My Kids STILL Wet the Bed!

Go easy on them. I wet the bed until I was 11 yrs old & there was NOTHING I could do about it. Thank goodness my mother had 5 children before me, understood & didn't punish me like other mothers did back then.

My son just started staying dry all night within the past year. He's 7. My brothers both wet the bed for a really long time, too. It's very hard to deal with as a Mom, but it's all about the child's body/brain being able to hold a muscle and/or trigger a wake-up. Limiting liquids and late night trips to the potty can help, but I don't think you can teach, bribe or punish a child into staying dry at night until their bodies are ready. When my son was sporadically staying dry we did start a chart and after a week of dry nights he got to sleep without a pull-up, and after a month he got to choose a new toy.
He still has accidents maybe every six weeks or so, but just loads up the laundry and we move on. Sorry I don't have any quick fix for you. Let them help you with the extra laundry or keep them in pull-ups for a little while longer. hang in there!

P. (mom to three boys!)

My son is 6 and still wears a diaper at night. He sleeps too soundly to control his bladder. The Dr. said it was totally normal! I would let them wear a diaper at night...they sleep too sound. The age of 9 I would start being concerned that something else is wrong if they can't hold it at night then.

Like many others that have responded I was a bed wetter also (I wish I had known I wasn't so alone as a child!)
My brothers also struggled w/ this problem for many years.
I stopped by about 7 or 8, but my brothers continued to wet the bed until nearly middle school!
My mother also confessed to being a bed wetter, and my sister in law was likewise (until she was 16!)
So I fully anticipate having the same problem w/ my children.
You can try whatever you want, but ultimately it's just something they will eventually outgrow. I can remember dreaming about sitting on the toilet and then wetting the bed. Once I learned to wake myself up during those dreams I stopped wetting. Good Luck!

This is actually pretty normal and nothing to worry about at their ages. Sometimes the bladder just needs to "catch up" with a child's growth. I don't think it is laziness at all, several of my friends have children who wet the bed. Try getting them the pull-ups for overnight and they will probably outgrow this eventually. Also make sure they are not feeling embarrassed about it, bed-wetting can be tough on a child's self-esteem. Good luck

many kids struggle with enuresis or bedwetting. My husband was seven when his bladder got big enough to hold what his body produced at night. They make "goodnights" for a reason, a large sized pull-up for the nighttime. Get some for the kids and make sure you do what you can to keep them from feeling embarrassed or ashamed. Lots of kids have this problem or there wouldn't be products for it. Also, one Mom once responded saying that cutting out milk after about noon helped her child a lot and little if any fluids after 6 pm. Good luck.

Relax, it's not as bad as you think. I had two bedwetters, one is still wetting the bed and she is 10. She wears pull ups to bed and is fine with it. My oldest finally outgrew the problem. According to numerous doctors, their bladders sends a signal to the brain that it is full and they are in too deep sleep to recognize it, their bladders then empty often without the child knowing until they wake in the morning. Usually they outgrow it. You can get an alarm, which wakes everyone or do pullups and wait for them to outgrown the problem. Either way, it is not laziness and is just as frustrating for the child. Your child will respond, depending on how you respond ( big deal or no big deal). My oldest son chose not to wear pullups, due to his age or whatever (14) but he had to strip his bed and take care of the issue, he finally outgrew it, but he handled it himself. My daughter wears pullups and handles it just fine.
Anyway, good luck.
Blessings,
D.

My 5 year old still wets the bed and I have talked to my doctor several times about it. He says 90 % of kids grow out of it by their 6th birthday. He also says it is really only a social issue the older they get. They are just in such a deep sleep that they don't go. Nothing you try will really help. There is a medication that slows urine production - but d you really want to do that? Withholding the fluids just makes you miserable. So this summer There is a product that has an alarm that goes off when the wetting starts but that sounds mmiserable. He also said you can try to set an alarm and get up and make them go int he middle of the night...NOT! I tried two weeks with sleeping in panties...I changed sheets for 2 weeks and said forget in! We are still in pull ups. I have found them on ebay to save money. I tried buying a reusabe one but it caused a horrible rash! One day during a nap I saw her get up and go potty so I know it is the deep sleep issue...Hang in there!

My daughter also just turned 5 in June. She still wears a pull-up to bed and usually has no problem with that. She has always been a heavy drinker, she will drink a whole bottled water at night after having milk with her dinner. I have tried to limit her intake, but she is just always thirsty so I tell her that she has to wear her pull-up to bed. Sometimes its dry and sometimes it is soaking wet the next morning. She is a very sound sleeper so I know this is the issue with her, but I do not push her and do not make it a big deal. She will grow out of it and will learn to wake up when she is ready to. I am planning to try those new Underjams when we are out of pull-ups.
Good luck to your kiddos ~ they will outgrow it in time. Don't make it a big deal b/c that just makes them feel bad about themselves.

Good morning S.,

Found this info on www.webmd.com

Bed-Wetting - Cause
Almost all children who wet the bed do not do so intentionally. Most likely, several factors are involved when a child older than age 5 to 6 continues to wet the bed. Possible causes of primary nocturnal enuresis include:

Delayed growth and development. Children with a less mature nervous system may not be as able to sense when the bladder is full.
Small bladder capacity. Having a smaller-than-normal bladder may make some children more prone to wet the bed.
Too little antidiuretic hormone (ADH). Levels of antidiuretic hormone (ADH), a brain chemical that signals the kidneys to release less water, normally rise at night. Some children who wet their beds may not produce more ADH at night.
Sound sleeping. Many parents note that their child who wets the bed is a deep sleeper. These children usually wet the bed less frequently as their sleep patterns mature.
Psychological and social factors. Bed-wetting does not appear to be a direct result of emotional problems. In fact, bed-wetting may be the cause of some emotional disturbances for children. However, children living in stressful home situations or in institutions may be more likely to wet the bed.
Some of these factors may be inherited. A child is at increased risk for wetting the bed if one or both parents has a history of bed-wetting as a child.

Most cases of primary nocturnal enuresis are not caused by any medical condition. However, secondary nocturnal enuresis, which is bed-wetting that occurs after a period of staying dry, is more likely to be related to a medical condition. Examples of physical causes include a kidney or bladder infection (urinary tract infection) or birth defects that affect the urinary tract. Emotional stress, such as may result from the birth of a brother or sister, can also be a factor in triggering bed-wetting

FYI only,
Look into a natural way instead of drugs, drugs are known for Side effects.
a natural way , like xanthones are powerful, look into these.

thanks,
Oly

You know, I am no longer a bed wetter, but I wet my bed (that I share with my husband) twice in the last 5-6 weeks! I was holding it and knew that I needed to go. In my dream, I went to the bathroom and was so relieved, until I felt myself getting wet. This is not a big deal for a child to wet the bed at 5 years of age. Rule out any medical condition, and then just leave them alone. Hold them responsible for cleaning up behind themselves (i.e., doing the laundry and taking baths). Use a rubber/plastic sheet if you want. If you make a big deal out of it, it'll turn into a big psychological problem, and it'll take longer for them to stop. Continue to watch what they drink and when; wake them up in the night if you want. Treat it as just something that happens--because it is--and move on. It just takes some kids longer to get it together.

I wet the bed until I was about 11 and it sucked. My parents tried everything from alarms in the bed to not letting me drink anything after a certain hour to medication -- nothing worked. Neither of my sisters had this problem. One solution that worked best that I don't remember was they would put me to bed at 8 and then at 10:30 when they went to bed they would get me up and I would go to the bathroom. I never remembered but was happy to wake up dry. I am jealous at all the night time diaper options for older children. I would try them out.

Just be supportive and don't get upset. They can't control it. Just love them and help them change the sheets.

Blessings to you from a Mom who can relate. My first son virtually trained himself by 2 1/2. Second time around, I have a fabulous 7 year old boy, who still wets at night. We have tried everything we can think of without resorting to a drug (which I understand there is one). My Mom said I was late to train through the night and suggested a "buzzer bed". I ordered something called a NightHawk on line ~ kinda pricey but I think it has potential. We have lost a clip to it so I need to reorder to use it again but we had more dry nights in the few weeks we used it than ever. We have tried all natural remedies, limiting fluid, waking him in the middle of the night to potty...Im really not too worried about it as our Dr. says it has to do with brain development and it will kick in sometime. I do know of a LOT of kids who share this problem and sometimes it is not worked out until ages 9-11. We'll see...good luck to you and have patience.

i'm in the same boat, my 6 yo still wets the bed but the 4 yo has never had an accident since he turned 2. i wet the bed until i was about 9 so maybe it's in the genes and they will grow out of it. the new underjams are much better than the older type big kid diaper, better safe than sorry, and i tell jacob if he has a dry diaper for 3 days then we get try again without it. i think he's just such a very sound sleeper. well good luck to you and me both ;)

dear S.,
im sure you already have a bed protector, but if you dont get one for her bed, since i dont think they have pullups for kids that old. but i know its a common problem. then get them an alarm clock. set it for a few times a night. when it goes off, they get up, empty their bladders, and then go back to bed. after awhile they should get up automatically when they feel a full ladder while sleeping. something common also is kids dreaming of toilets. they think their getting up to go, when their really asleep. talk to them about this.
M.

Had the same problem with my two, the Dr. said that sometimes their bladders are not just ready for the night time control. Check with you family Dr. he may have some other idea as to what to do. I ended up using plastic sheets and if they woke up just putting down a dry towel so they could go back to sleep. Ended up with lots of laundry but they finely did better. Thank goodness.

S., That is very common.I have parents with 11 & 12 yr. olds come to me in desperation. Your child is a heavy sleeper, which relaxes muscles more than normal. Also, if they eat much sugar, they are depelting their body of Vitamin B COmplex, which will cause this.Let me compare it to a intoxicated person for simplicity sake. When a person drinks alcohol, it directly depletes B and thus the muscles relax. Try cutting out white flour, sugars, sodas.Building up acidphilus in body will also help tremendously.Do they suffer with allergies, also? common.If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I can e-mail you tons of free info. We are a FREE Health & Wellness ministry in LJ>
God Bless. www.yourhealthyalternatives.com

When I drink soda or sugary drinks I personally have emergency trips to the bathroom. That might help to cut out those kinds of drinks. Try water and milk. Good luck.

join the club. I have a son that's 7.5 and a dt that's 5 and they are both in night "underwear". Alot of what I've read is that this is hiereditary(?, which if that's true then my kids have a long way to go. I did it until I was 12-13! sad. But we've stop fighting and obsessing about it. We saw that our son's self confidence may have been tampered by him waking up in the middle of the night and saying that his bed was wet. I mean, its not all that fun to get up at 2 or 3 in the morning to change sheets, give the kid a quick rinse and then try to go back to sleep. We were getting gumpy about the process and I'm sure our son saw that grumpiness and transpose it to be that we were disappointed in him. Since it happened too often, and our grumpiness got more and more each night, we decided to give in and go ahead and let him wear the nighttime underwear/diapers. He was concerned that his younger sister would tease him about it, so we've given him suggestions on how to hide the process of putting it on and taking it off. When he has a friend over for sleep overs, he gets dress for bed in our bathroom and takes it off there in the morning. Our daughter went straight from diapers to those same night underpants, only bc she would always wake up with a wet diaper. She doesn't know the difference yet, so we have not let her believe that there's much wrong with it. Keeping a girls confidence up is an important issue for us, and we didn't want anything to possibly allow her to be down on herself.

As for medication, we do have a prescription for my son that I've already filled. However, our ped had said that really to only use it if he was going to go spend the night at someone else's house and did not want the embarrassment of wearing the diaper. She said, that the med did not eliminate the problem, it only hides it for a short period of time. Until thier bodies recognizes what's going on, then the problem is not really fixed. Why put extra chemicals in the kids, when we have the means to pay for the diapers and they are available. The flip side is that the kids are getting a full rested sleep without interuption. I tell you, with how often I wake up now to go use the restroom, I wish my body would go into a deep sleep like them. Last night I think I woke up 4 times and I don't feel like I got a good night sleep. At least I know they did.

Good luck and stay positive. Its not thier fault, and they don't find it fun to go through it and probably wonder why they can't stop. Don't make them feel like its their fault.

Good luck

I have two kids who are bed wetters. My son had no medical reasons and quit when he turned 10 years old. My daughter on the other hand, is 8 years old and still having a problem. She has been seeing a urologist for a year now who is re-training her brain because she apparently was holding her pee so much that it caused infections and wetting even in the daytime. Her bladder is now so strong and thick that she doesn't feel the need to go. The urologist says this is easy to fix and her on some strict potty rules.

I would say that if you child is wetting at night and has no other issues, then just be patient and it will stop.

Good luck and invest in pull-ups!
J.

www.livetotalwellness.com/janislanz

I don't know if this helps, but my brother did this until he was 11. His doctor put him on a medicine that you take an hour before bedtime. It makes your bladder empty before you lay down. I don't remember the name but I'm sure you can google it or ask your doctor. He also has ADHD and because of that medicine sleeps very soundly at night (which was the cause). It is more common in children with ADHD, ADD, and/or sleep apnea. I hope this helps.

Two of my 3 kids wet the bed til they were 6 and 8. I guess their dad did too. It often runs in families. They grew out of it, and yours will also.

One thing that helped us all sleep though was to make the bed, put a layer of matress cover between those sheets, and then do another sheet over that. Then, when they wet the bed, all they had to do was strip off the wet bedclothes and matress cover, and they already had a clean set underneath. They got clean jammies on and went back to bed. That helped because my son would wake up at 3 or 4am wet, and need help changing his bed before he could get back to sleep cause he was so groggy. This way we all got more sleep.

I've responded before to bedwetting issues. I'm a mom to three girls -- 18YO and 16YO with first husband, and 7YO with current husband. Nearly everyone on my side of the family (my Dad, my Mom, my brother, and me) were childhood bed-wetters and very heavy sleepers, even wetting the bed ocassionally as a teen/young adult. My oldest and youngest are bedwetters and very heavy sleepers, whereas my 16YO has never wet the bed.
We have talked to our doctor about it a time or two over the years, and the solutions really seemed silly and unlikely to be effective -- alarm devices to be worn in the underwear, medication that was EXTREMELY expensive.
Of course I talk to my kids about not drinking fluids after a certain time of the night. My grandmother worked nights and would wake me and my brother up near midnight to make us go to the bathroom, and we were still wet in the morning (ugh!).
So, my experience both as a bedwetter, and as a Mom of bedwetters, it's one of those things that they grow out of. I don't like that my kids' lives are restricted by this (no slumber parties or sleepovers), they aren't happy about it, but we accept it, NEVER shame them about it, and we are so thankful for Goodnights overnight pants. One last thing, don't ever put a number on what age you think they should be staying dry, not every child is the same. Good luck to your family ... I say, SMILE, it could be much worse! =)

Hello S.
My pediatrician said this is common because the bladder is not fully developed yet on some children. Don't despair (I would so use a overnight pullup.GOD Bless!

There are children who lack a particular hormone that helps to control the amount of urine that is made while sleeping. Ask your doctor about desmopressin (generic name) or its equivalent, DDAVP. This is a nasal spray that is given at bedtime that provides the missing hormone. Some doctors will not prescribe this until a child turns seven or eight, so if this is truly the problem you might have to just put them in Goodnights for a year or so.

After a few months on desmopressin, some children begin to (finally) make the hormone on their own, while other children may have to use it for the rest of their lives. My eighteen year old daughter used DDAVP for only seven months (when she was eight and nine) before she no longer needed it; however, my ten year old son has been on it for nearly that long, with trials about every two weeks to see if he's ready to give it up (he's not.)

It's important to make sure that your children are not made to feel bad about their condition. Cloth bedpads and Goodnights will go a long way to helping them feel more comfortable. Milk and soda should not be given to the children any later than 5:00 pm (and some schools of thought reduce that to 3:00 pm or even noon.) Limit all drinks an hour before bed, though drinking a small amount of water before bed (less than half a cup, or a few sips) should not be detrimental if the child has emptied the bladder first.

Good luck!

Hi S.,

My son had the same problem until I got in contact with Pacific International. Check out their web site www.stopwetting.com At first I was skeptical, but I wanted to do what I had to for him, because he was so embarrassed he couldn't spend the night at his friends or if he did he still wore pullups. It's a long process, but you are at home with them and it's the perfect time. You will have to get up and check them everytime the wet and change their sheets or pillow cases. Good luck! He did have one relaps, but it was guaranteed and we had to do it again, but not for very long. He was probably around 7 when we were successful... ____@____.com if you have any questions.

yes have them wear diapers at night