's perfectly normal - some kids just take longer to develop that sensor in the brain that alerts them to wake up while sleeping when they need to pee. Several months ago, we started getting him up at night, about 2 hours after he'd fallen asleep, & taking him to pee - he often was still sleeping & like a rag doll while we did this! Now he's saying he doesn't want to wear pullups at night anymore so I said we'd try waking him up to pee (hoping his body will soon just get in the habit of waking himself up to pee) - and do this for a couple weeks to see if that helps him stay dry. (I've kept him in pullups at night because I just am not up for changing sheets every day - plus he often crawls into bed with us when he wakes up wet - who can blame him? And then we don't get much sleep...) I'm curious to see what other moms say, because we'd all like our son to stop peeing during the night! (On a side note, my parents didn't do anything special that I know of to get me to stop - but they did promise and give me a potty party when I didn't pee at night for a whole week - presents, cake and all!!) -- M. :)

I am a mother of a daughter who had this problem until she about seven or eight. After first determining that there were no physical ailments (except she had a very small bladder) there was nothing to do but wait for her to out grow the problem as she did. Bed wetting runs in familes. Most bed wetters are sound sleepers. You must be very careful not to damage her self esteem. If there was an accident during the night, she would come to me and we together changed her bedding, immediately without making a big deal about it as not to make her feel bad. To us it was a part of her childhood. Some children bite their nails and that too can be changed. She did outgrow it without her selfesteem being compromised. When she was invited over to friends homes, I let the mother of her friend know so they could take precautions but the funny thing about that, she never had accidents away from home. She slept lighter. Today, she is a very self confident young women and has become a nurse. Keep on loving and caring for her in the most loving way. Don't get upset, because she herself is not happy about this either.

Her bladder may be weak or not as big as it should be. My sister's middle child had both problems. He wet the bed until he was 7. My oldest grandson also had the same problem. I wondered it might be in our genes. My sister also peed the bed a lot. Even when she was older. I even did it but not every night.

Chiropractic has been proven effective in helping with bed wetting.