Bedwetting - Chicago,IL

My ex had the same problem when he was a young boy. He was taken to a chiroparter, sorry I suck at spelling, to be adjusted and never had a problem since.

I have the same problem with my 10-year-old daughter! If you come up with a solution, PLEASE let me know. The only improvement we have seen so far is to reduce the quantity of fluid that she's wetting...and the way we did that was to put her on a whole foods diet and pull out as many preservatives and chemicals out of her diet as we could. That reduced the heaviness of the pullups that she's wearing by about 2/3. But she's still having an accident every night...Good luck to you!

HI J.,

First of all, I'm so sorry you have to deal with this, especially as a single mom. I too was a single mom for 6 years and my boy had this problem up until age 10 or 11. I, too tried everything...2 different kinds of med's, waking him up (impossible since he's such a deep sleeper), limiting fluids etc. etc. etc! I finally tried a potty alarm and he was trained in less than 2 weeks. If you do a Google search you can find many different kinds. My best to you and Merry Christmas!

I agree with a previous poster.
There is medication. My son takes the meds she said (we call it DDAVP) but in the pill form. My son has a medical condition where he could not concentrate his urine as he was missing his pitutary gland. He would urinate every 30-45 mins, regardless of drinking.He would then have to drink so he wouldn;t dehydrate. Does your son drink alot? Get up to drink and urinate at the same time?
I was at my wits end too - up 8-10 times a night...he was so sleep deprived, so was I.

The DDAVP is also given to children who do not medically need it - but do wet the bed. It simply concentrates the urine and wears off rather quickly.
If you go in armed with info - maybe your doctor will realize how much this has burdened your family. I can't imgagine what your son's self esteem goes through when it is the bed time routine. I know my son, who was 4, woke up that morning and felt like a champ. Exclaimed 'I didn't get up one time last night!'

Good luck!

My daughter at 6yo had a problem with day and night wetting; she'd run to the bathroom with no warning and often get there "too late". It turned out to be a bladder infection with no other signs of pain.

Has you ever had your son evaluated by a ear, nose, throat doctor to see if he's a candidate to have his adnoids removed? My oldest went through this - at a younger age. The ENT told us as a side benefit of having the adnoids removed (he sounded as if he was snoring while awake - which is what prompted us to have him evaluated) was that he would be dry at night. Reason being that with enlarged adnoids, children do not fall into that deep, deep sleep.

It just might be something to think about and talk to your doctor.

Best of luck!

there is a med you can get from the dr. dpvt or something like that. ask your dr. he/she will know

Your son could have a medical reason as to why he can't stop wetting the bed...Being in the medical field I would recommend taking him to a urologist to find out if there is a medical reason..A friend of mine had a daughter with the same problem and it turned out to be medical....Check with your insurance to see who is covered and i would start looking there.

Bedwetting could be physical, but as long as you've had him checked by a doctor and nothing is physically wrong, bedwetting is a symptom of a psychological issue. It's just a symptom and it's critical you find out what's really troubling your son. Maybe he's being verbally or physically abused at school, in someone else's care, or at home. It might have even been one time; anything traumatic could have lasting effects. You haven't mentioned that you took your son to a doctor and to a psychologist? That's where you should start.

good morning Jacueline!

First off, just wanted you to know that, you are not out there alone! I was really surprised when I found out that there are a lot of older kids who still wet the bed at night. Also, you would have to not give him anything to drink for 3 days before he would not wet the bed. There is fluids in your bladder at all times.

I have a son who used to wet the bed. We took him to the doctors and they prescribed Desmopressin 5 ml. It is a nasal med that he uses at bedtime. It took about 1 week before it started working, but boy does it work!! I was used to washing bed sheets every day! Now I only wash them 2 times a week, and that is only because I want to change the sheets!

Maybe check with your doctor and see if this will work for your son.

Hope this helps

Merry Christmas to you and your family

God's Blessings
D.

I am thinking that you have already gotten several responses but I would like to offer this. I have an adult step-daughter that wet the bed til she was 16, a step-son that wet the bed til he was 9; I think, and my son didn't wet the bed but would have pee accidents up til he was close to 8. The worse part was that he would tell me that he didn't feel he had to go or realize all the time that he had gone. Everyone kept telling me that he is being lazy and just not wanting to take the time to go to the bathroom and I should punish him. I knew this was not like him and he would cry when he went and it would embarress him. After taking him to two Urologist they discovered that his bladder was slow in growing and hadn't grown as fast as the rest of him. I found out that that was hereditary. I just kept reassuring him, telling him it isn't his fault and he had a medical condition, but that didn't give him a reason to use as an excuse to be lazy. And helping him clean up when he needed or wanted the help. Plus I never complained about the extra laundry. Once his bladder caught up with the rest of his body, he didn't have any more accidents or problems. However, when his father and I seperated for 6 months for marital issues he started having BM accidents when he was 8. Sometimes upto 7 aday. If he thought he had to fart, it wasn't. But this was due to stress and once we found out the why's we dealt with them and it stopped. But once again, I didn't degrade him or punish him in any way. He was already embarressed at that age to be having this kind of accident. I just made sure I had plenty of flushable wipes and wash cloths on hand and in the bathroom, and helped him clean up when needed. Try to find out if there is an underlying cause that is causing him to have accidents, stress or medical. Or is he just such a sound sleeper that he doesn't wake up. If that is the case, possibly try setting an alarm that will wake him up in the middle of the night and he will know that it is just a reminder to get up and use the bathroom and then to go back to bed. Hope this helps.

The remedy that finally worked for my 9 year old son was an alarm bought from The Bedwetting Store. They are expensive, but they truly do work. We started him on it a few months before he turned 9, and it did take a number of months for him to be consistently dry every night. We have now moved on and given it to his 6 year old sister, so we are starting the process all over again. As a side note, my neighbor also bought one for her 9 year old son, and he also is completely cured! We both ordered through the internet and the alarms came shipped in plain brown boxes ( I think the return label said BWS, instead of spelling out the store name). You will lose sleep at first, but once the body kicks in, it is amazing how they start having dry nights! Hope this helps!!

Hi, you are not alone in this. My 9 year old daughter wets the bed. It's not every night but usually 1 night a week. I have tried everything known to me also. If you get any good tips let me know! Good luck!

Hi! I just wanted to let you know, you are not alone in this at all. My middle daughter who is 9 still wets the bed. I use to get goodnights but now, I just get reagular pull ups because they are so expensive. Anyhow, there is a pill out there you can get and also an alarm. I have not tried either one yet. I am thinking I might if by 10 she is still doing it. I hate it, but I do the same things you do with the liquid and it does not matter. She is wet most nights. It really sucks.

S. Bailey CLD
Aurora
www.tendermomentsdoula.com

my son also was a bed wetter and we tried everything. his doctor said don't worry, I promise he will not walk down the aisle and still wet his bed and he was right. The cause we found out was thatmy son was a very deep sleeper and he uncle also was a bed wetter. Give your sontime and don't be so hard on him.

I have a 9 year old son that does the same thing. It is just that their bladder is still small. I researched online and found out that you should try and have him drink more fluids during the morning to help stretch it out. I put a water proof mattress cover over my son's mattress and he just sleeps in his underwear. Sometimes he does wet only into the underwear, his pajama bottoms and bed seem to be dry. My son is also a deep sleeper and doesn't wake up when he has to go. They eventually will grow out of it. Take care.

There seems to be a real problem on the rise with older kids bed wetting that is being corrected with aid of a doctor. I would say talk to your doctor. He might have this condition.

I see you already have a lot of good, first hand advice. My son wet the bed until he was 8 or 9. If you weed out any physical reasons, you may want to try what worked for me. We never scolded or reprimanded him, which I'm sure you don't do either. I taught him to use the washer and dryer and told him he would have to wash his own sheets and change his own bed. If you have a washer in your home, this may help. If not, then have him pile the sheets and change his own bed during the night. My son became very aware of how much work it can be when you don't get up. It helped him to wake himself up.

My daughter, who is now 14, has had a persistent bedwetting problem since getting out of diapers. We tried many options over the years. What has worked for her for the past 2 years is a prescription medication called Desmopressin. I suggest you ask your doctor about trying it. She takes one pill every night before bedtime. Good luck!

J.,

I will have an article in the January issue of Chicago Parent about bedwetting. It's fairly comprehensive and covers more than just the stopping liquids and letting them outgrow it ideas. It should be on the web at www.chicagoparent.com within the next week. You can search by my name.

In the meantime, visit www.tryfordry.com. It's a section of Children's Memorial in Chicago and it will give you some great things to read and think about.

Best of luck!!!!

M. Sussman

At our pediatrician's office there is a poster for a drug for bedwetting. Sorry I can't remember the name, but it says that some kids either have a smaller bladder, have bodies that produce more urine, or just don't wake up when it's time to go. I think if you've tried other "home remedies" without success, it's worth discussing with your doctor. Good luck, it is a heartbreaking challenge for both of you, I'm sure.

My son is almost 8 years old and he has the same problem. I like you tried everything. I and my mother researched on the internet for many hours. I did NOT want to use medication. The medications they use don't really help. My nephew had the same problem (we believe it's hereditary) and the meds never helped him. I found the Enuresis Control Clinic. They are now helping me to cure my son of a deep sleep disorder. If you read the symptoms you will probably find they describe your son to a tee. I will give you the web site, they guarantee success. Every one kept telling me to let him out grow it but that is the worst thing you can do. Once they out grow the bed wetting you can't fix the deep sleep disorder. There is more than one enuresis center but the other one I found was very expansive. www.enuresiscontrolclinic.com Please go there and see for yourself. My e-mail is ____@____.com if you have more questions write me directly anytime!! I know how hard it is to watch your child have a problem that you just cannot fix and as moms we want to fix every problem if we can. I am working with this clinic right now and it is a slow process but, I know it will help.

Please take your son to a urologist.
My brother wet the bed until 13. My parents tried everything, counseling etc.My mother even set the alarm to take him to the bathroom every couple of hours
the truth is that he had a MEDICAL CONDITION our family doctor did not catch, nor anyone else.
He went to the specialist, had test ran and got some medicine to clean up the condition and he never wet the bed again.

Single Mom, My 30 year old son was trained to the pot before he was a year. Later he started wetting bed. He told me recently that a male cousin who is Gay put his hands on my son while I allowed him to spend the nite at this cousins house when he was 10. I just spoke to a counselor & he told me bedwetting is a sign that the child has been molested. Boys are very silent about being molested. I later checked with my exhusband & he informed he wetted the bed. It is in the genes. Now I am thinking my 3yr old son did see his 13 month sister die. Counseling is important when our children see trauma!

I do not know your situation but I do know there could be a couple other reasons for the bedwetting incidents. My fiance had a bedwetting problem when he was little and his mom could never figure out why until one day they took him to the doctor and he told them that he had a small urethra opening causing the problem. He out grew the bedwetting incidents but he was 11 before it happened. Also if there are a lot of stressors in his life could also cause problems and it could be little stressors such as the way you taylor to his personality.

Hi J.:
I know that you have gotten a lot of responses. I decided to share with you my story as well. My son was bedwetting until he was almost 4, and I did not stop digging for possible causes until I discovered that it was related to certain foods. Although he did not have typical allergic reactions to particular foods, his sensitivity to them would express itself in him not being able to hold urine at night. It's worth investigating that possibility as well. I wish you & your son all the best, Zorana