My son will turn seven in a couple of months. He's been potty trained since he was 2.5 - 3 y.o., and we have no problems with toileting during the day. But we still have to use diapers at night because he wets his bed. I talked to his doctor about this during his last check up almost a year ago when he turned six. The doc was not worried saying that many kids don' t develop this ability to wake up at night till they are eight. Still, it bothers me. He is such a big boy. I hate just to wait till it happens by itself and rather do something with it. Maybe we should stop using diapers to make him uncomfortable and wake up. Or try to take him to the bathroom on schedule during the night?
I'd like to hear from those who had a similar issue with their kids and how did you deal with it? Would appreciate any advice. Thank you!
I've read great things about Wet-3 on amazon. It's an alarm that trains kids to wake up when they need to pee.
I wet until I was 7. My sister wet until she was 8 and my youngest sister wet until she was 16. She was rare, but still... It IS usually outgrown before the age of 7. I remember wetting until I was 7 and I can't imagine wearing diapers at that age. Can you instead do a plastic sheet so that he can at least learn to feel wet at night? That's what happened to me. I started waking up b/c I was wet and it helped me learn to not wet the bed. It'll be messy at first, but I think it might help. Good luck, I know it's no fun!
This may sound too simple, but it is just who he is. My son is now 8 and we tried everything. I have never made him feel uncomfortable about it. It's just part of life and part of his body. Kinda' like needing glasses or something like that- it's just how his body works and it's a simple thing to deal with.
Just my two cents,
R.
How much laundry are you willing to wash every day? Why put him through that just to try and prove a point? He is not developed in that area yet. Some kids don't get that impulse to wake up until they are nearly adolescents. It seems harsh to me to put him through that for something he can't help.
Take him to a Pediatric Urologist. They will check him for constipation and see if he is developed normally. There are some meds they can try but you'll want to talk to a Pharmacist before actually getting it filled. There can be some side effects you'll need to address, like thirst. If you are cutting down fluids he'll be very thirsty and needing more fluids with meds.
As for cutting fluids earlier all that does is make the kids dehydrated. Then their urine is stronger and that makes them wet more. When your bladder is fuller you feel the urge more don't you?
Just please be patient and go to a doc for the issue, not a pediatrician. An actual doc for the urinary tract.
Hi P.,
My stepson had the same problem and he'll be turning 7 in a couple months. What we started doing is not give him anything to drink after 8pm and he has to go to the bathroom before he goes to bed. Although he's not with us full time, when he is over he hadn't had an accident for about 6 months now. However, it is normal and your son will come around when he's ready, don't stress too much about it.
A few thoughts. Yes, it still can be "normal", although I am sure not for him! I am a chiropractor that focuses on children. Chiropractic care can actually help if there is a underlying issue. It can also be food sensitivity related as well. Eliminating any dairy products and any sugar foods a few hours before bed can often help. Again, just depends what is going on. Good luck!
Don't take him to the bathroom during the night. That does not help with night "training." Night training is not about waking up to pee, it's about the bladder developing to the point that it does not need to empty during the night anymore. Training him to need to empty his bladder is delaying the necessary process and is the opposite of what needs to be done for him to become dry at night
Hi P.,
Just for a little perspective. My boys were both 12 years old before they stopped wetting the bed. 12. I didn't have them in diapers, though. They were just in jammies. I would change and wash their bedding every day. I did not want to interrupt their good deep sleep by making them go to the bathroom. My younger son "grew out of it" at 12, but my older son was inspired by his pediatrician when he had a "sit down" talk with him. This was over 30 years ago. It seems the pediatrician "woke him up" about it, told him it was his responsibility to wake up dry, and sure enough, my son stopped wetting the bed from that night on. I would suggest an alarm clock for your son. Since he is 7, he can set it himself and turn it off when it rings, two or three times a night, or however many times he needs to set it so that he wakes up dry. I would definitely take him out of diapers. That seems humiliating to me.
Good luck!
"Grams"
from the Pocono Mts. of PA
This is normal, many kids still wet the bed at 7. It will change on its own. Don't make him more uncomfortable about this, as he probably already is. Withholding liquids does not really work, but we do keep an eye on excessive sugary liquids (we would anyway!) because that in combination with an extra tired kid can increase the chance of wetting (in our case).
My daughter is 8 and she now has only had two "accidents" in the last 6 months. So we're almost there.
We overnight potty trained our then 3 year old son by waking him up before we went to bed to allow him to go potty. Eventually he and his body got used to it and after a few weeks, he went overnight without us waking him. Now at 6 1/2 he wakes when he needs to go.
My daughter had the same problem 2 years back. We had been told to cut off drinks in the evening, but she cried and said that she was going to die of thirst. Many times she had not had dinner yet and it was impossible to not let her have a single drink after the designated time (I think we said 6:00). Then a friend suggested that we try just giving her drinkable yogurts after the cut off time (since they are more solid based). It worked like a miracle! We did it for about a year, and now have no bedtime drinking rules at all, Good luck. I know that it is frustrating and concerning; I've been there. Hope this works for you. -- (Shje did start drinking a lot more water during the day during our yogurt period.)
I'm right there with you. My som is same age, same problem, same response from pedi. Over Thanksgiving vacation we tried no pull ups, just a bed pad and stopped liquids at 5pm. Made him pee almost hourly before bed. He still wet and did not wake up when he did. Waking him at night didn't prevent it either. He has uncles who were bed wetters and female cousins. I've been told his bladder is just not mature enough yet. Not a solution for you, but I hope it helps to know you're not alone.
We always had a few bedwetters at sleep away camp when I was a counselor and we would wake them up after about and hour and a half to 2 hours and have them use the bathroom. It helped for some, but not everyone. I knew another friend who tried everything--restricting liquids, alarms, medication. She finally outgrew it at around age 11 or 12.
My son is almost 5 and still in goodnights overnight.
My son is almost four. A few months ago, he got to the point where he would usually wake up at night to go to the bathroom so we stopped using pull-ups. Then he stopped taking naps (sad day for me!) and started wetting the bed again. My theory is that even though he didn't need to nap anymore, he is still more tired at nighttime now than he was when he napped. The extra tired and the fact that he's a heavy sleeper meant that he started wetting the bed again almost every night, sometimes twice a night. He wasn't thrilled about going back to pull-ups but I tried to tell him that it wasn't his fault, he just sleeps too hard and can't wake up when he needs to go. He seems to accept that, for now.
In normal development, a child integrates the Spinal Galant primitive reflex by about 9 months. If a child still retains it after 3 years old, one of the symptoms is bewetting. The other symptoms are:
• Fidgeting
• Poor concentration
• Poor short term memory
• Sensory integration problems
• Near focusing problems
• Difficulty with reading
If you see 2 strong or three or more symptoms that relate to your son, he probably has a retained Spinal Galant primitive reflex.
These reflexes start in the womb and through normal development and movement in infancy, become integrated. There are many reasons that one or more do not become integrated, including heredity, stress or trauma, or not enough floor time - who knows exacly why not?
The best part is that anyone can integrate primitive reflexes at any time in their lives. It simply takes a few mintes of simple exercises every day for about a month. If you are interested in knowing more, please contact me - I would love to help.
Sincerely,
K. Johnson, MS Ed
As a mom to a TEENAGE bedwetter (my daughter is 19) my suggestions are as follows:
Yes, some do grow out of this stage (though not in my case) - and others do not.
There is such a thing as an alarm that goes into their underpants that alerts them when they’ve wet themselves and ‘alarms’ them to get up to go, however, I don't believe in the nitetime alarms if your son is such a heavy sleeper - in my experience, the alarms only woke everyone ELSE up in the house and not the bedwetter, and they corroded after a month or so.(even after thorough cleanings.
I also don't believe in waking the child after they've been sleeping to go to the bathroom - if they are in such a deep sleep and you are 'dragging' them to the bathroom and making them go, chances are they won't remember going the next day. (in my experience this has happened) not to mention the lack of sleep they get from doing so.
I've used the following 'techniques'/'rules' :
no food/drink after dinner - eating promotes drinking - drinking promotes bedwetting.
Have your son sit on the toilet for 3-5 minutes every 2 hours - even if he says he doesn't have to go. Give him a puzzle or a game or a magazine/book..etc...to occupy the time - the time spent on the toilet allows for his 'system' relax enough to go. Buy him a watch with an alarm and teach him how to set it to go off every 2 hours to remind him to go to the bathroom. You can check with your pediatrician to see if this is feasible for school hours and perhaps get a note to give to the school allowing for him to go to the bathroom every 2 hours so he is in the 'mode' on a daily basis.
The last resort is the one I had no choice in making and that was to put my daughter on medication. DDAVP comes in a nasal spray and also a pill form. Ditropan is another medication in helping with bladder problems. She is on both and I'm happy to say hasn't had an accident in a long time! We've tried to take her off the meds only for her to have an accident and then go back on them.
I've gone through all kinds of testing with her since she was about your son's age - only to find out that her bladder is just immature and there's no telling when she may stop.
I hope this helps....good luck to your son!
