Bedwetting!

Hello M.
I know what you mean what Ibought hospital bed pad the largess one you'll found them in Dr.Leonard catalog, this way you just have to wash the bed pad. have a handicap daughter she's 48 and still the bed when she come home,and I put those bedpads and it protect the sheets.
GOOD LUCK

M.:

Here's a helpful hint that I got from another mom - put the "pad" on top of the sheet.

I had a full cover for the mattress, then I put on the sheet and then I had a pad that went across the bed that I put in the middle to catch the pee. About 95% of the time, all I had to do was wash the pad.

I know I found the pad online - try babycenter.com or onestepahead.com. I think it was about $10-$15.

Have you discussed the bedwetting with their pediatrician? A lot of times, the bedwetting is related to the fact that the bladder isn't fully developed - and is more prevalent in boys than girls.

Good luck!
C.

M. kids bladders don't grow as fast as their little bodies need them too. Give then back their pull ups and stop worrying about it. They will eventually be able to make it through the night no problem. It is not worth the work of cleaning all the sheets and the pain for them to wake up wet. There is nothing wrong with still having them in pull ups, they are still really little!

Hi M.,

As a former bed-wetter myself, I can tell you a few things and what does/doesn't work in my experience - You are not alone:

* Sometimes bladders are not mature enough yet, and they just can't hold it in.

* They might be heavy sleepers, which is causing them to sleep right through the urge to go, and they end up going on the bed.

* Limiting liquids by a certain time at night may or may not work.

* For your OWN sanity, and less laundry, bring the pull-ups back.

* You can try waking them before YOU go to bed to have them go, this might help.

* There is a nasal spray that can be used, it's a hormone, that might help. Check with the doctor.

* The Bedwetting alarms didn't help me one bit, but you could try that.

* At the very least, I can tell you your oldest is probably pretty embarassed by this, whether he shows it or not, so the Goodnights would probably be a good idea for him.

* Whatever you do, please do not let anyone (or yourself) punish or embarass them anymore then they already are, and believe me, they are. This is not something that is within their control.

* They are NOT doing it because they are "lazy" so don't allow anyone to tell you this.

* They are not doing it on purpose, so don't allow anyone to tell you this either.

They will eventually grow out of it, but I was well into my teens before I did, no matter WHAT I tried. My boys 8 and 7 fortunately are not bedwetters, but my brother and I were, and it really stinks and is no fun! Try to have a ton of patience.

Good luck to you and I hope this is helpful!!

This all sounds pretty normal to me..the problem is you had your kids so close together that you may have to deal with it for a while. What was wrong with pull-ups? Our pediatric urologist told us that it is often a sphincter maturing issue and that it commonly runs in families and they will out grow it. He said to limit drinks and remind them to pee. He said that was about all we could do until they were much older and it effected them socially, ie, sleepovers, school, etc. Get some plastic mattress covers and lots of pjs! Don't be too hard on your kids - they can't help it! It won't last forever - someday it will just be a family story!

I am not surprised all of your kids wet the bed... it tends to run in families. Best advice: Get a bedwetting alarm! My daughter wet the bed until she was 5 1/2-- at which time we started using a bedwetting alarm and it worked within 2 weeks. Ask your pediatrician for information on a reputable company that can provide you with one. I got mine from a mail order sheet that the pediatrician gave me. Sometimes kids sleep so sound that having to urinate doesn't wake them up, or in my daughter's case, the pediatrician said she wasn't getting the proper signal from brain to bladder that would make her recognize she had to go until it was too late. The alarm trains the brain to pick up that signal.
Good Luck! C.

My son was potty trained at 25 months. Our training took a week, and we only had a nightime accident the first night. During our training we removed all beverages at least 2 hours before bedtime. THis was hard as we always in the past had milk during our night time ritual. So try stopping the beverages at least 2 hours before you start your bedtime routine, and then make sure your children use the bathroom right before they get into bed. If they still have problems I would check with your doctor as their may be some medical issues.(the worst they could say is your child is fine.
Good luck!!!! Extra Laundry is never fun.

I feel your pain and more so! Our 11-year-old still wets his bed almost nightly. Does either side of the family have a history of bedwettting? It often runs in families and might give an indication of when it might resolve itself.

After checking with an ultrasound to make sure everything was okay with his plumbing, we started down the path of restricting liquids, going to the bathroom a couple times before bed, waking him when we went to bed, etc. just like you.

We haven't tackled this one yet ourselves. But I would suggest a few things.

1) Our doctor continues to say to not worry about it. But it's beginning to bother our son. If you can tackle it earlier than later, that may be a big boost for your kids' psyches (and yours). But don't pressure them. They can't help it. Try to be positive as much as possible. (I know, it's hard sometimes!)

2) We've gotten several products from http://www.bedwettingstore.com/. I especially recommend their bed pads. They're larger than others I've seen available. They even have options with tuck-in sides. We tend to put a pad under the sheet, plus one over the sheet. In the long run, it creates less laundry.

3) We've tried the alarms, and even the med Desmopressin, to no avail. We still need to see if the nasal spray helps, but I have my doubts at this point.

4) Some suggestions I've read on Mamasource writings in the past include the following, but I can't vouch for their accuracy/success or not:
a) Some say it might be allergy to some foods like milk or wheat or others?
b) Some say chiropractors can sometimes help
c) Some have mentioned http://www.nobedwetting.com/

5) I've heard from friends that puberty sometimes does it for the really late kids. Somehow the hormones change the dynamic.

6) As far as Pull-ups/Goodnights, that's a tough one. I've heard from some that using them can slow your progress because your child doesn't feel the wetness. But it sure saves on laundry. We usually just use them when our son goes on camp-outs or to a friend's house. He has learned to be very discreet with it. We pack it in a couple plastic grocery bags which he then uses for the used one in the morning. He either disposes it in the trash or brings it home to dispose of it there.

Best of luck with this one. If you figure it out, please let me know! I hope you have faster luck that us!

M.,
Click on or type in the link below. I think it will help.
http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/bladder/enu...

I can hear your frustration. I think it's time to rethink this whole process. What's so bad about the nighttime pullups? Sure, the cost is one issue. But then again changing and washing the bed linens every day is a cost too, in terms of time and frustration at least. Some children take a long time to "train" themselves, especially if they are deep sleepers. Waking them up multiple times in the night disrupts their sleep, and can't be good for them (IMHO anyway). I've know people who were 13 and still had troubles with bedwetting, even with meds and training devices etc. My daughter has a very close friend who is 9.5 and she wears a pullup to bed every night. She sleeps over our house and it isn't an issue at all. My daughter knows about it, but keeps her friend's secret through pajama parties, etc.

They'll get there eventually.

I have three boys - 6 1/2, 5 and 3 1/3. My pedi said that many children sleep too soundly to wake themselves up - and mine sleep very soundly. I've tried to wake my oldest to go to the bathroom and I can't get him up at all!!! Recently, he woke with a dry overnight pull up. I told him if he could do it two nights in a row, he's get $5. I really didn't think he could. Within a few days, he had a dry pull up for two nights - he's almost going for a week now. I think it's a combination that he can hold it at night and the incentive of cash!! I would suggest using the pull ups again and wait for a dry night to suggest an incentive to your oldest - maybe that would work.

Hi

I suggest you get the help of a nurse who helps with children who bedwet, which is what I do in Australia. Unfortunately waking the child does not train them only the parents! Also limiting fluids doesn't help as the problem is the message from the bladder to the brain is not getting through. Also the youngest child is not ready for training. My daughter did a bedwetting programme at age 5 and 1/2 and has not wet since. She is now 10 and 1/2. Goodluck C.

I totally sympathize - I went through this with my kid, and you have THREE! It sounds like some hereditary thing where the brain just doesn't get the signal that the bladder is full. It's called nocturnal enuresis (which just means nighttime peeing!). The 3-year-old alone wouldn't set off that alarm bell as there's no rule about being trained at 3. However, because of the other 2 kids, I'd say it may be developmental in all 3. It's actually quite common, particularly in boys but not exclusively. I doubt the pullup use or discontinuation has anything to do with it, frankly. You've done all you can, and you are waking them to pee twice, so they are not sleeping well. I don't love medication, but it was a Godsend for my son - it allowed him to have and attend sleepovers, go away to camp, get a good night's sleep, and not hate himself for something he couldn't control. We tried everything you're doing, we tried the wetness alarms, and nothing worked. He took himself off the medication at about age 12 but the condition came back. So he went back on. He never had a side effect, and it wasn't particularly expensive. We saw a pediactric urologist to whom the pediatrician referred us - since our son had no infection, no other problems, the meds were recommended. When he went to someone's house for overnight, we sent ONE pill and told the parents to give it to him - sometimes we told them what it was for, and sometimes we just said it was for allergies. No one batted an eye. It changed our lives, and his.

I feel your pain my almost 5yr old daughter can wet right through her pull up and i end-up washing sheets anyways.
I would get them all checked out to rule out a physical reason. Then checkout some other tips online WEBMD is awesome.
and in the meantime get some pullups for at night.. GOODLUCK!!! yes i will be getting my child checked out as soon as we go to the Dr. again

Barnes and Noble has a few wonderful books that are targeted towards kids along with books for adults to read. You may want to consider an alarm for the oldest but they recommend a child be 8 yrs. We use a pad that lays ontop of the sheet for my 6 yr old bc some nights he wets others he stays dry. a reward system is great to set up for the older 2 the youngest is still young. There are a few natural medications that if taken correctly can help but if your dr. prescribes any meds for bedwetting be very careful with fluid intake near bed time they can have very severe side effects if they drink too much.

M.,

It might simply be that your kids are too young to make it through the night. For many kids, the connections and hormones they need to have a dry night don't come until they are 7-8. I have a 5.6 year old and he only got out of pull ups 3 months ago. He still has 1-2 accidents a week, but he's starting to wake up when it happens, so we're not going back to pull ups at this point. His issue is that he is a very deep sleeper.

I would caution waking them up 1-2 a night because that might train their bodies to pee at those times.

I know the pull ups are a drag and get expensive, but at this point, I would try going back, especially for the little one. You might talk to your pediatrician about the 5 and 6 year old. I know mine has told me that she won't suggest any medical treatment at this point, but yours might have some suggestions for you.

Hi M.-

I dont think it is a problem for the 2 younger kids to have a pull-up. Not sure about the 6 yr old. They make a bed pad that goes over the TOP of the sheet to help protect the sheet and the mattress. I use it with my 3 yr old and have rarely had to wash his sheets if he leeks thru his pull up. You can find them at Babies R Us and Target I think. I have 3 that I rotate with the laundry. Hope this helps.

M., I also have two boys, they are 6 & 4 1/2. We did away with the night-time pull-ups at 4 years old because neither one of them wanted a "diaper" anymore. Since they both sleep so soundly we knew that we were going to have a bedwetting problem. So, we made sure they went to the bathroom before bedtime. Woke them up at 11:00 to bring them (we actually still do this with our 4 year old). I also kept track of how much they were drinking during the day. I found that my 4 year old would have an accident if it were a hot day & we were pumping him full of fluids to stay hydrated while running around in the sun even if we brought him to the bathroom at 11:00. It does take time, maybe try to see just how much liquid they are consuming during the day. My kids now only want to drink at meal time & snack time, they very rarely want something in between. Best of luck, I know how frustrating it can be.

My 7.5 year old wet nightly until three months ago. We got her a 'pee alarm', which attached to her underwear when she went to bed, and the alarm sounded at the first drop of pee, training her to wake up and go to the bathroom at the feeling of a full bladder. We had a couple of nights of changing sheets multiple times, but it really didn't take long for her to learn to wake up and go when she needed to. After a few weeks of that, she started just sleeping through, dry! After a month of dry nights, we stopped using the alarm. Now she will occasionally wake up and go if she needs to, and she has been dry for 3 months. There are sites online to buy the alarm (which isn't cheap, but was effective, at least for us). Other things recommended by the alarm people was to stop serving milk with dinner, only water. And to have her pee twice before bed. We do once before getting pjs on, then read a story, brush teeth, and one more pee right before climbing into bed. This isn't really a method for your 3 year old, some kids just take longer to be ready to stay dry, but your 6 and possibly 5 year old might benefit from it.

Hello, M.. Please rest assured that it is not abnormal for children to have bedwetting issues until they are 12. That being said, even though that is a true statistic, I'm sure it is very stressful on you. I work for a company called SeekWellness.com and we offer a product called "NiteTrainer". It is to help children who wet the bed. It trains them to no longer have accidents. I will need to check for the details because we are in the process of updating our eCommerce store. I know they are still available to purchase through us, but they are currently not posted on the site. They should be back up on the site by end of week. You may want to look into purchasing them. Email me if you want more information about NiteTrainer: ____@____.com

Hope this helps!
J.

It's more common than you hear about. I know an 11 year old that still wears pull ups. My doctor said it's very common and not to take meds...he had the same problem as a child until he was 12. Ask your doctor what he/she thinks.

they should have a consult with a pediatric urologist to make sure there is nothing medically wrong. Especially with three children in the same family. They can give you other ideas like alarms and other training ideas. They have bedwetting clnics just for these situations. I saw you live in massachustts, so I would check at children's hospital

Our 5 y.o. was still wetting the bed this winter and like you, I was pretty frustrated by it. A friend of mine had had great success with an enuresis alarm, so I borrowed hers and after about 2 and a half weeks, my son was waking up dry. It's a bit of a hassle, waking up to an alarm in the middle of the night, but you sound motivated. We introduced it in a fun way and called it a "tweeter." It helps, I think, to approach it from beginning to end in a totally positive and encouraging way.

I wouldn't recommend this for your 3 y.o. when bedwetting is so much more common. I think the child needs to be motivated for it to work, and the alarm could be potentially upsetting/scary for such a young child. You might consider giving him his pull-ups back and/or putting a waterproof pad over his sheets to cut down on the wash. Also, if he wets in the middle of the night you won't have to change sheets, just remove the wet pad.

Good Luck!
At home mom with 2 boys, 5 and 7.

Hi M., First off...you are not alone. I know first hand how frustrating this is, although I only have one bed wetter who is 5 1/2 it still makes me crazy. My husband and I have tried taking away the pull-ups, waking her up at different hours, limiting drinks before bed but it hasn't worked. We picked up this book: Waking up Dry by Howard Bennett. It offers various reasons why your child who should otherwise be waking up dry isn't like their body is over producing a chemical which creates urine. I have also read there is a blood test your pediatrician can do to determine if this is the cause. The book also offers some solutions like alarms so your not the one getting them out of bed it wakes. Hope this helps.

I've been there!! We had a son who wet the bed. Finally my husband took him to our family physician. She gave is a book on sleep disorders!! Bed wetting was described as a sleep disorder. The child wakes up just enough for the urinary sphincter to relax. So, the 'cure' was to get our son into a deeper level of sleep. We ended up going the medication route as he was 12 going on 13.

Bed wetting is not the child's fault. They eventually grow out of it, but it can become a social stigma before that happens. My suggestion is to "Google" bed wetting, or "enuresis." Learn all you can about it. Then decide which route is the best for you.

About me. 59 year old RN, kinship caregiver, working full-time..

Hi M.,

I used the Sleep Dry alarm with three of my children and it worked great. My oldest son was 7 when we used it and it worked in 2 weeks, he never had another accident. That was 5 years ago. I just used it again with my 7 year old daughter, it took 2 months of using the alarm and she is finally sleeping through the night and waking up dry. That was 3 months ago. My 4 year old wanted to try it as well. I believe they recommend the child be 5 or 6 years old. We decided to let him and after 3 months of continual use, he is finally dry and sleeping through the night. You can purchase the alarm we used through StarChild/Labs P.O.B. 3497 Santa Barbara, Ca 93130, ###-###-#### (cost $60 - think of all those pullups you won't need to buy). Our Doctor recommended the alarm we used. Make sure you read the instructions and follow the steps they recommend to be successful. The alarm worked great for us!!!
D.

M.,
My 3 (now grown) girls did a little bedwetting, my oldest the most, but i'm not sure there's anything to do about it. I think it's an anxiety thing. Be careful not to pay too much attention to it. Look at possible sources of stress in their lives, or even just a stressful, busy night like maybe a sleepover with friends and they just don't even think to go before bed; i would just give a gentle reminder, make it part of an overall routine of brushing teeth, etc.
As far as waking them in the middle of the night, I would stop doing that. That shouldn't be necessary. It's not the problem. No one should have to get up in middle of night like that, especially if you're limiting fluids before bedtime. I would say be careful not to overdo that, either. Unless there's an unusual night with an extra large amount of fluid intake, that shouldn't be necessary either. It gives it so much attention, maybe increasing anxiety. Have you discussed it with pediatrician? Will the 3 yr old still wear a diaper at night? not unusual for that age, (maybe even the others at night.)
Have you googled info on it?
It may just be what is normal for some kids. It'll probably just stop with physical and/or emotional maturity. Get waterproof mattress covers in the meantime.

I suggest talking to your peditrician about it. My son wet the bed until he was 8 or 9. I would also put pull ups on them at night and continue stopping the drinking early.

Hey There - You didn't say why you got rid of the pull-ups... Why not just start them up again until you don't need them anymore??

My daughter used them into second grade - her bladder just didn't grow big enough to hold nighttime urine till then.

I promise you, they will not go to college in them!

M.,
I feel for you. I'm sure this is a huge frustration! Especially with three. I've heard research that some children have small or week bladders, and just can't make it through the night. This may not be what you want to hear, but I say save you all a lot of frustration and go back to the pull ups!! There is no shame in it! Their bodies just can't do it! The other option I've heard about it the pee alarm. Teach your kids how to change their own waterproof pads, then at least you aren't washing full sets of sheets! What ever works for your family is OK!