Bed Wetting Woes

Have you tried waking him up in the middle of the night to use the restroom? My mom did this every night for a few weeks with my sister who also wet her bed in elementary school. It stopped her from wetting the bed. Just a thought.

My son dealt with this well into double digits. We talked to the pediatrician and then to a pediatric urologist.

I tend to be on the "less medication" end of the spectrum too. However, after lots of good discussion, we opted for a medication called DDAVP - one pill a day at night. We experienced zero side effects. It allowed our son to sleep through the night - crucial for brain development and the ability to perform in school. It gave him self-esteem and the ability to have a social life with sleepovers and summer camp. We have no regrets. This is nothing like the nasal spray, and it's been on the market for decades. I wouldn't have experimented on my kid with something unproven, but this had such a good track record, we trusted it, and we also kept an eye on him. But we chose his brain over a low risk of problems on a low dose med.

If he went to someone's house, we sent 1 pill in an unmarked pill bottle (name only, not the name of the med or the reason for taking it so no other kids saw it). We told the other parent that he was coming with a medication he needed to take in the evening. If they were close friends, we told them the reason. If not, or if we thought they had "loose lips", we didn't specify. With so many kids on allergy meds or ADHD meds, no one gives it a thought anymore anyway.

Our son took this for years. He went off it around age 10, and the problem returned within 2 months. So he went back on and stayed on until he decided to try going off at about 12.5 years old. Everything went fine at that point. The urologist told us he had some kids on it through their teen years, and he was more concerned with them sleeping and having a normal life. He monitored them, as did the pediatrician.

I suggest you ask for a consultation with a pediatric urologist.

Our daughter wet until she was like 14. Seriously. Bright, well-rounded no issues kiddo - other than nighttime bedwetting. I spoke to her pediatrician when she was around 5 and here is what she said: "she isn't going to walk down the wedding isle with goodnights on, get over it." And I did :) That being said, here are some other things we did do. She had to decide on her own about the sleepovers. She decided not to for quite awhile - she realized that there wasn't anything anyone could do about it and it was her choice if she was worried her friends would find out about it. We would give her a Benedryl to take at bedtime if she did do a sleepover - our ped told us that doing this once in awhile was harmless. It did help. We did try an wet alarm at home, that actually did help lessen the frequency of accidents at night. The ped also told us that kids that tend to have these issues are: big for their age, parent(s) had the same issue, snore, allergies. Not sure if these apply to your kiddo as well (we had 4 of 4). As far as the leak through, do the goodnights fit correctly? I'm surprised they leak. Could they be gapping or just too small? Consider a poise pad inside perhaps for double duty protection. Also check into medical supply places to see if you can get a more absorbent product.

He shouldn't be so upset and embarrassed about it - make sure you are not projecting on to him. Treating it like something that can't be changed like your eye color - it is just part of who you are, is the best thing you can do for your kiddo.

Talk to the pediatrician and consider the medications if this is a big issue for you and him. See if it can be a short-term solution. My DD is a similar age and still not always dry. You should also try different brands of nighttime under garments as some may fit or absorb better than others. Maybe he needs something bigger. Also, make sure he's not pulling them on such that he's going to leak. I don't have a son, but I've heard from my sister that how a diaper is put on a boy matters. My DD has a sleepover invite and I talked to the mom about it being an "almost sleepover". She'll go til they go to bed and then come home. It's our middle ground.

Talk to your pedi. It's a medical condition, often a hormonal imbalance. Looks like it's usually not treated with medication as the first choice - and sometimes it's a hormone replacement situation (like thyroid, I guess) which is giving your body what it should make but doesn't do correctly.
http://kidshealth.org/en/teens/enuresis.html#

My oldest and middle daughters wet the bed, the 14yo frequently and the 11yo rarely, anyway it is happening less and less with time. I wet the bed too until my early teen. We tried every cure I heard about it and nothing really worked, not even chiropractic. Desmopressin gave only a little help for us, not stopped it, only less wet nights but we used it only for two months because it gave my daughter headache in the morning. Constipation is a common cause so look for it and try the bedwetting alarm, for someone it solved the problem.
When goodnights, underjams and similar started to leak we switched to adult diapers, they are the only one that let the bed to stay dry. We add booster pads for "critical" situation.
I would talking with pediatrician and take tests if the last time you made it was some year before. Anyway be patient and don't make it a big issue, stress can make it worse.
I hope for your son and my daughters it will stop soon!

some children fail to empty their bowels, and that leftover excrement will push on the bladder and cause accidents. i would speak to the dr about the issues at hand and find out if a dietary change (like adding fiber) may help with the bedwetting

Just be patient.
You and Hubby eventually out grew it - so will your child.
Just reassure him that this is fine and MANY kids have bed wetting issues into their teens - it's nothing for him (or you) to get upset about.

Google "bed wetting and constipation." There is a NYT op-ed written by a pediatric urologist who also led a small research study. Basically, many kids don't have classic symptoms of constipation, such as bloating or being irregular, but they have "incomplete" BMs. As a result, residual stool in the colon puts pressure on the bowel overnight. My friend's son (8yo) has been on Miralax for a couple of months, then it gets weaned. He was soaking wet every night, and they are now down to maybe once/wk. Good luck!

have his urine tested to make sure there isn't an issue, my daughter was wetting the bed because of kidney reflux and we didn't know she had it till we were trying to solve her bedwetting - she lost almost all of one kidney and part of another because of this but the surgery fixed it and she is fine now

if that is fine, then get the homeopathic "bedwetting" tablets - they are little balls that the child dissolves under their tongue. We tried the chiropractor (it can solve it, but if it doesn't within 6 visits then it's not an alignment issue, we had no improvement after 5 visits and so the chiro said not something she could solve), bedwetting alarms, the prescription med - even though she was only 7.5 yrs old since she was so upset over it they gave that to her, it didn't work, after a month on it there was no change which is why they investigated further. A year after we started the whole investigation she had surgery to correct the reflux. But the homeopathic pills are what made her stop wetting the bed. She stopped after a week on them, was dry for 3 wks, then we decided to see if it was that so we stopped them and she started peeing again. Went back on them and she was dry, so they were the reason she was dry. My nephew used them as well and had good results as well. So, please make sure it's not kidney reflux, then do the homeopathic pills.

Adjustments won't help the size of his bladder nor anything else. He will outgrow it eventually. I suggest you just put a pee pad under him and let him go. I know it makes more laundry for you every day but the more you focus on it the more it becomes an issue with his self image.

My grandson wet the bed until he was almost a teenager. He did outgrow it though. All my grand kids now stay dry all night.

Call the ped so u can see a urologist. Rule out that it's nothing first.. Then you can address the issue. My ss wet up until I want to say 10-11. My dh also was a bed wetter. Our son together now 8 never wet his bed usually can hold it all night or wake up if he has to go (he did just the occasional accidents) same with my stepdaughter occasional accidents. We also weren't sure if ss was having issues due to physiological or mental (divorce trauma at age 3). But after seeing the dr he did say it was most likely genetics and that he was just a deep sleeper who didn't get the signal to wake him up because he had to go to the bathroom. So they suggested this alarm that you wear that as soon as yiu begin to pee, or be wet it goes off wakes the kid up and then he goes to the bathroom. It worked a little but eventually I think what happened is he just outgrew having to go in the night and was able to hold it.. And it stopped or was less frequent..we had the plastic on the mattress, tried limiting water at night, tried to wake him nothing worked until we got the alarm..some kids just are such deep sleepers they don't wake up.being this was the first we even thought he was being lazy at one point but what kid wants to wet his bed all the time. Never make him feel bad as his confidence is already suffering to think he wets his bed late. My 2cents...