Seeking Advice on Nightime Accidents

H.,

Have you consulted with your ped.? My girlfriend's daughter had this problem, and she was defecient in ADH- anti-diuretic-hormone. she was Rxed nasal spray and it helped.

I was a heavy sleeper and just didn't wake up. I was 4-5 yrs old. I had on accident at 13 yr, I was dreaming I was using the toilet. being a sleepwalker, and heavy sleeper, my mom understood and kept the embarrassing accident a secret.

All the other suggestions are good (limit H2O, go before bed, plastic etc). If you make these changes and it continues, or the next ped. visit, I would bring the issue up.

H.,
I sent this advice to someone a couple weeks ago. Isn't it nice to know that you're not the only one going through any situation??

"My 3-year old had this problem too. I think it was just because she is a heavy sleeper and doesn't wake up in time. She did really great for a long time then suddenly I was changing sheets in the middle of the night. I started putting her in a pull up ONLY AT NIGHT and after a few weeks (I don't think I even bought 2 packages) she got a lot better. (I don't really condone pull ups as an effective potty training tool...they are too absorbant and they just don't make the kid uncomfortable enough to do something about it, but in this case, it really worked.)

She still has an accident, but not nearly as often and when she does, it's usually on a night where we had a late dinner and she had a drink too late so really it was my fault.

Best thing to do is buy a plastic sheet to protect the matress and have extra clean sheets on hand. You're doing piles of laundry anyway, what's a set of sheets :)

Good luck!"

Hope it helps you and the other person I sent it to.

C.

Is she taking any new medications that may be causing her to sleep harder at night and not awaken when she has to potty? That's one of the things I know can cause this in little ones. Other than that, I know growth spurts and big life changes (even if they are not NEGATIVE stressors) can cause phases like this. Also, is it possible she's feeling neglected (whether it's accurate or not, could she be FEELING that way) because of something going on with the little one... teething, illness, talking, etc. Kids act out in odd ways to get attention when they feel like they're missing out on something. It doesn't always make sense. Just a couple thoughts. Hopefully it's just a temporary and quick phase. Good luck and best wishes.

Lots of good suggestions here. The only one I didnt see is the one thing that worked for my little guy. No rough play at least 30 min. before bed. My son liked to "wrestle" in the bed or on the floor with Dad before bed and each night that they did that, he would wet the bed. But when my husband was travelling I noticed that he didnt wet. Needless to say we now keep 30-45 min. before bed time, quiet, book, story time. Good Luck!

it could be just a growth phase.also i read somewhere that sometimes bedwetting can be associated with full bowels.it puts pressure on her bladder and somehow causes her to not be able to feel when she has to go,or something like that.make sure she's pooping enough during the day.if that doesn't seem to be a problem just give it some time.and i don't know if she even is allowed this but make sure she doesn't get any caffeine either.that can stimulate extra urination and if she wasn't the kind to wake up in the middle of the night needing to potty she may not be used to it.some kids can hold it all night and some need to learn to wake up in the night.maybe try to go in and wake her up before you go to bed and make her use the potty.Hope this helps!~S.~

Hello H.,
My daughter who now is almost 6 did the same thing, and sometimes will stil have an accident. I would wake her up before I went to bed to bring her to the potty, she was half asleep, went potty and right to bed. Do you have one of those plastic sheets on her bed? I think it is normal, my daughter did it for about a week and a half, and then just stopped. Good luck! M.