Bed Wetting. Help! - Conroe,TX

Tara,
I don't really have any help for you other than to let you know that you are not alone. My son has been a bedwetter since day one, and can tell you that with him the only thing anyone wants to do is give him one of those alarms you wear on your underwear. I had one as a child and my problem got worse so I do not reccomend them at all.

Anyway, bedwetting can be caused by numerous things. Not enough of the hormone that "shuts down" urine production at night, too small of a bladder, an over-active bladder, and on and on. Do understand though that typical bedwetting is not considered a problem until children are about 8 years old (and even then, NOT a big deal until AFTER puberty)!

The urologist we saw said to cut way back on caffine, chocolate, carbonation, and citrus...cut out liquids after 4pm and only small amounts with dinner...make sure she uses the bathroom EVERY 2 hours and sits for at least 2 minutes every time (to make sure the bladder is completly empty), and most importantly that the problem would not change if the child did not think it was a problem. My son is 9 and wets the bed nearly every night. I have a waterproof protector on his bed and I wash sheets daily (as goodnights are WAY TOO expensive to use every night). My son does not feel his bedwetting is a problem so he is not ready to make an effort to change. So as much as I push, he will not use the restroom every 2 hours, he will not stay in there for 2 minutes, he sneaks drinks well into the evening...so I have stopped fighting. I figure as long as nothing is medically wrong (and we have had many tests), and he is OK with it...eventually he will decide that this is not what big boys do. Until then, I have choosen not to fight this battle.

Sorry I'm not much help. Just wanted to let you know what our experiences have been. Hope you get some answers.

You might want to figure out if she has a dairy or other food allergy. Dairy allergies can result in nitetime bedwetting. I had that problem until I was almost 10 and didn't learn until I was 30+ that dairy caused me problems (I thought it was just lactose intolerance until I did food allergy testing when I was 40+ and found it I had a true dairy allergy).

Another alternative would be to ask the doctor to prescribe DDAVP, which is a hormone that will help the kidneys to retain water. Does your daughter also pee frequently during the day if she drinks alot of fluid? If so, it could be that she has low amounts of that hormone, so it's just not possible for her to stay dry at nite. But, I would not go that route until you've made sure that dairy isn't the issue (you can google "dairy" and "bedwetting" to find more details). Noting that some of the mainstream articles mention this correlation as rare, but I would bet it is far, far more frequent than they realize since mainstream docs don't typically consider food allergies when dealing with health problems.

My mom used to give my sister a homeopathic pill that disolves under the tongue, i think it was called endiurine, or something like that im sure you could go to your local health store and they could tell you the name or something similar. I hope this helps yall!!

My stepson is 14 and has had a bed-wetting problem for years. While he was living with us, I had a routine for him. He could have nothing to drink after 6 in the evening and he had to use the bathroom 3 times before going to bed. If he got through the night dry, he got to put a sticker on his calendar. When he got a week of stickers, he could choose his favorite food for dinner. If he made a month dry, he got a prize or an outing. He is also responsible for all of the clean up after an accident. He has to wash his sheets and clothes himself. Your daughter is a little young for that but she can load her own clothes into the washer and dryer. Good luck with this...