Ideas for Bed Wetter

Take her to the pediatrician; there are medications that can help. She will eventually outgrow it, but it may still be several more years. I've never heard of anyone having any luck with the sensor.

Make sure she drink less water from 6pm onwards. Pass urine before she goes to bed. Adjust the room temperature and ensure that is not too cold. Switch on dim light for the child to go to toilet without feelin fear.

I am so encouraged by all of your responses. My daughter will be 12 in October and has just recently been wet-free for 2 months. I will try the chiropractor thing to see if that helps. It has been really hard on her to the point that she won't stay the night with friends and won't have anyone stay at our house. I am glad you came forward with this. I never would have thought to even ask!!! Good luck!

My daughter is 6 & still wets the bed. The Dr. told me that her bladder just hasn't caught up w/her body. We have 3 other children, including a younger one, that don't have have this problem. It bothers her that her little sis is "trained" & she still wets the bed, but we don't make a big deal about it. We don't want to give her a complex or anything. :) It is a pain to buy Good Nights, but it's better than stinky sheets & p.j.'s. Next time you take her to the Dr., talk about it. Like the other mom said, at 7 I doubt they'll do anything but it's worth a discussion.

I posted this a while ago for another mom of a bedwetter. Here is the response I gave her....

This is a very sensitive issue for me. I was a bedwetter until 18! YES! I said 18. My aunt and uncle tried the alarm with me, but it just did not work for me. I am not saying they do not work for many children, because they do. My experience was that the noise was so loud that it scared me and I became paralized with fear. All I could do was sit there and finish peeing. My aunt and uncle were furious. It had worked on my cousin, so now I was spanked every time I woke up wet. They did not understand that I was not doing it on purpose. After puberty, which was late (16 years old) I gradually stopped wetting the bed. When I came home to my dad and step-mom (at age 7), I was put in charge of doing my own sheets and pajamas when I was wet, and we watched my fluids too. It took a LONG time, but I don't feel that there was any other option at that time. There is a medication out there called DDAVP that helps those children who don't make the hormone to slow urine production during the night. This works on 75% of bedwetters.

I am now the mother of two children a boy (9 years old) who is still an every other night bedwetter, and a girl (6 years old) who once potty trained has never wet the bed unless we were up really late with lots to drink right before bed.

I have tried the DDAVP with my son and it did not work, in fact it made it worse. But it does work on MANY children. The only option doctors have given me for him now is wait it out or an alarm. Since I have had such a horrible traumatic experience with the alarm, I cannot bring myself to even try it on him.

I am sorry I don't have any real advice for you, but I do want you to know that most pediatricians do not consider bedwetting a problem until age 8 and most urologists (my son has seen one as well) do not cosider bedwetting a problem until puberty has passed! Also know that I feel your pain. I wash sheets almost every day (we only buy pull-ups/goodnights for sleepovers, road-trips, etc.), go through Febreeze like it is candy, and pray daily that this would soon come to an end as my son is getting older and becoming embarrassed by the fact that he is a bedwetter.

A few suggestions I can give that came from the urologist are:

Avoid caffine, carbonation, chocolate, and citrus

Limit fluids after 3:30pm Only a small amount with dinner and nothing after.

Lots of fluids during the day before 3:30pm

Use the bathroom every 2 hours throughout the day and sit for at least 2 minutes each time

And most importantly, if your child doesn't feel that it is as big of a problem as you do...she will not help you with these suggestions. The child has to decide that she is tired of wetting the bed, until then everything you try is in vain.

Sorry if that is discouraging. It discouraged me, but knowing that there is nothing "medically" wrong with my child is a good thing.

Good luck to you in whatever you decide.

I have also heard my Chiropractor talk about having great results with children and bedwetting. They do not adjust children the same way they do adults. So don't worry about it being some big bone cracking experience. Check out the pediatric website that the other person suggested. Good luck.

Hi F.! I wanted to tell you that I work with a chiropracter/Functional medicine doctor who has great sucess with bedwetters. The thing is Chiropracters adjust the spinal cord and the spinalcord is wrapped around the nervous system so many times something can be out of place and the brain doesn't get the signal that the blaader if full and kids have accidents. This is a problem many kids have. You may not think that your child should need to be adjusted but the truth is that they should be from birth. Many babies suffer from what they call a subluxation which means movement of the bones at birth. The number for the office is ###-###-####. Her name is dr. Ridley. She's done great with other children with just a simple adjustment.

There are some sort of pull ups or diapers now that turn cold when wet. Not sure if it would come in her size. I have Leaps and Bounds I have ordered a lot for my day care and it is good stuff. G. W

My daughter used to have this problem. I did discuss it with the doctor and they do have a pill that she took before going to bed. It worked. Alot of things can cause this and one thing he told me is stress in the home (which there was). She did eventually outgrow it but I would check with the Dr. and see if they have any ideas or maybe something different they have found. That was 15 years ago. Good luck and hang in there I remember how difficult it was to continue being patient with her.

I do not know anything about the device, but I will tell you that me son was 10 before he quit wetting the bed at night. I tried all of the things you did and they didn't work. I felt like a bad mother and he felt ashamed. He couldn't go to spend the night with anyone because he was afraid of wetting the bed and he didn't want others to see him wearing pull-ups. I finally consulted a urologist who said that some kids spinchter muscles do not mature like other kids. My father had the same problem till he was ten, so it probably was hereditary. The doctor prescribed a pill similiar to the pill people take for overactive bladders. This may not be what you need to do, but a urologist can help you to decide what is the best thing to do for your child. There are other options. I will warn you that the pill is expensive, but I had insurance which helped. This may not even be the avenue you need to take. Seeing a Urologist will also help you to cope with the issue until you can get it under control. Keep your chin up. This to shall pass.

L.

Hi F.,

Have you ever tried taking her to a Chiropractor? There can be a physical problem causing the bed wetting. The nerves that supply the bladder come out of the spine. When the spine is out of place, it can put pressure on the nerves. This pressure on the nerves, does not allow the correct signals to get to and from the bladder to the brain. By getting your daughter adjusted by a chiropractor that works with children, it can relieve the pressure on the nerves and allow correct functioning of the bladder. Kids usually respond very quickly, so you and your daughter can start living a normal life! Children typically don't enjoy wetting the bed any more than you like cleaning it up. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me - Dr. Sandra S. at ###-###-####. Thanks!

Hi F., We just talked to the Dr. 2 weeks ago about my 5 year old wetting the bed every night. She doesn't think the pills are a good long term solution as it doesn't teach the chlld to wake up when they have to go. She said if we wanted them for a camping trip or if we went on vacation that would be a good reason to take the pills. She told us it was our decision if we wanted to use the alarm or just let our daughter outgrow it. She says the alarms work for almost 90% if bed wetters and it might take a couple weeks. My husband was a bed wetter until he was about 8 and his parents made an alarm system for him and it worked in 2 days. He might have wet the bed longer if they hadn't done that. He really wants us to try the alarm. I've been talking with my daughter about it and she seems ready to try it, so we just need to go buy one. I'll let you know how it goes.

Is your daughter on any sort of prescripton medication? Some medications can make a child sleep so deeply that she cannot wake up on her own. Is she very groggy in the morning when it's time to get up? If so, she may not be getting enough total sleep...it's already broken sleep due to the bedwetting.

I know it's a lot of work to clean/change the sheets so much...but I agree with the poster that says that an adult should be doing that, not the child. The child is not wetting the bed on purpose. And at her age, she's embarrassed by it and to make her clean up after herself seems to be more humiliating. She's at the age that she'll remember being required to clean it, too, and it will make it more painful for her. It's not the same thing as cleaning her room or picking up toys she left on the floor. She needs love and support to help her through this. Waking up wet and not getting a good night's sleep is bad enough.

Good luck! I hope she has dry nights very soon.

Hi F.!

Has your daughter been to a pediatric chiropractor before? I would recommend for her to have her spine checked to make sure her nervous system is healthy and functionally optimally. Here is a website with research regarding chiropractic care and bedwetting (AKA nocturnal enuresis). Let me know if you have any questions!

From what I understand, it's a genetic thing related to a hormone that some families develop later than others. My family has it, and both my kids have it. The good news is that it will stop at some point.

I know buying goodnights is a pain and expensive (especially for two) but it's better than dealing with wet sheets, waterproof matress protectors, stinky night clothes, etc.

If you are concerned, ask your doctor next time she goes in for a check-up. I'd guess at 7 they won't do anything, but they might. I understand there are also pills they can give her for sleepovers, etc. We don't use them, I just have a quiet little chat with the other parent so they can help my kid be descreet with their wet pull-ups.

Good luck!

Most children who wet the bed have a special kind of sleeping disorder. Your pediatrician can prescribe a nasal spray that you give them before bed and it works. My daughter had this problem and it worked wonders for her. They gave me an informative video with the prescription that explains how it works.

Contrary to popular opinion, bed-wetting is a very common problem. It affects somewhere between five and six million children.

There are two different types of bed wetters. The first one is children who have not achieved complete nighttime control - always wetting at least twice a month (or more).

The next one is where the child has been dry for at least 6 months and then begins wetting the bed. This one is caused by situational change (stress, divorce, etc.)

I've heard that the first can be resolved in several options. The alarm, the pill, hyponosis (don't know if that works).

The second one can be resolved by finding out what is causing the problem (whether it's stress or divorce, etc).

Good luck!

C.

My parents used one of the "alarm" devices for my sister back in the 70's and it worked. My brother & I were both bedwetters too, but we had to just outgrow it (around 8 or 9). But, by the time my sister was experiencing the same thing, the new 'alarm' device (was just a pad that you slept on back then) came along and was used with great success for my sister. I believe she was about 6 or 7 then.

I truly believe that bedwetting is a combination of underdeveloped bladders as well as DEEP sleepers. So, I don't think the alarm device would even work for a child until they were about 5 years old or older, as some children don't fully develop until later. But since your child is 6 years old, the alarm should work well.

I know it is difficult being the one to clean up every night after an incident, but from an adult that once was a child with bedwetting, believe me it is NOT done on purpose and is very embarrassing for the child. Patience and extra love are critical. My Mom & Dad provided both and still to this day, I cringe when I think about the things it limited me to as a child. I was delayed in having sleepovers and other fun things. Not their fault at all. I limited myself until I was past this stage.

Hope this all helps. You have all the right ideas and the alarm one is a good investment and one that most probably will encourage success. My prayers are extended for you and your child, as I know it is draining and difficult.

Many Blessings - L.

Hello,
My name is M. and i too am a SAHM and i have 4 kids also. But in regaurds to your questions, I had to have surgery to fix my "problem." My urethra was too large and while i was asleep the muscles relaxed enough for me to wet my bed. You may need to talk to the family doctor about it. And please try to remeber that this is hard for her too. Thanks for your time and good luck.
M. Harris