6 Year Old - Bedwetting Advice

It's something you're going to have to be patient with. My DD is 6 and still not consistently dry at night and there is no sense in shaming her for being a deep sleeper. Pediatrician is not worried and says that nighttime is less about training and more about physical ability. I would just keep him in the pull ups, take him to potty before he goes to bed, and see if it improves. It also sounds like YOU are the one waking and dealing with the bed and soaked pjs and unless DH wants to be the one in charge (and understands that this is not deliberate on the child's part) then YOU get to choose pull ups or not. Me? I let her "try"panties on weekends and the rest of the week we use pull ups because otherwise we are bathing her every morning and we don't have time for that.

Stop! You just have to stop! Seriously ...

There is absolutely nothing you can do ... at all! He will stay dry when his body is ready and not a moment before.

Let him have whatever he wants to drink whenever he wants it. Do not cut off fluids. This does absolutely nothing.

Do not wake him up or set alarms. This does nothing.

The only thing you can do is wait. I'm sorry that your husband refuses to go back to using Pull-ups, because that is the route I would choose. Some people prefer to use the pads and double or triple the layer of sheets. I think all of that is just extra work, and I would prefer a wet pull-ups each morning to all the extra laundry.

Right now the only thing you are accomplishing is lots and lots of unnecessary stress. You might even be making the situation worse. This will pass when it passes. If you are concerned, talk to your pediatrician. But it's my understanding that this is normal and that some kids do not develop control until they are 10 to 12 years old. Those kids would be in the minority, but at 6 years old this really isn't something to be concerned about.

Leave him be, and wait for his body to mature in its own time.

The bed wetting issue is common enough in 5th graders (10-11 yo) that the school nurse talked about it to all the parents in preparation for an overnight camping trip all 5 th graders go on in our district. Honestly 6 yo is still young. I would not bother limiting fluids. I would just make sure the bed is protected and you have extra PJs available. Also, I don't get why your husband is opposed to a pull-up. Perhaps he should wash the bedding daily for a few weeks.😉 he may change his mind about the pull-up.

I have to 2nd Gidget. Go back to the pull ups. If you are having trouble paying for them, then ask the pediatrician for a prescription. My guy is almost 4, and when he turned 3 the medical insurance started buying his diapers and pull ups for him. It's my understanding that they will do so until he doesn't need them anymore. Granted, my guy is autistic, but if you son isn't ready to be night trained, then he needs to have the pull ups.

My husband said that he wet the bed until he was 12. So did my best friend's little boy. He would sleep so hard that he couldn't hear his body's cues, I remember her putting him on the toilet at 7 while he was sound asleep and he would pee because she told him to. It is just a stage.

We never really know or understand if we are putting stress on our kids in situations like this when we are not feeling pressured, but if we keep bringing it up, or things to try, then they KNOW that they are supposed to be dry at night and aren't. My daughter was like this, and even though she knew that we weren't disappointed in her, she was disappointed in herself, which is actually worse in my opinion.

Just needs time. Some kids are dry at 2 and some at 10
Out of his control.

This is not anything you can train a child to do. It just isn't. Stop with the wet beds, the waking up to go pee, and the alarms.

We did all of that and there is no point. All you are doing is what we did - depriving him of a good night's sleep, spending money on alarms that (by definition) only work when he's already wet, and increasing the laundry. So if it's a physical thing and there is no shaming involved, why is your husband so insistent on taking away the equipment your son needs (Pull-ups or equivalent)??? This is entirely developmental. Would you take away food because your child wasn't able to feed himself? Would you prevent a child from crawling because you thought he was old enough to walk? Would you fail to respond to crying or gestures because you thought your child should be old enough to talk? These things are all developmental milestones and nothing that you can force or teach. And I think thinks are going to get a lot worse because your child is unable to get uninterrupted sleep because someone is rousing him to go pee or he is waking up wet many times. He absolutely must sleep.

I'm not a big believer in medication, but I can tell you that we were thrilled when our pediatrician referred us to a pediatric urologist. He was great, told us he had kids (mostly boys) of all ages, up to age 18, with this problem. At no time did he mention anything about vasopressin. After discussion, we decided to put our son, at age 7, on a standard low dose of DDAVP. One pill at night, and he slept all night and was dry every night, no exceptions (after the first few days - I think it took a few days to kick in). Our child was able to go to sleepovers and, later, to overnight camp. He was still wetting the bed at age 10 when he went off the medication, so he went back on until 11 or 12. That's when his body was ready. I'm not saying to do that. But if you don't, you have to put him back on Good Nights or other product. Please go see a urologist so you have another opinion. Constantly limiting fluids isn't going to help much. And another alarm, after you've already spent this money, is still only going to tell you when he's already wet. Plus your kid is afraid of it and it's going to wind up shaming him whether you intend that or not.

Please use the search option and search this topic. You'll see what all of us say each time this is posted.

You will save money by using overnight pull ups. Time and effort on your part are worth something. Do you really want to spend MORE time on laundry???

Plus extra laundry runs up the electric, gas, detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets, water, and more.

This is completely biological and there is absolutely nothing you can do to make your child's bladder and kidneys mind you and stay dry. He has no more control over this than you would while you are under a general anesthesia. He is not in control of telling his kidneys to stop producing urine. He has no muscle control over his bladder when he's asleep.

If you wake him up he clenches that muscle and holds it. As soon as he goes back to sleep the muscles relax and urine escapes.

He'll be dry when he's dry.

100% normal for 6, heck it's even 100% normal for 11. You're fighting a losing battle, go back to pullups. The alarms can work, but HE needs to be ready to do it and it's a HUGE commitment. My son was 9, I slept in his room for 6-8 weeks to help wake him up and get him to the restroom (the alarms have explicit instructions and you have to follow them to be successful). It worked, but only because he wanted to stop wetting the bed. We tried the alarm once before when he was around 7 and it was a catastrophe, he wasn't ready. If hubby doesn't want to go back to pullups then it's hubby's job to do the associated laundry :)

Hi M.,

I work for a principled upper cervical chiropractor. She has an advanced certification with prenatal and pediatric care and we have success stories with bed-wetters. Gamma is right..the child can't help it...but the problem itself can be helped. The brain tells every muscle, cell, tissue AND organ what to do and when to do it. The line of communication is dysfunctioning. This does not have to continue.

If you don't know one, go to upcspine.com and look one up. IPCA4kids.com is also a great website. Call them and interview them the way you would a pediatrician. If they don't understand the immune system, hang up and go onto the next.

God bless!
M.

Mine was a bit past 6.5 years old before dry. He's been dry for a year, but has occasional mini-wets, where he's not awake enough to not pee, but wakes up enough to not get the bed wet - his pants get wet-ish.

Talk to your pedi if he's still not able to be dry after he turns 7 so they can make sure things are working right. Otherwise, it's normal.