Bedwetting - Toledo,OH

I had this problem as well as 4 of my kids. Something that works at sleepovers is to put a pull-up in the bottom of his sleeping bag. When they're settled in for the night, with the lights out, change into his pull-up. In the morning before he gets out of the sleeping bag, change back into his underwear, leaving the pull-up in the sleeping bag. {have him practice doing this at home so he's more comfortable with it}. Have him use a trash bag to carry his sleeping bag both to the party & home. This way if he's real wet, nobody will be able to smell it. Most important is to let him know he's not the only one with this problem. At camp you may be able to get his counselor to remove his wet pull-up every day, but put all his dry ones in before he goes to camp.

I have 2 boys, both grown up now, but my oldest started wetting the bed in kindergarten! He was 9 before he quit. Yes, it was a problem because he couldn't go to sleepovers- we did not have pullups back then, and having to get up at night to change the bed was a pain. I read once in a psychologists article that one should make the child responsible for changing the bed clothes and putting everything in the washer. Doctors will say that they will outgrow it. It takes a lot of patience!

At that age my daughter was a bed-wetter, but she didn't stop until about age 12. We discovered she was too sound a sleeper. She just wouldn't wake up. Even now at 18 she misses her alarm sometimes. As she got older, pull-ups/goodnights just weren't a comfortable option for her on campouts/overnights. So the doctor prescribed DDAVP for her. She only used this on special nights when she would be away from home. It gave her comfort to know she didn't have to mess with the goodnights, and it was just another bedtime med. Since it wasn't every night, there was less risk in taking it.
Good luck, and keep things positive. My daughter had to strip the bed, and no one ever knew it was a problem until we had to mention it. Keep things low-key since it is a maturity problem-either bladder or their sleep.

Oh you are sooo not alone! And let me share what I have learned. My son is now 7 yrs and still wets the bed. He never has had a dry night since he was born. Anout a year ago he suddenly had to pee at inappropriate times and frequently, like standing in line for something, then he'd have to go about 6 - 8 times with barely anything coming out! I was certain he had an infection. We ended up at a urologist and he was fine. They suggested hormone therapy - it did not work, we tried another brand and it it did not work. I began to read and discovered that:

A) if you have a bed wetter in your family history odd are good you will have one (we have two - poor kid!)

B) as boys grow so do their bladders, making them wetter some day, plus hormones in their bodies can take time to develope

C) most boys will out grow this somewhere between the ages of 7 - 10 years of age

D) it can also be caused/or incouraged by a food allergy. I have heard milk and food coloring and be triggers, but you may want to check his diet.

My son will camp out, go to sleep overs, etc. I bet if you talk to most of the moms your son is not alone. My son realizes that his body is just taking its' tiome growing and eventually his bladder will catch up. He is tired of wearing good nights, but knows there is nothing 'wrong' with him, he is just growing.

Bottom line is, yes, go to the pediatrician. They will give you lots of insight, and try stuff out. The medicine they give you is an antidepressant which one of its' side affects is bladder control. The main cause for yours sons bedwetting is just hormones that have not gotten going! Plus change in bladder size - sometimes too large for the small body and sometimes too small. This hormone resides in his kidneys, sometimes meds can jump start them, but in others it cannot and I am not certain it is worth the risk. The choices are out there, but maybe it will ease your sons mind if he finds out that some of his friends don't stay dry either!

Hi A., I am sorry that you're having this problem with your son because I had the problem with my son and I to took him to the doctor and I found out that he had no problems. he kept getting older and I would have him checked a few more times thinking the doctor before over looked something but nothing. And one day guess what? He stopped and you'll never guess how old he was,he was 14 years old so I do feel your pain and I pray that your son won't be that age when he stops.I want you to know that we tried everything, we even got him up every hour and he would still manage to wet the bed. we almost lost our minds. The oder was almost impossible to control and the washing every single day was crazy.

Hi A.,

My son is 10 and just grew out of bedwetting last summer. We just put him in a Good Nite until he grew out of it on his own. He's never gone to camp and has had overnights with his favorite cousin who knew my son wore Godd Nites. He went to a slumber party last year and wet through his Good Nite on the sleeping bag. It was very embarassing. Shortly after that he started staying dry. He is proud of himself and now it's no big deal ane we save lots of money.

My grandchildren lived with me for a few years. One was 13 and 1 was 9. Both children had been wetting the bed nightly for years and their mothercould not get them help for she took them to their family physician who was not up on what could be done for them. When they came to live with me, I took them to a urologist. There is a medicinal combination that absolutely will eliminate the problem. One medicine is a water pill and the other is an anti-depressant. I do not know why, but together, they do work. The lives of the children have become so much better as well as mine becasue we no longer do daily bed-changes. The meidcation must be taken nightly. When they did not take the medication, they had accidents.
My grandchildren are actually my step-granchildren. I have two children of my own who are about the same ages and I am a teacher. I have learned that there is a genetic connection for some bedwetting which could be why your child and your brother are having the probelm. A urologist will probably not medicate the 3 1/2 year old yet because bed wetting could still be developmental. If you cannot get help from the first, keep going until you get someone who will help. Both children have gone back to their mom now so I don't have the medicine but I believe one is imipromene.

You may want to try limiting liquid intake after 5pm and making sure each child use the restroom before going to sleep. I work at a child care center and some times we have to wake children up towards the middle of their nap to use the restroom and pray that they go back to sleep. If the above does not help, you may want to wake your child up before you go to sleep so that they can use the bathroom then pray that they too go back to sleep. Good Luck praying for ya D., B

Hi A.,
I hear they now make the pull-ups that look like underwear boxer shorts now...blue for boys and pink for girls. I see the commercial all the time on tv...maybe, he would feel ok going to a sleepover with these????
Or could go to camp with these on?
Or, maybe, you could even pack his pull-up inside some shorts and put them into his bag and all he has to do when over at a freinds house for a sleep over is put them on with the pull up already inside and no one will ever know that it is inside the shorts????
Good luck!!!!
I know there are a-lot of kids out there that have these probmes for a long time!!!!
We had a neighbor in Missouri that had two boys that had this problem...they would even wake them up in the night to have them go potty and they would still manage to wet the bed. They still wear pull-ups to bed...their doctor said some kids just don't have strong enough bladder muscles to hold it through the night.
Good luck!!!
T.

Hi A., i have a 10 yr old that has this problem occasionally. When he was 4 i took him to the ped to be seen for bedwetting and they recomended this night alarm program that worked. There's a website by the goodnight diaper company that I would suggest you visit.The web site was very informative for me. Recently My son now 10 had a accident so I took him to the ped. This time she suggested no caffine a a med for sleep-overs. It has worked thus far.
PS check out the website.

I would recommend you eliminate his sugar & caffeine intake after about 6:00 in the evening. My son (12 y/o) still has an occasional accident when we let him "off the hook" on his caffeine or sugar restriction. After 6:00 p.m. he is only allowed milk & water & is limited to the quantity the closer it gets to bed time. We have found great success with this & I'm sure you will do the same.
Good luck!!

I have a 6 yr old boy also. He doesn't have problems with bed wetting but I know that if there have been any stressful changes in your life or the child's life, that can cause "potty setbacks" in different ages. I don't know if this would be your situation, but if so, I would bet that is what his problem is and it will correct itself when life settles down a bit.

I went through this as a child and had the same problem with my adopted son. You can try some of the suggestions mentioned by others, but if the problem persists, it should be discussed with your pediatrician to make sure that there are no medical issues that need to be addressed. I had problems with my kidneys that caused my problem. My son was very premature (l-1/2 lbs.) and had a bladder that needed to mature. We tried everything to help him and it just took time as it did with me as well.

A.,
You may want to take your son to a urologist and have him tested for an overactive bladder. Over a third of population are born with this condition. The test is easy. If he tests positive for it, there are options other than drugs, especially at his young age which will help him into adulthood.

A.,
Something we tried with our children that worked is that we limited them to milk at dinner and after and we allowed nothing to drink after 8:30 or 9 p.m. when they would get ready for bed. This worked very well in that milk digests as a solid and so by the time they go to bed they have emptied the liquids. We did this with both boys and girls and it worked well.
A little info about me, I am a mom with 6 children 4 girls 15,14,11 and 8 and 2 boys 12 and 9. We had at least 4 of our children who had to use this method. I truly don't think boys are a whole lot different than girls really, in regard to night time training.

Best of luck!
T.

my 12 yr old just stopped wetting the bed the dr said he would eventually grow out of it and he did we tryed different medicications nothing worked if i was you i would just buy depends for children and let nature take its role thats what i did and he very seldom has a accident now

My son was the same way, he never went anywhere due to the fear someone would know. We went to an urologist that only sees kids. He did a couple of tests to make sure that there were no problems with his kidneys and stuff then recommended a Potty Pager. You can now order them online, we did mail order. In about a month he was completely cured of the bedwetting. It hooks inside their underwear and begins to vibrate when it senses moisture. Eventually they wake up by themselves to go potty. I have recommended this to a few friends who have also used it.

A.,

I have six kids(5 girls 1 boy) and 3 out of the six(girls) were bed wetters. I did find out through my pediatritian that this is hereditary. I would suggest limiting their liquids and we have even woken up our children in the middle of the night to use the restroom. For sleepovers I would suggest you speak with whomever is in charge about putting the child in a separate part of the room to change into their clothing--that way the other children will never know. It will get better, be encouraged.

I had major bedwetting issues throughout school. It is very hard on one's self-esteem. One thing that helped me was to not drink any liquid after 6:00 pm, and try to limit my intake earlier in the day if I knew I would be spending the night at a friend’s house. Some children's bladders just don't grow quickly enough to keep up with their growing bodies. I would suggest talking to your Dr. or having a consult with a Urologist to see what they think. Another thing that often causes bedwetting is dreams. This was a big part of my problem, I would dream I got up and was in the bathroom and so I thought I was ok to go. The way that I fixed this was to come up with a way to figure out if I was dreaming or not. What I would do is touch the floor to see if I could really feel it, this would wake me up. If your child is having recurring dreams I would suggest taking him to a behavioral psychologist. My parents did nothing to help me and I continued to struggle with this issue well into me teens. Hope this information helps.