Bed Wetting - Leavenworth, KS

Hi, my son wet his bed regularly till about 7. I think boys are more prone to this then girls and deep sleepers as well. It will eventually go away. I would not wake him up or deprive him of fluids as the kidneys do extra work at night. Patience and a good water proof barrier are all you need. Ocassionally I have heard of milk allergies making this more frequent but I believe it is just a later developement of bladder control that will reslove itself when he is ready. You and he are not alone and it is nothing that he can control. Love him and do laundry. I did. I hope this helps.

You may want to consider talking to his pediatrician. I have not had this problem personally with my children, but it seems that this happens in boys more than girls. The bladder and the nerves that respond to a full bladder develop slower. He/she may have some method of fixing the problem or suggest a product that is discreet, looks just like regular undies, that he can wear to bed.

There are a couple of medical issues that would cause frequent bed-wetting. There's a certain chemical or hormone that tells your body not to pee while you're sleeping - and he might not have enough of that. My step-son is nine and he still wets the bed. But his is all in his own head. STrict scheduling as far as sleep goes works for him, and he'll go two weeks with no accidents as long as he goes to bed at the same time and wakes up at the same time, but then he'll go see his bio-mom and come back and pee the bed every single night from 2 to 7 nights in a row. We were worried it was emotional, but it turns out she lets them stay up as late as they want while they're with her because she won't see them again for another two weeks (we have full custody). So it's just another thing we live with. Just don't ever EVER make him feel bad, because stress does make bed-wetting worse at any age.

First, does this run in your family? A lot of times, it is hereditary. That is what we found in our family. And if you wet the bed at night, the chances of your children doing it are really high. I have a 5 1/2 year old and she still wets the bed. She is a heavy sleeper and to wake her up to pee was more of an inconvenience that help. She would still wake up wet. And sometimes within the first hour of sleeping even if she goes to the bathroom before bed. We recently saw her pediatarician because she hates wearing pull-ups. There is a group of child urologists at Children's Medical Center and they are all great. We have started her on DDAVP. It helps raise the hormone that keeps you from wetting at night so that she stays dry. It's a little pill about the size of a birth control pill. She takes it every night before bed. So far, it is working great. I know some people don't like to put their kids on meds, but she is never dry without the medicine and cries when she has to wear a pull-up. This was the best option for us. We did find out, that unless they can wake up on their own, no amount of bribing or waking them up will do the trick. Good luck!

my son is also 6 and a half and has the same issue. his doctor has told me every time i mention it that this is normal and when his bladder grows bigger, or he becomes a less sound sleeper, it will stop. he also says it is very common and he has the same conversation every day. that made me feel better.

Hi, K. -
My son who is 10 went through this and my daughter who is 5 is currently getting over this. It can be frustrating, but it is worth the hard work if you can work on it with him.
I suggest a company called Pacific International.
http://www.stopwetting.com/
After all of my research, I learned that wetting the bed is due to deep sleeping, not how much they drink before they go to bed. Both of my kids sleep very deeply. When you are 'waking' your son up, it is possible that he is still asleep!
My dad had a problem wetting the bed as a child and so did my brother.
Basically, this company works with you through an alarm that your son sleeps on. When the alarm senses moisture, it goes off, you wake him up, make sure he's awake, and help him go to the bathroom. You log his wetting schedule on a chart, send it into your counselor and he/she works with you on what to do.
It was wonderful for us! My son was dry within about 6 weeks with only a few sporadic wet nights after that, and my daughter has been dry for a few weeks now.

Hope this helps!

There's also another website which sells these alarms http://www.stopwetting.com/), but I definitely recommend going through Pacific International. Their success rate is amazing! We had a really good experience with them, and they work with you for however long it takes. It's nice to talk to someone who knows about the problem.
Unfortunately, a lot of doctors just prescribe medication, but this only treats the symptom and not the real problem, deep sleep. Using the alarm system trains the children to wake up when their bladder is full. Eventually, they learn to hold it and even go back to sleep, waiting until morning.

We are trying to night potty train our four year old. A lady at a rest area who had four children offered me pre-advice about this topic two years ago. She said the night-time potty training alarms work the best. I looked them up online the other day. Most people say they work within two weeks. They are a little expensive ($60-$100). If we can't get our son trained soon, I will make the investment (we have two younger sons). I can't imagine getting up everynight and washing sheets everyday for the next ten years!

There may be a medical problem. My friend's daughter had to wear pullups until age 11. She felt horrible when she discovered at age 7 that her daughter's bladder wasn't growing as fast as she was so she actually couldn't help wetting the bed. She had tried every trick, punishment, and lecture she could think of. I'm sure your son's self esteem is suffering so maybe work on that and give him and you some hope.
Good luck,
D.

K.,
I have a 10 year old son who is finally starting to 'outgrow' this same problem. He has been to the pediatrician several times and been on meds 3 times which did not help him. His pediatrician just told us he would eventually outgrow it. I had a difficult time with it because he would not awaken when he 'wet'. He would just sleep in wet clothes and bedding all night. We began to have success with a urinesis (I am sure that is spelled wrong.) alarm. But it was broken at almost two weeks, shortly before our daughter was diagnosed with leukemia and I just never ordered another one. My attention was diverted to her and her needs and at some point I even looked back and laughed thinking that the bed wetting issue was my worst problem in life before her diganosis and a later diagnosis of autism for another child. Anyway, I would try the alarm because it goes off as soon as there is any moisture in the underpants. This then begins to help teach your child to awaken when he/she is wetting. You can usually get them for under 50 dollars which is a bargain when you factor in the cost of pullups and extra laundry. Hope this helps.
M.

I am a married mother of 6 children 12 years old down to newborn.

K., my son just turned 9 !!! at Christmas and wet the bed fairly regularly until this fall. We had to get him up at 11 pm and sometimes a little later.

Things we noticed: If he ate fresh fruits and vegetables and no processed food that day (packaged food) he usually did not wet the bed. If he was really active and played some kind of sport for hours that day, then he DID wet the bed. I took him to an Chinese acupuncturist a year ago and she did a pulse analysis and said he had low "Chi" which is the vital energy that runs our bodies. She said that because of this if he got overly tired he would wet the bed because there wasn't enough CHi to keep his sphincter muscles toned and therefore keep his bladder closed. SHe said he would grouw out of it when he turned 9. Also, she asked if either my husband or myself wet the bed late and I acknowledged that I too, wet until age 9.

I do know that Chiropractic and acupuncture work very well in most cases. There is an adjustment to the sacrum that helps in most cases, just not so much in our. Good luck.
p.s. keep him away from sugar!!

I know exactly how you are feeling. My son turned 7 last August & we have been dealing with this same thing for a very long time. He would even wet through the good nights as well as being wakened several times in the night to go potty. As a last resort, after speaking with our pediatritian, we bought the Malem bedwetting alarm. She used this with her own son & highly recommended it. It has made a world of difference for us & our son. It trained his brain to know when he has to go potty in the night. He still has an occassional accident, but that is only when he is really, really tired & at that only happens once every several weeks.
You can find info on the alarm at: thebedwettingstore.com
The alarm clips to the underwear & pins to the shoulder & when the child wets, the alarm sounds & vibrates. This is what trains the brain. Hope this helps.
By the way, they are pricy, but to me worth every penny knowing that if he gets asked to sleepover somewhere, other than grandmas, he can say yes.

I just wrote a response to a similiar question that was also asked today under frequent urinating. Please read that one. This is exactly what my oldest son did! Good Luck!

he may have a weak bladder. A doctor suggested to us with one of our foster children to have them wait as long as they could to go to the bathroom (during the day when they are at home)and to stop themselves while they are going then go again. It helps strengthen their bladder.

I, too, have a six year old who wets the bed at night. I think she just plays so hard during the day, that she sleeps so hard at night. Her dad was a bed wetter until he was 12. Could it be hereditary?

Take your son to a chiropractor. Have the chiropractor evaluate his 4th cervical, which is where the phrenic nerve originates. The phrenic nerve controls the bladder, as well as the diaphram, which also helps with hiccups.
If you have questions, please email me ____@____.com.

One thing that I have done is a rewards chart. It seems to work great. Ice cream at the end of the week or a small toy. Give the child something to look forward to. Hope this helps.

I think I would have him checked out by a dr. I never had bed wetters-but my friend did. Her boys outgrew at about 10 or 11. But there are meds they can give them.

Please stop waking your son up so much! His rest is much more important than dry sheets! It is perfectly normal for a child to wet the bed until he or she is 8 or 9 or sometimes even older. He can't help it. Put him in GoodNights and try not to make it such a big deal.

Malem monitors are terrific. Research them on the internet.

My daughter was a bed wetter until she was 9. I finally took her to a urologist. He did an outpatient exploratory and discovered the tube from her kidney to her bladder was in the wrong place and she had reflux. These problems kept her bladder from emptying completely when she went to the bathroom. But when she went to sleep and relaxed, it drained. She had surgery to correct it and never wet the bed again. I would suggest you to take your son to a urologist.

My cousin had this problem until she was 8. She would be cut off from drinks a couple of hours before she went to bed and had to go and sit on the toilet until she went to the bathroom right before she went to bed. It was because she had an underdeveloped bladder. I think it was after she turned 8 and began to gain a little weight that it stopped.

I have three boys and I remember my middle son having this same problem. It was 2nd or third grade before he could really quit wetting the bed. I simply would put a trash bag or some plastic with a heavy towel under the sheet to save the soiling of the materess, and would do lots of laundry but I would get some rest. I even had to send extra underpants and pants to school with him. He seldom used them but they were always there.
Main thing he knew haw to clean up after himself and I didn't make a big deal of it. I didn't put pressure on him to stop he simply had to clean up the mess as he got older.
Does you son seem to be a nurveous and uptight person. My son is and I often wonder it that was part of the problem. Is he a sound sleeper? My son sleeps heavey and hard to wake up in the morning. Colder weather seemed to bother him more also.
Keep your head up and he will out grow it. If nothing else peer pressure will help. Until them teach him to change the bedding.