NEED ADVICE/SUGGESTIONS: Keeping My Seven Year Dry at Night

My friend had a son about that age who still wet the bed every night as well. She was told, and I agree, not to put a diaper on at night. No pull up, nothing. This way, he would actually feel himself getting wet and it would make him uncomfortable, making him get up and use the toilet in the middle of the night or wait until morning.
Would you consider letting her to go sleep with nothing on? Diapers are made so well nowadays (maybe too well) that children don't really feel when they are wetting themselves you know?

The bell-and-pad method works like a charm. It's a pad slipped into the kid's underpants and hooked up to a beeper. When the pad gets wet the beeper wakes the kid up so they go to the bathroom. After a short period of this when I was a kid I was getting up every time I needed to go potty without fail and never had to wear a pull-up or miss a sleepover again.

Actually, high school students in my town learn about the bell-and-pad method in psychology.

Could you wake her up and walk her to the bathroom prior to going to bed yourself? She may mostly "sleepwalk" through it, but it might help.

You & your Dr. are right, it's so not unusual, but most parents don't discuss it (which makes this site so great). My son was wet at night until 7 1/2 & just magically stopped one day. We did everything from restricting fluids to getting up every 2 hours at night to escort him to the bathroom - he would sleep so deeply he didn't even realize he left the bed, nevermind so many times! He would STILL wake up wet - never could decide if it was the act of waking up that made his bladder release or his bladder just wasn't mature enough to retain the urine at all. We bought the various potty/bedwetting books, I used to change his bed several times each night (eventually just started putting a thick, folded beach towel under him). Unfortunately, even with all the restrictions & bathroom visits, the Good Nights couldn't hold it all - it was usually not just a little bit - really confounding with all the fluid restriction & simply exasperating. We did try the underpants-only route, & that just didn't matter - he sleeps so soundly the house could fall down around him. Just hang in there, it will stop one day, and you can all celebrate (& stop doing so much laundry!).

Hi D.,
I think it's great you're not making a big deal out of it and not making her feel badly. When my daughter pees in the bed (she's 8) she gets up, washes off, changes and goes back to sleep. When she tells me the next morning, we dance and sing that she's the pee pee monster.
That being said I notice it happens when her kidneys are challenged. Check out the area of skin below your daughter's eyes. Is it darker, dented in? That indicates kidney issues. Does she consume processed foods, salty stuff? Medication, sugar? These all affect kidney function.
Dried fruit, dark or black fruits such as blackberries and watermelon are very relaxing for the kidneys and bladder. Also, avoid late night eating and have her chew her food more carefully.

i wet the bed until i was 15. my son is almost 13 and still has a bedwetting problem. i used depends but finally just made him wash his sheets and stuff......nothing helped me and nothing seems to help him. he will outgrow it and so will your daughter

She has a retained Spinal Galant and possibly Spinal Pereze reflex. You need to find someone in your area who can integrate the reflexes through exercise. Try www.masgutovamethod.com to find someone in your area. I have been 100% successful treating the bedwetters with this method.

Our is 7 also and is wet every night. He little brother is usually dry though. It will happen eventually. If you think it's something you want to check out then call your insurance provider and ask them for a list of pediatric urologist that takes your insurance. Then call and make an appointment. Usually they treat constipation as the cause though. The weight of the pooh rests on the bladder and basically pushed the urine out as soon as the child relaxes in sleep. It continues to flow out until the child wakes up or stands up.

I had this issue as a child as well and here's what worked: being woken up several times a night by my mom to go to the bathroom whether I thought I needed to or not. She sounds as if she's a very heavy sleeper so this should help her out some.

My sister's daughter wet her bed every night until she bought one of those alarms. She said within a week of using it, her DD never did it again. This was at 7 and she is now 9.

Good luck.

Hi D.,
I second the advice about not letting her wear protective pants at night. Just panties. My nearly 5yo was wet every morning. I finally just put her in panties and she is dry almost every night (rare accident, but it does still happen-we've only taken her out of diapers at night for a couple of months now). Another suggestion is to take her to a chiropractor. They seem to be able to help with this issue as well. And lastly, it is possible that a gluten/wheat intolerance is to blame. You might experiment by taking her off of all wheat/gluten for a few weeks to see how she responds. I was also a bed-wetter until I was almost 8. As was my mother...

We have had this problem too. We switched to underware and then do a wake up to go potty in the middle of the night. Since I can't go all night w/o going potty I just get my 6 y.o. up as well to go potty. This elminated our night time accidents and made for one happy child and Mommy!

got this same problem for my almost 6 year old son. Aaahhhh......I am now waking him up at midnight and 4 am to go to the bathroom...for the next 2 weeks I am giving this a try to see if I can start training him to wake up at these times to pee. Oh my, this is not fun...he fights me waking up. But I too am at the end of rope trying things.

Sincerly,
Tired of Changing Pee Filled Sheets :0(

Have you taken her to a Chiropractor? Get her checked out, and a nutritional work up is also in order. If her ph is problematic this often effects ability to control bladder muscles.
best, k

I had this problem till I was 12. I took a nose spray (I don't remember what it's called) and it seemed to help. Really, I had to keep wearing pull ups and it was ok.
But nowadays I would suggest looking into getting cloth trainers.
http://nickisdiapers.com/catalog.php?category=16
It will save you tons of money, and washing them is no different than washing items as if she leaked. There are some that you can get customizable amount of absorbancy. Hemp is a good fabric that absorbs tons. If you would like more information, go head and personal message me!
***Oh and she can pick out cute prints!!

My oldest daughter had this problem when she was small...it was so sad...she was terrified to go and spend the night at someones' home for fear that she would have an accident and embarass herself.
We had numerous trips to the doctor...after x-rays and such the doctor said that she was "blessed with a very small bladder"...and that the doctor would be surprised if she COULD make it through the night without needing to eliminate!! So...we now knew that there was a physical reason for her issues...and we knew what we needed to do to help solve it for her. The doctor explained that the bladder is basically a muscle..and as such could be "expanded". We produce urine 24/7 so the idea was that she should WAIT during the day when she felt the urge to urinate....at first 10 minutes...then gradually more and more until she could wait up to 30 minutes until she actually went to the bathroom. All of this was expanding her bladder and making it more likely that she would be able to go through the night without having to get up.
Of course I was still getting her up to go to the bathroom as I would go to bed at night...and I set my alarm for midway through the night to get her up again. She didn't argue with me....in fact there was no conversation just two sleep girls...stumbling down the hall to the bathroom.
I agree with the Moms who are saying to eliminate the diapers. You are making it too easy for her to just continue to have the problem. The diapers are making her "comfortable" after she is wet...she needs to learn to feel the "sensation" of needing to awaken and go to the bathroom.
Good luck...and tell her that this is NOT going to last forever...I promise!!!

One of the girls in our neighborhood is 7 and still wears a pull up at night. She also takes some type of medicine at night that helps dry her up, I guess. I don't suggest putting your daughter on medication. But I suggest probably finding a different doctor. Maybe one that will actually help with the problem.

Here's what we do!

Get a fitted waterproof pad for her mattress that goes under the sheet. Stack an easily removable bed pad on top of that and give her a chance to learn to go on her own.

When my son wets the bed, we toss off the disposable wet pads and after a quick wipe down and pj change, lay him right on top of the permanent pad (not wet) and he goes right back to sleep. We don't turn on lights or try to remake the bed - we get it done quickly and quietly with no fuss.

She will almost definitely wet the bed at first because her body doesn't know how to get up and go. Make it easy for her to get to the potty - lights on, clear path to walk, and she will do fine!

Chances are that she has no medical problem - she just never learned to do it because she always has that diaper!

Good luck!