6 Year Old Still Wets the Bed Sometimes at Night

When I was younger and was still wetting the bed, I remember my mother and grand-mother giving me cinnamon sticks to suck on before I went to bed, it was supposed to be a homeopathic way to help stop bed-wetting. Best of Luck!!

there are kids that do this and there are special pull ups at the store and also talk with her doctor about this issue. from; C.

I have a 6 yr old boy that still wears pull ups every night and most nights still wets them. He just sleeps too deeply to wake up to pee at night, I think. I just posted a question about his twin sleepwalking. They sleep in the same bed...by choice, they have bunk bed with twin on top, double on bottom, and they prefer together on bottom bunk. Sleepwalker sleeps on inside by the wall. Bedwetter sleeps on outside. Sleepwalker wakes up crying every night loud enough for hubby and I to hear him, but yet Bedwetter says he never hears him or remembers Sleepwalker crawling over him to get out of bed. So there's proof to be of how hard a sleeper he is. If someone crawls over me...I'd wake up...apparently not him. So I think it depends on the kid. One of my oldest sons's friends is eight years old and still wears pull ups at night. I'm friends with the mom and they've taken him to the Doctor, etc., they said some kids are just harder sleepers than others and until the kid's bladder is big enough to go all night, pull ups are the answer, and of course limiting liquids after 6pm, waking and taking her to potty when you go to bed which in my case is about 2 or 3 hours after I put them to bed, or you could set an alarm in the middle of the night for her if she can work one and get herself up and go. I hope this has helped...you are not alone! Otherwise they wouldn't make the pull-ups to size 60+lbs! :)

I was exactly like your daughter when I was her age. What worked for me FINALLY was my dad woke me up (I think midnight) every night for a while. It got me into the habit of waking up to go to the bathroom at the same time. It was a real sacrifice on his part, but it worked. Another hint, he carried a small flashlight so there were not bumped toes or tripping in my half sleeping state! Hope this helps!

Could be bad nerves?? My so done it and found out that he was a nervous child.

my boy is now 15 but he wet until 11 they sell good nights for kids who out grow pullups. Our ped prescribed him meds for this, he knew what they were for and he found out when he didnt take them he woke up wet so before he ran out he would make sure he imformed me he needed more than he started calling in the refill himself.

L.,

there are many reasons why a child this age might be wetting the bed at night and having no other accidents during any other hours of the day. Something is definitely going on in her world that you must look into. For example, how is her relationship with other siblings, if there are any? What about her relationship with her father or step-father if that is the case in your home? how is her relationship with you? how is your relationship with your husband? what goes on in shcool with teachers or other children? is your little girl having nightmares during the night and is perhaps afraid to go to the bathroom?

dig deeply with your eyes wide open in sincere search of answers and you will surely find them. children just don't begin bed-wetting for no reason! there is always a reason and it's up to the parents (mainly the mom) to find it. be patient with her; talk with her encouraging her to say what is bothering her; and above all, watch her behaviors during her waking hours. watch how she interacts with others in the home/fmly.

Good Luck and MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

Sincerely,
D.

At this age--especially girls, do not wet the bed just for the heck of it. This is a sign of a problem. Check with the doctor. You can help train an immature bladder by waking the child up to go to the bathroom about midnight. Most children have a bladder that will awake them. These kids sometimes sleep way too soundly for their bladders to wake them. There is also a condition called eurnesis (sp?). YOur pediatrician will have more answers for you. at any rate, don't act like you're punishing her for something she can't help by making a big deal in front of friends and family about changing and washing her bed linens. I believe Michael Landon (Bonanza and Little HOuse on the Prairie) had his childhood problem.

I'm not sure of the medical name for it, but there is a medical reason for this. Sometimes a child's body grows and develops faster than their little bladder. It doesn't mean anything is wrong because this is very common, it just means that the childs bladder cannot hold all of the fluids being passed to it so overnight when your child is asleep and unaware of needing to go potty, the bladder gets too full and releases fluids on it's own. It happens to a lot of children. Check with your pediatrician about it. In the mean time, you can cut off any fluids after a certain time depending on what time she or he goes to bed and also there is a new overnight padded underwear (I hesitate to say diaper because it's not a diaper it is underwear) that looks and fits exactly like regular underwear that your child can wear to cut down on accidents until you find the true cause. I think it's made by Huggies or maybe Pampers, I'm not too sure. Don't worry, this sort of thing happens to a lot of children and they will grow out of it.

I just posted a similar question about my 5 year old who wets the bed pretty much every night. I got some good advice and heard from lots of people who have children with the same issue. My doctor assures me it can be quite normal and not to worry about it until they are 7. You can probably find my previous question and read some of those responses as well as people had many different ideas if you want to look into some causes. But I think it can be normal as well.
M.

Hello,
Does your daughter have any allergies? If you have not explored this option it might be worth looking into. Allergies can cause wetting accidents as well as other problems. Blessing to you and your precious daughter, R.

my 71/2 yr old still does...it seems to happen more when he's tired, like this summer, but sometimes he dreams he's peeing. i guess, just keep that plastic mattress cover on, and teach them to do their laundry...lol!

L.,
My son wet the bed until he was 7 or 8 and I wet the bed until I was 8 so you might have two more years then it will just stop.

H.

I was asking my mom about this with my almost 4 year old, who wakes up dry just a few times a month. She said she herself wet the bed occasionally until she was 8, so did my brother. I think it's hereditary, you may ask your parents if they remember how old you were when you stopped having accidents at night. I don't know if there's really anything you can do that you haven't already. I know the pull ups cost money and the extra laundy is frustrating, my daughter tells me 'mommy, I want to wear panties to bed tonight.' Right now she's ok with wearing them over her 'night, night diaper', but she want to be done with them, and thats the hardest part.

I am going through the same thing to. My son will be seven in September... He wets the bed almost every night of week. We buy pull ups so he doesn't get his mattress wet every night. I took him to the doctor and they gave him some pills... They didn't work. We have tried everything, waking him up every couple of hours, limiting his drinking, nothing has worked. It is very stressful and he is ready to stop. He gets embarrassed and I don't want him to feel that way. I know this doesn't really help you but sometimes its nice to know that there is someone that is in the same boat as you. good luck. I hope you get lots of advice.

have you tried the no liquids after a certain time of night? I'm not to this point yet, i am still right in the middle of potty training my 2year old, but I have heard many moms say they don't let their children to have liquids an hour or two before bedtime to prevent nighttime accidents.

This is a common situation. I have 3 nieces that all wore pull ups to bed until 9 years old. Their bladders were small and they had accidents several times a week while sleeping. Ask the pediatrician to make sure it isn't something more than a small bladder. Water restriction before bedtime and waking them up during the night didn't work....it's just something they eventually grew out of.

Hi L., My daughter is 6 years old and she wets the bed EVERY NIGHT! I thought she had a problem because she has very strong urine, but like the others said, it's normal, especially with little girls. In most cases, the child outgrows their bladder. That's weird... My urologist told me not to worry about it, that she would outgrow it. He said his daughter was the same way but he didn't do anything about her until she was 8 years of age, which was when he put her on a pill. That's when I stopped taking her to the doctor and just started back buying pull ups. I hope you get reliefs soon, as well as myself. Take care and God bless~

Take her to a doctor to rule our any medical problems. It's very likely she has a sleep disorder. Many children who wet the bed don't move through sleep phases the way they should. They have a hard time falling asleep, and then move into the deepest phase of sleep where nothing, including a full bladder, will wake them up. She may need to have a sleep study done.

Good luck finding the right solution for her.

T.

I wouldn't worry about it to much. I know that it can be very annoying washing sheets every day - I have been there. My son who is ten occassionally wets the bed even now. He at one time seemed to wet the bed every night. We tried all the things that others suggested: limiting drinks at night, waking him up during the night to go to the toilet.

We came to the conclusion that he was such a heavy sleeper that he just couldn't wake himself to get up for the toilet -bombs could go off in his room and you still wouldn't be able to rouse him. He never knew he wet the bed until he woke up in the morning.

He is now dry at night with the accidents few and far between - growing out of it. Wet sheets are annoying but it could be that your little girl just can't wake herself up to go and will grow out of it eventually. Stay strong.

this is completely normal. ANy pediatric urologist will tell you that bed wetting is completely age appropriate until about age 12 for girls. IT has nothing to do with her will, patience, maturity etc. It has to do with the physical growth of her body. There is not a thing she can do about it and making any kind of negative deal about it only makes it worse and causes other problems. get a water proof matteress pad, some goodnights and keep moving. you can even have her wear the good nights over her panties so you can use a clean one more than once but won''t have the huge laundry mess if she has an accident. good luck

I don't know the circumstances with your daughter, but after I was sure that she wasn't having any physical problems (such as a bladder infection) or emotional problems, I would consider having her help with cleaning the linens when she soiled them.

My daughter's friend was still wetting the bed the summer between her 1st and 2nd grade. I was her Girl Scout leader and the 1st night at camp she informed me that I might have to wash her sheets because she still wet the bed. I told her I was her GS leader not her baby sitter and if she wet the bed I would take her to the laundry mat so she could wash them (of course I would have helped.)

But, from that night on, she wouldn't drink alot in the evening and she would make sure she went to the rest room before she went to bed. She would say, "I'm going to the bathroom just in case, I don't want to have to wash my sheets." She never had an accident at camp or after she returned home. Her mom was pleasantly surprised.

I have a 9 y/o daughter with the same issue... I have talked to her pediatrician several times about it, and each time they insist that she WILL eventually grow out of it, but maybe not until age 12! The most important thing is to not punish your child for this... she honestly has no control, and punishment will cause addition embarrasment. I invested in two washable matress protectors... not the kind that cover the whole matress, but instead, just lay across (side to side) on the matress... this way, you can wash and rotate them when needed. Of course, limiting drinks an hour before bed and making sure she uses the potty right before going to sleep helps, too! :)

I JUST recently talked with my pediatrician about this with my 7 year old daughter. She said the meds were a short lived fix (if at all). The problem is a sleep disorder that she will outgrow. She did recommend a product called The Potty Pager. I haven't ordered it yet, but I plan to soon. The website is www.pottypager.com.
I would love to hear how this turns out for you (and me!)!