Bedwetting - Hamden, CT

Do you wake her up at night? My son and has occassional accidents so that's what I have been doing and it works. My husband puts him to pee at midnight and I get up at 2 am.

Good luck; I know how frustrating it is.

YES. Get her tested for bladder reflux. Bedwetting is a HUGE symptom of it. It's genetic and needs to be addressed ASAP if she has it. It can cause kidney damage. I had it and my daughter had it. Mine was surgically corrected, and my daughter grew out of hers. I'm at work, so I don't have time to write up in detail about it. Google it and make an appointment with your pediatrician. Good luck.

My daughter had the same problem. I'm not trying to insult you or anything, have you had her diagnosed with any kind of issue? My daughter suffers from anxiety. Her bed wetting finally stopped at believe it or not, the age of 10 1/2, it wasn't a constant thing, but every now and then. It could be genetic. Just don't make a big deal about it. I'd talk to her. I'd remind her once she got back from school to use the bathroom, after dinner, and depending on your child's bed time once or twice more. Make sure she drinks earlier as opposed to later. Definitely try not to let her drink anything I'd say at least 1-2 hours before going to bed. Good luck! I hope this helps.

Hi T.,
I have a very similar situation. My 7 year old son still wets the bed while my 5 year old daughter has made it through the night for years.

I spoke with our pediatrician who said that it is not all that uncommon for kids to bedwet for a variety of reasons up until about 8 years old (small or immature bladder, deep sleeping, family history, etc.). Limiting drinks and waking up your child in the middle of the night can be difficult for parent and child - I tried both and didn't do it for long because I felt very cruel. My son and I discussed how we could address the problem together and decided that he would wear GoodNight's disposable underpants. He found it very comforting and pointed out to me himself the commercial for the GoodNights underpants, which shows kids his age who still wet the bed. We are careful to let him maintain his dignity when cleaning up the bedsheets and we invite him into our bed if it occurs during the middle of the night--letting him know that we enjoy the extra special cuddle time. It's not ideal but I figure if this is the biggest problem I have with my son then I can deal with it. If it persists past his 8th birthday, I will take him to a pediatric urologist to check him out as our pediatrician suggested. The most important thing is to let your child know that they are not "bad" and that this happens to alot of kids. Giving them some input and your reassurance goes a long way. You can involve them in being practical and leaving out a change of bedclothes, sheets, etc. so that if an accident does occur in the middle of the night it'll be less stressful and faster to take care of it. Some nights my son does not even wake anyone and just gets a towel to cover the "spot" and goes back to sleep.

When they are teenagers, we'll wish this was our biggest problem! Good luck - D.

I would suggest you discuss this with your child's pediatrician. It may be a health problem. She may have a physical problem that may be affecting her bladder control.

As an ex-bedwetter I wish I had better advice. Drinking has nothing to do with it honestly. The problem with me was that I was a very deep sleeper. I would actually see myself get out of bed, walk down the hall, and go into the bathroom. The problem was I was still in bed. My parents tried everything from bribing me to no ice cream/ milk products, to no drinking...nothing worked. There is a thing out there that you can buy. It's an alarm that your daughter wears to bed every night. She snaps it to the front of her panties and when she starts to pee it beeps and wakes her up. It's conditioning, like Pavlov's dog kind of. The problem, or not depending on your $$$ situation, is it's not that cheap. It costs about $100. That was the only thing that works for me. What you can do in the mean time is make her bed up with several sets of sheets. Put a plastic mat between each layer so when she does wet the bed all you have to do is remove the wet sheets and plastic pad. She'll have clean dry sheets underneath and she can go right back to bed.

If this is an every night thing I would take her to a doctor, maybe two or three for opinions, and make sure she doesn't have any type of bladder problem or abnormality. If everything is clear maybe wake her once in the night to use the bathroom, either yourself or an alarm clock, and see how that goes. Good luck.

Hey, T....

Talk to her doctor. As embarrassing as it may be for her. I had a bedwetting problem when I was growing up, too. I think well until I was 9 or 10 - Yes, I know.

I was actually prescribed a nasal spray that fixed everything. I can't really remember what the problem was but, it was something about my bladder being weak or getting signals from my brain or vice versa. It was so long ago, I don't remember.

But, it stopped. LOL. So, I'd talk to the pedi.

Hi T.,
My ex-husband's daughter had the dame problem, no matter what we tried she wet the bed at least once a night. It was very frustrating for her and us. What yoiu have to realize is that it is NOT her fault! this is not a "habit" It is actually a medical problem in most case. What happens is that the child grows faster that her bladder does. They do eventually grow out of it, Amber didn't grow out of it untill she was almost 12 years old. I beleive there may be some medication for it, but i'm not sure. I know it's hard to deal with but eventually it will get better. I'd say if it still is not better by 11 years old consult some kind of specialist.
meanwhile, keep the plastic matress cover on the bed and find goodnights(which were a kind of overnight underwear diaper made for this problem) hopefully everything will turn out fine
-N.

I don't have a "cure", but I'm with you on this. My two older sons wet the bed until they were 9/10. It will stop. Encouragement goes a long way. Make sure she goes to the bathroom before bed, limit the fluid intake after dinner, and you can try waking her during the night to go. That didn't work for me because my kids sleep like the dead. Nothing wakes them, even having to pee. You can talk to your pediatrician, there is medication. I didn't think it was that successful, but maybe it would work for you. As for sleep overs, neither one of my sons had any accidents when they stayed at a friends house. When there is a dry night, make a really big deal about it. It helps her try to stay dry the next night. You can tell her that she's not alone either. Many children wet the bed. Good luck.

Have you seen a pediatric urologist? Sometimes the problem can be physical ( chronic infection, over-active or underdeveloped bladder, etc.) Sometimes it can be a sleep disorder that prevents her from "knowing" she has to go to the bathroom. Sometimes waking them up at night can help, but that can also impair the quality of their sleep. I worked as a residence camp this past summer and we had bed wetters that were as old as 15. I would say not ot be complacent, and please talk to a doctor.

T.-
My daughter went through the same thing. After getting upset and changing alot of sheets through the night, it turns out she has an "immature bladder" - just needed to do a little more growing -- she is now 11 -- and has grown out of it -- be patient -- the watching how much she drinks help, but there is medication that will help as well. She might need to see a urologist. C.

Hi T.,

I can definitely relate to your daughter. I was a bedwetter until I was 13. I believe its something she'll just have to grow out of eventually. Sometimes my parents woke me up in the middle of the night to go. It certainly helped me but they couldn't do that every night. They do have the Good Nites for older kids. Perhaps she wouldn't mind sleeping in something like that.

T.,

Have you seen your pediatrician? They have medicines that help to control this issue now. It's not an abnormal situation but it can be bad for a child's self esteem so definitely get there soon.

They also have those Good Nite pants which I believe are meant to look close to underwear for just this concern.

my daughter is 7.5 and she still wets the bed she does sleep over her friends house she just puts her pull-up in her pj's and always wears pajama pants her friend never knows i asked my pedi about it and he said that his daughter wet the bed until a week before her first period i have no clue what to do to make things even worse she nolonger fits into regular pull-ups i have to buy depends feel free to e-mail ____@____.com
H.

I also have a 7 year old who still wets the bed.It is frustrating for the both of us recently I started buying her goodnights diapers so she would not wet her bed(which she recently just got due to her messing up her last one.)I wish I could give a cure but,I am still working on that one.

My husband had that problem when he was a kid and the doc told him to make sure he goes to the bathroom before he goes to sleep. If she doesnt have to go, try to force to go even if its just alittle.

T.,

First I will tell you to have your daughter do Kegel exercises, they will help strengthen her muscles in the entire pelvic region, they do help. This website http://www.everyday-miracles.com/Rarticle2.htm will explain how to do them if you need to know how to explain it to her, the site also says that all women should do them everyday... helps with bladder control and (NOT saying your daughter needs this) also sexual pleasure. They are not hard to do and my daughter's doctor had me doing them with her 2-3 times a day about 20-30 times.

My daughter had bed wetting problems too. Well it started that way and then she started having problems during the day. We took her to a pediatric urologist and found out that she actually had something called a "spinning top urethra." It would cause her to wet herself and also caused frequent UTI's. She had so many UTI's that one of her kidneys is about half the size of the other one due to damage from the infections. The doctors may want to do some tests if you go to them. My daughter had to do a common dye test called a VCUG, they insert a catheter and then the dye through it. The kid then has to hold their urine will they do the test so the can see how they hold it, then they let some go and hold it again for more observations and then finally they are allowed to relieve themselves. If you have not had her to a urologist I suggest you do. Explained this to you because I was terrified to have it done because I didn't know what to expect, but my daughter came through fine and it really didn't bother her at all.

Best of luck
K.