Sound Sleeper Bedwetting at 7

Iwet the bed into my teen rears Inever ewent to sleepovers at frieand houses because of this. Eventually it stoped . I am now 85 years old and dont have that problem any ore. My 4 children never had that problem. Please Dont make him feel gilty Protct the bed &him the best you can. somethimes setting the timer & waking him up to go in the middle of the night my help . A. from No. Hills

My son is also 7 and wets at night. He wore goodnights for years, I finally sucked it up at bought a Miren sp? alarm. I could have saved SO much money on those good nights. The alarm is LOUD. After about a month-he is pee free. I still put it on him at night, and he had 1 night that it went off. But, he has totally accepted it. I wish that I had done it sooner.

Hi, I had the same situation with my now 7 yr old. I steel happends once in a while but not in a daily basis anymore. What we did is talk to him because we found out from a doctor that is almost imposible for them not to know when its coming, so we told him it is his responsibility to change his bed clothes and pj's each time he wet the bed, because he was waking me and my husband to do this for him everytime. He did not believe at first but it finally worked. Now it happends only once every two or three months buy the same principle applies. He changes is bed and clothes. I leave a set of clean sheets and a spear pj for him on his bed side. I hope it work for you to. belssings.

Barring any legitimate physical/medical issues, which that does happen with some kids, you might try the incentive approach. It worked for us.

Our oldest son was just a really sound sleeper when he was younger. He was in pull-ups until around age 7 I think. He had saved up his birthday and Christmas money for an Xbox. He was allowed to buy it once he was dry all night for a month straight.
Our son is very headstrong and that was enough incentive to get him to wake himself up to go to the bathroom. He really wanted that Xbox! And it worked!
I know some moms will probably think that's a lousy way to get a kid to stay dry at night, but once again, it was the first thing that actually worked for us. We had already tried waking him up at intervals, no liquids before bedtime, etc.

If that didn't work, we were going to do what my mom did for my brother, and another mom has suggested to you. Get the sheets that sound an alarm at the first drop of liquid.

Good luck :)

My husband and I were late bedwetters - 8 and 9 when we finally "grew out of it." I would suggest putting him in the disposable underwear for older kids, and just wait for his bladder to catch up to the rest of his body. Getting him up frequently during the night, or otherwise trying to manage the problem yourself, will send the message that there's something really wrong with him and make him anxious, plus will mean he's not getting quality sleep and therefore more likely to be grumpy and exhausted.

Hi J.,

My son is 9 and just grew out of it. It was hard for years, he had feelings of shame and couldn't understand why it was happening. First I took him to the doctor to see if it was physiological, it wasn't. It may have been hereditary, he has an aunt that wet the bed until she was 12. I also eliminated liquids in the evening and had him go to the bathroom right before bed but he still wet. I tried not making a big deal out of it, I tried making him responsible for stripping his bed and bringing the sheets to the laundry room, for a while his dad tried to shame him out of it (against my wishes)...none of that worked. I took him to a school counselor and she suggested to first try the bed wetting alarm. If that doesn't work, there is a prescription pill that inhibits urination that you can give in the evening. She suggested trying that. Before I implemented any of those, the problem disappeared. Good luck. I know how traumatic it can be for both you and your son.

Okay J.:

You said you're willing to try just about anything? Well, no one else on Mamasource has believed me but the one thing that has worked consistently in our family is LOTS OF WATER before bed! The pain of a full bladder trains the child to wake up. If the bladder fills slowly (because you've restricted liquids), the child adjusts to the pain until it's too late.

Try it! It worked for all six of us cousins and my children never even had trouble since I was prepared with our family technique!

Let me know! Give it a week or so.

M.

I was a bed wetter until the age of twelve. It was so awful and traumatic to go to that age bed wetting. If only someone had given me the advice I'm giving you now, I would have been spared so much embarasemet (and my mother would have been spared the laundry)! I used one of those devices that you wear in your underwear. When it gets wet an alarm goes off. Sounds funny but let me tell you, my body just slept too deep and didn't realize I had to pee. After three alarms, my body caught on and I began to wake when my bladder was full. I don't remember the brand I used, but I would either google it or go through your pediatrition. We just got something mail order. It totally worked. I was so gratful that something so simple worked so well. For me it wasn't gimicky it was a complete and total success (at the time I thought it was a miricle). It works for a lot of kids.

I was a bedwetter until I was a teenager. Dr's have found now that it has nothing to do with controlling your bladder. Your son really has no control over it. So, I will say first, please do not make a big deal about it.
Probably the best thing is use Good Nites. They are convenient and easy to hide.
Remember, he will grow out of it.

Hi Juanita,
My daughter was bedwetting also (she was about 6) and I had tried everything you said too! She even had an accident at my sisters while on a sleepover. I started sending night pull-ups for big girls on sleepovers. I finally found the solution and was mad I had not done it sooner! It is called Malem alarms. They are pricey (about $100) and I am not one for pricey!!! I resisted for a while but in the end I bought one (on the internet). IT WAS THE BEST $100 I HAVE EVER SPENT!!! It worked in less than a week. Your son would wear an alarm (looks like the old pagers we use to have) near his head, on the collar of his p.j.'s or near his shoulder. It is attached to a wire that you clip to his undies. When he starts to urinate the clip gets wet and the alarm will sound, LOUDLY. Most likely he will wake and stop the flow. It only took my daughter a couple of times and she got it! She now sleeps through the night without any problems or will get up and use the restroom if she needs to. She is now 9. I cannot recommend it enough. I would have gotten it sooner had I known how well it would work. You may not use it for long, but it is still worth the price. I just googled it to get you the website and there are some for less than $100. I found mine at www.bedwettingstore.com. There are others but I choose Malem.

Good luck and I would love to know if it worked for your son!
J. Thomas

Dear J.,
My son was still wetting his bed when he hit kindergarten and I spoke to may doctor. She said many boys at 5 or 6 do and it was more common than you would think, so if he was still wetting at 8, there were other things she could recommend trying that would help. Mainly, I think you need to not make an issue of it unless he is really bothered by it. You can talk with the pediatrician and see what the options are there and what he thinks. My pediatrician sounded like there were devices to help bed wetters (perhaps it is the alarm mentioned by another person) or medication (but that would be a last resort).
My son was a very sound sleeper too and wouldn't even wake up enough to void when we got him up and onto the toilet or stood him in front of it and also limited liquids after 5:30 but it didn't help. He was still in night diapers because of this and didn't like them (I was pregnant and knew he wouldn't want them after the baby came). He wanted to stop wetting very much so we set up a chart and he got a big star if his diapers were dry in the morning. He also to to pick out a special toy he wanted that he would receive after he wasn't bed wetting (I actually went and purchased this so I would have it when he was finally dry). He was told when he got 7 stars in a row that he would not have to put the diapers on at night and could get the toy. He would go a few days and then wet. Within 2-3 month he was up to about 5 or 6 night dry then one wet and was getting discouraged. Finally I told him that I did not mind washing his sheet, pj's, etc every 5 or 6 days and we took off the diapers and let him have the toy. He occasionally wet for a while, but was much happier and I didn't have to worry about having him reject the diapers because of the infant. Today they have "big boy pullups" that really are absorbent and I think would be good while you give him another year to mature. If he sleeps over, just let the other mom know so she can dispose of the pullups. It is true that sometimes the myelination of the nerves takes longer in some children so they take longer to get control. Be patient and I hope this might help, but I would speak to the pediatrician too. You will be surprised how common it is:)
H.

my boy was the same at age 8! i finally broke down & bought a "malem alarm"...best $100 i ever spent! i got the alarm when he was going to have an overnight at a friends house & i informed the mom of his "issue"....she promtly told me that "well, i'm glad you told me that, but i'm sorry, i can't have him spend the night then." the malem will make you feel like you have a newborn for the first week or so, but then it's smooth sailing after that (at least, it was for us). check them out online.....you will wonder why you waited so long (like i did!) good luck, mama!

I had a problem with my fourth child wetting the bed until she was 8 or 9. She'd sleep too soundly. We tried the sensors in the underwear that would wake her up (for a while) and limiting all of the liquids etc. I found that if I got her up and took her to the bathroom by 11:30, she would be dry through the night. If I didn't get there by then, she would be wet. We found that the pads from The Right Start were life savers. They are cloth on top and plastic lined. They fit across the bed over the bottom sheet. We owned two and it was her job to get the pad to the washer and replace it with the clean one. She finally out grew wetting the bed. We rewarded her with a new mattress, which she had been asking for.

Hi, I wrote about this same problem about 6 months ago. My boy who was 6 at the time was doing the same thing. Our catch is that he sleep walks too. This is what works for us. We make sure that he pees before he goes to bed. He may have gone 20 minutes before but we make him go again. Then we wake him up at 11:30 right before we go to sleep and take him to the bathroom again. Most of the time we get him to pee, but sometimes he won't. But this at least breaks up his sleep to let him be aware of the feeling. Sometimes he will get up, sleepwalking and walk to us and we just guide him to the bathroom. He will pee then too. Our safety net is a waterproof pad that I picked up at Wal-mart. It is in the baby section. He always sleeps on that. He had a choice of the pad or pull ups. He chose the pad. He had one sleep over and I told the mom to wake him up before she feel asleep and she did. He went pee and didn't have an accident. It works. Good luck.

Have you thought about getting some of those good nights. I know he is 7 but maybe on some of those nights that he was really active put them on and if he does go it won't be such a good idea.
My son is 3 and he does okay and this may sound crazy but the person who posted about giving lots of liquids may be on to something bc my son drinks 8-16 oz of milk before bed and wakes up himself everynight to tell me he has to go potty. He has only had a accident like 3 time since.

I haven't read through all of the responses that you have received but one thing I would like to suggest is taking him to see his pediatrician. Sometimes an onset of incontinence (inability to hold urine/accidents) may be a sign of a urinary tract infection.

what might be happening is he hasnt grown into his bladder yet, being the bladder isnt big enough yet or to big one of them, take him to the doctors, its almost impossible to fix this your self, rule out some issues the doctor might help him with, research research, dont blame him it isnt his fault, he can spend the might at his friends house, he can change in the bathroom put a pull up on then just put his regular underwear on, my son had a friend who had this problem, and he still spent the night, we knew about it because his parents shared with us about it, we made darn sure he wasn't teased about it,nor did the info leave the house,. Waking him up 2=3 hrs your going to mekae him sick and most likly you both are very tired. He needs his sllep, his grades will start slipping buy him some pull ups.

There are special diapers for older children that have this problem and he can hide them under his pjs so he won't have to worry frantically if he goes to a friend’s house for a sleep over. There are also prescription medications available. Has he seen a doctor about this? The fact that you get him up several times a night and he still goes makes me wonder if the problem is physical. The lady that suggested lots of water rather than water restriction has an interesting theory. I would give that a try, after I put something on the bed to protect it.

I have a 10 year old who is a sound sleeper and bedwetter as well. I have had her to the doctor and been told she will grow out of it. Her father was a bedwetter as well so I will just have to wait. I have tried everything alarms, limited drinks, getting her up during the night and found nothing works. As you said about sleeping over at friends house, I just get her the Goodnites sleep underpants (in diaper area of store). It is less embarrassing than bedwetting. She just changes in the bathroom and I have had talks with all her friends mom's. She also goes on Girl Scout overnights and takes these with her. She is going on a week long school camp so we will see how that goes. She doesn't wet that often but just once in front of friends is to much. I just pray that she outgrows it soon but I know of people that bedwet up until they were in there teens. Good luck to you and your son.

Our son had the same problem. After making sure there was no physical problem, we bought one of those alarms that wakes the child as soon as any moisture hits the sensor. It took a few days, and he never had a problem after that. It was just a matter of getting him sensitized to waking up when he needed to go to the bathroom.

Hope this helps--I know this is a frustrating and potentially embarrassing problem for a young boy.

My 8-year-old daughter still wets the bed regularly. Our approach has been to just let it be and trust our pediatrician (and everything else I read) that she will indeed grow out of it on her own. In recent weeks it's gone from an every night event to only about half of the time now, which I can only attribute to her getting older, as we've done nothing differently. By frequently assuring her that it's simply that her body likes to sleep more deeply than others, and that she will eventually outgrow this, she doesn't have big hang ups about it. In fact, her best buddy who sleeps over at our house often, knows that she wears a pull-up. Something like 1 in 10 kids wets the bed until age 12! So perhaps the less pressure, the better. Getting up that often all night long can't be good for you or your son. I would suggest doing nothing for a few months, buy the night-time pull-ups for big kids, and give your son's body some time to catch up with himself.

(That said, I might try that other mom's suggestion about drinking loads of water, just to see if it works. We make a joke of it at our house anyway, so I can present it to my daughter as a fun science experiment. She sleeps so incredibly soundly that I'll be very impressed if something like this does the trick!)

No matter what, just reassure your son that he is one of many, many children his age and older who wet the bed.

It looks like you have received a lot of great advice on here. I just wanted to mention that I've heard seeing a chiropractor could help.

My best to you and your son!
M.

Both of my boys had this problem. They were SO sound asleep. For my older son the homeopathic Equisetum helped tremendously. For my younger son Causticum helped quite a bit. You can get the homeopathic remedies and read more about them at www.abchomeopathy.com. I got them both in a 200c.

The other thing that really helped was propolis. There is something in there that helps with the bladder and when I did just the propolis or just the homeopathics, we got 4-5 dry nights, but the combination was amazing! Completely dry. We carried out the protocol for about 2 months.

Also, if your child wants to do sleep overs, there is a boy that would sleep over at our house and bring a sleeping bag because he would wet and didn't want anyone to know. He would get up in the morning and get changed and put his jammies in his bag. His mom let me know, but the other kids never knew.

If you want to read more about homeopathy, go to www.bluedominoes.com. There are links on the bottom of the home page for different homeopathy articles.

Best regards,
D.

You need to educate yourself on the subject of bedwetting. It is almost always an inherited issue caused by immaturity of certain muscles in the urinary system that only time will remedy. Even if you or your husband were not bedwetters, chances are at least one of your or your husband's siblings, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc, were. Although certain drinks and/or foods can exacerbate the condition, it is basically a matter of physical maturity and there is little you can do about it. Of course, you can definitely turn this issue into a huge problem, depending on your response to it. If you maximize the issue instead of minimizing it, you can cause great psychological damage to your son. Do not wake him up every few hours - that will interfere with his REM sleep and lead to even greater problems. Acceptance is the key. Accept it just as you would accept a child with any other sort of physical issue. Assure your son that he will grow out of it and that it is not a big deal. As for sleep-overs, there is a medication he can take on sleep-over nights that will prevent accidents, but it cannot be taken regularly. In general, the key here is to MINIMIZE!!!

hi there!...i was a bed wetter until i was aproximately 12....i think whenever i hit puberty...i'm now 50 years old...but if there had been some of the options that are available now, i really think my mom would have tried any or all of them...sometimes, bed wetting is psycological, sometimes physical....i would rule out all physical possibilities first.....most people, when they sleep, their bodies slow down on the production of urine....so it may not be that he's such a sound sleeper, but that his brain isn't making the connection that he's sleeping.....he will probably grow out of it, but you have to be patient..as far as spending the night with friends, i never wet the bed at any of my friends homes, but i would if i spent the night with say a cousin or gramma...there's disposable underpants for older kids too, if he'd be comfortable wearing them at someone else's house......please don't get discouraged, and do be as supportive as you can......hope this helps...just one more note: none of my three kids ever wet the bed, but both of my brother's kids did...my brother was NOT a bed wetter...strange, huh???? good luck to you and your little man...

sleep is more important for both of you. try night-time pull-ups -- at least for friends' houses. Check w/ Dr. sometimes it has a medical cause. He will out grow it eventually.

Hi Jaunitta, he will grow out of it, my second child did but he was affraid to get up and go and part was lazy, i did 2 things, no liquids after dinner, and I told him when he could go for 5 days and not wet, i would take him to toys r us and he could pick out a toy. He started staying dry at night from 17 months old, he was potty trained by 19 months, his bed wetting started when we moved to a two story house, I think the big house scared him, so he would not get up, he started wakingnup his brother to go with him, brotherly love the problem got solved. J. L.