Bedwetting Strategies

They are not going to stop until their brains wake them up and tell them to go to the bathroom. Go buy some pull ups and make it easier on yourself. There is nothing you can do to turn this action on in their brain. it just happens.

If you search the questions for this topic you'll see page after page of the same question. The answers are all the same. The alarms only wake every person in the house up and the child still wets the bed, the restricting of fluids only makes the child dehydrated and thirsty during the night and can make constipation worse. Constipation is a common cause of bed-wetting after staying dry because all the pooh presses on the insides when they relax and lay down.

It all depends on how much more you want your laundry to run up your bills for extra loads of bedding each and every day. How much time are you willing to put in every day doing pee pee sheets and blankets. How much more the elec, water, gas, laundry soap, fabric softener,etc... you are willing to buy.

There's a chemical in your body that stops you from urinating while sleeping - they lack it (it will build up over time). It's a genetic thing - and it usually takes longer for the child than the parent who had it. I was a bed wetter till almost 10. BOTH my kids wet the bed till my oldest/boy was 18 and my daughter was 14. There's NOTHING you can do about it - believe me, we did it ALL including the drugs - they just don't work. I explained to them that I was, they inherited it from me and until it builds up in their system, they'll have a "chemical deficency" and there's nothing they can do about it. I woke them up before I went to bed and when I woke up to pee, I'd go wake them up and make them go - they'd still be wet in the morning!!!

Both my boys were bedwetters into their teens. We tried everything!! Getting up, limiting liquids, meds, pull ups etc. The only thing that worked was an alarm that hooked to their undies or pullup and went off the second they started. It didn't take either one long to stop with this.
Our alarm came from starlight labs. It's not expensive but was very helpful.
I think time was on our side as well as they say it will get better when puberty arrives.
K.

Like Pam B stated, there is a chemical that reduces the amount of pee you have in your system when u sleep. You are supposed to start producing it btwn ages 3-8. Therefore, my pediatrician said bed wetting was not even considered a medical problem 'til after that. Basically, if you don't have the chemical, you are gonna probably wet the bed. I tried all sorts of things with my daughter, too, but eventually she stopped on her own when she was 6. One day it will just end---it sucks up 'til that point, but you just got to have patience!

First they are still young.
Put them in pullups
Give them water when they are thirsty, it won't make a difference
Wake them up right before you go to bed and get them to the toilet
Have them go more often in the daytime. THey should be emptying their bladders about every two to three hours.
Get plastic sheet covers
NO bed alarms, they dont' work
When they mess the bed have them take the sheets off and wash them.
Pretty soon they will stop. They are still growing. Were either you or your hubby bedwetters? It is hereditary.

I went through this with my now 7 yr old. She finally stopped having night accidents about a year ago. We had her in pull ups overnight too and decided that wasnt helping her. So we took those away purchased a plastic sheet. Eliminated drinks. Potty break before bed and eventually the bedwetting gradually became less and less. Good luck!

My dd is 6 and has only been dry at night for a couple months. She finally gave up the pull ups on her own and asked us for help to stay dry. Her pedi told us to take her to the bathroom 3 hours after she falls asleep at night. She is a very heavy sleeper and is not able to wake herself up. We started this routine in August, and every night we took her potty, she stayed dry. This gave alot of confidence. If you go to bed early, you have to set an alarm clock and make sure you get up and do it. We tried setting the alarm clock for her to get up by herself, but she still had trouble. When we did get her up, it was like she was a little zombie and I would have to direct her to the bathroom, help her get her panties down and position her towards the toilet and keep saying, "it's time to go potty." I have a neighbor that also used this method to nighttime train her 6 yo dd, and it worked for her as well. You must be persistent. So it has taken us a total of 4 months to make this work, but it has worked. My neighbor said it took her several months as well, but now her daughter will get up on her own and potty. My dd will not get up at night, but she is staying dry until morning, so I think we were able to break the nighttime bed wetting. 3 hours after bedtime seems to be the magic number for some reason, I think it has to do with REM sleep cycles.

FYI, some books will tell you not to use this method, but our pedi recommended and I know several other folks who used this method successfully as well with boys.

Check into the Potty Pager (http://www.pottypager.com/). I used them on my sons and they've worked great. There's no loud alarm to wake the entire family but the pager wakes them at the first sign of wetness. One of my sons stopped within three weeks using it. The other one was also put on the medication and has been accident free since.

I never chastised my sons for wetting the bed. But I did teach them to remove their sheets and mattress pad and bring it to me in the laundry room to be washed. This made the accidents their responsibility and they knew I wouldn't be upset. Washing the sheets (at first) two and three times a week was a blessing compared to getting up two and three times a night to take them to the bathroom.

I also went to Mattress Firm (or any local mattress store). They have a mattress pad that is waterproof without being that sweat-inducing plastic wrap that some places sell. It looks and feels like a normal mattress pad but water does not go through it. I threw their old mattresses away but the ones I have since using the pad is still good and doesn't smell.

Best of luck to you.

My daughters are 20, 18 (from first marriage) and 9-1/2 (from current marriage). My first husband has no bedwetting in his family, my current husband was a BW with other family members, me, my brother and both of my parents were BW.

My oldest wet the bed into high school. We bought her pull-ups/adult pants forever. My 18YO never wet the bed. My 9YO is still wetting the bed. She would like to sleep over, is afraid that her friends may find out (like when they come over), but she does nothing to limit her liquids, nor does she care to clean up after any accidents. I have never shamed my girls for the bedwetting (my ex did that!!), but I have tried numerous ways of motivating them to make efforts to minimize it. My 9YO really isn't motivated in any way to do anything different than wear PullUps, so we just live with it. I don't bother or get upset about it, it just is and I know it will work itself out in the end. Based on my family history, I'm 99% sure that she won't be taking PullUps with her to college. Good luck to you all :)

Give them back their Pull Ups to save you some work and them some grief. YOU were a bed wetter. What worked for you? Time, I imagine.
My oldest son could not /would not stay dry. When he was six, a friend invited him to spend the night. That was all the push he needed. He was NOT going to sleep over wearing Pull Ups and he was dry at night within a week. However, he was not a heavy sleeper in the first place.
My first daughter was a VERY heavy sleeper. She stayed in Pull Ups until she was at least eight. I figured she would be motivated just like her brother but that was not the case. She spent the night out all the time and just took her Pull Up along with a plastic bag to put it in for the morning. The more active she was during the day, the more tired she was at night, the wetter the Pull Up in the morning. She slept so soundly that she never felt the urge. But guess what? She's fifteen now and she never wets the bed. And her self esteem is so totally intact.
And then my third one just figured it out on her own. Sibling peer pressure? She's just a different child. Genetically more her father. I was a bed wetter, he wasn't.
So, really, you can fight this by waking them up, not giving them liquids and changing the sheets a lot but I truly believe it is a time thing. Keep with the Pull Ups, put plastic sheets on the bed.
If you are truly desperate, talk to your pediatrician. There is a pill that they take that can help. A friend of mine's daughter uses it. She's in 3rd or 4th grade now and still hadn't mastered night time dryness and it has been a huge help for her.
Patience. And even though they are close in age, remember that they are two different kids. My youngest was night dry before my middle. So what? They are all teenagers now and I haven't changed a wet bed in ages. (Well, not exactly true. The new guinea pig wet my youngest daughter's bed today when she had her up there playing.....but I wasn't the one up there stripping the bed!)
Good luck and patience.