Bedwetting...

[Cricket1]

DS #1 is now 7 and still wets the bed pretty regularly (usually about 3-4x/week). This isn't a new thing--he has never gone for long periods of time without doing it. The problem is that he is an EXTREMELY heavy sleeper. We limit his fluid intake in the late afternoon and evening AND we get him up at 10 p.m. (before we go to bed) and bring him to the bathroom. We walk him from his bed to the bathroom, pull down his pants and sit him on the toilet. He sleeps through it the whole time.

One of the mats that has an alarm on it when it detects moisture would not work. He has alarm clocks, spy watches, motion detectors, etc. that go off randomly in his room at night and he NEVER wakes up to those. The rest of the house does, though. LOL.

He wears pull ups at night. My sister told me to get rid of those, but honestly washing sheets most mornings was getting really old. So we tried it for a while and then put him back in the pull ups.

I've discussed this with his pediatrician (at last year's exam) and he has another dr.'s appt at the end of this month so we'll be discussing this again. We never make him feel bad about it, but when his sheets get wet, he's responsible for putting them in the washing machine.

Anyone have any experience with this?

[PrairieRose]

Only through a neice but it was a tough thing to cope with

I wonder if he isn't like my neice and have a form of sleep apnea...?? Has your ped. mentioned that this could be part of the problem? She sleeps so soundly in between her light awakenings (due to the hiatus of normal breathing patterns) that it's almost impossible to wake her. I hope you get some answers soon.....

[Jamauk]

All I know is that this is a more common problem in young boys than it is in girls and that my DH suffered from it as well. He'll be home later this evening and I'll ask him if he remembers what worked for him....

[MomToTwoBoys]

We're actually going through this right now with DS #1. When the doctor increased his Risperidol, we started seeing more of the bedwetting episodes. He's also a pretty heavy sleeper and some mornings, he would wake up completely soaked. This is what we did:

1) Invested in a padded fitted sheet to help with keeping the urine from soaking into his mattress.

2) He gets one drink at dinner time (usually takes his medication then) and no more drinks after 7pm. He goes to bed at 8pm and I make him go to the bathroom before he gets into bed. It's also a thing for us to get him up at 9pm if he's not already passed out to go again.

So far, he's gone the last few days without wetting the bed. I had to cut the Good Nights out too except when we're at my inlaws for a few days, but he never seems to wet those so thank goodness!

I hope it gets better for you! You could also try to wake him up in the mid of the night to go.

[bigaraycing]

My DS is almost 9, and I think it's been just about a year since he stopped wetting the bed. My pediatrician said that it was normal. He is also a big drinker, and a heavy sleeper. Waking him up at night never really made a difference, except we lost sleep! He eventually went a week, then 2, and then we threw out the pullups. Oh, he is also a sleepwalker, which proved to provide a whole other set of problems when he got up to go to the bathroom, and only made it there in his dream! lol! Thankfully we are past that as well! Good luck at the doctors, and I am sure he will grow out of it!

[mom2matty]

All 3 of my sister's boys had issues with bed wetting and I think my oldest nephew was closer to 11 before it stopped. I will have to ask her again since is has been a while but I think I remember her saying their doctor attributed it to the boys being very heavy sleepers and drinking way too much of anything in the evenings. She was also told that it was very common and more so in boys than girls.

[C@rol]

You are doing just wonderful with you son by:

1. Not making him feel bad.
2. Supplying him with the pull-ups, alarms, etc.
3. Taking him to the Pediatriacian

This is very common problem especially with boys. Both of my sons went through the "bed wetting" problem even my husband. I don't know if it's a puberty thing or what but I'm sure your son's doctor will have some answers.

The most important thing is to let him know you don't blame him and you both support him to get through this and hopefull it will pass soon. Good luck.

[pip]

Both my boys wet the bed until the age of 12 or so. We tried many things, but it just seemed to be a time issue with them. So glad it stopped!

[Momto2Boyz]

My oldest who is now 7, is pretty good about wetting the bed. It's rare, but he still does it occasionally. My youngest is still in the "everynight bedwetter's" club. He is only 4 1/2, but we have found the same thing, no matter what we do, he still wets the bed almost every night. I'm just trying to do my best at keeping the sheets washed, but I am getting tired of their bedroom constantly smelling like pee!

I figure, he'll grow out of it when his body is ready. Hopefully it will be the same for your son. As long as there is no medical reasoning (like the apnea someone mentioned), I think it's one of those things that we, as parents, can't do too much about until their bodies are ready to deal with it!

It sounds like you are doing a great job being patient with him! As another mother who washes sheets daily, all I can see is keep up the good work!

[mom21ofeach]

I have totally been in your shoes!! My ds (11) stopped wetting the bed in February after about five months of dealing with the bedwetting alarm. I would not give up on it just yet. Here's our story:

At age 7, we started with our family doctor and she prescribed some medication. It did absolutely nothing. Ds was an every night bedwetter - completely soaked because he sleeps like a log. No fire alarm would ever wake him up! We put an alarm clock right next to his head, and he still didn't wake up. Over the years, we have been to several urologists, all prescribing different meds that did not work - not even for one night!

Finally, a new urologist told us to buy one of the alarms. I was hesitant, because he was such a sound sleeper. He told us that it takes several MONTHS of using the alarm to see any progress, but not to give up. Also, and this sounds cruel, ds had to get up in the middle of the night and change his sheets. This was not a punishment, but a way of training him to stay dry and wake up when he had to go. I will tell you, those five months were hell. At first, ds would not wake up. I had to go up (sometimes 2-3 X a night) and shake him and tell him his alarm was going off. There were lots of tears and anger from ds about the sheet changing, but he did it. I did not help him. After a few weeks he would wake up when the alarm went off, but still was mad about the sheets. It was a slow process, but sometime in Feb, he remained dry for weeks at a time. He has had 2 accidents since then. We no longer use the alarm, and now he gets up in the middle of the night on his own.

It was a long, hard road! You have to give up the Goodnights, though. All the doctors we spoke with said they are a deterant to dry nights because they don't feel the wetness. Now my ds didn't wake up even when he was wet, but they still all said no Goodnights.

You also need to stay consistant. When we started the alarm, we made a committment (ds, dh and I) that we would do this every night, no matter what! We did not have sleepovers during that period. It's important to include your ds on all these plans. He totally has to be on board, as well as you, for this committment.

Good luck! I can totally empathize!

[pita1213]

ds is 12 and still has this problem. he has been on a couple of medications, had some tests, been to different docs and still has issues. we have used goodnites in the past, but they get expensive. so now i only buy them if he is sleeping away from home. he also started getting diaper rash from them. his mattress is in a waterproof cover and when he makes his bed he puts a waterproof pad down or a towel, depending on what is clean, then a sheet. i don't make a big deal about it except when he stays dry then he gets a big hug and praise. we used to keep track of dry nights on a calendar, but stopped when we moved and had to live with the inlaws for a bit. i think we will start it up again and let him pick stickers to mark the days. i need to take him to the doc about the migraines he's having and we'll talk again about the bedwetting. poor kid didn't have much of a chance since i was a bedwetter and so was my mom.

[emily_hope]

My DBrother was a bedwetter and he wet the bed nearly every night until he turned 12 years old. After he turned 12, it just stopped. My DNephew, same thing. Very heavy sleeper. He wet the bed until he was about 12 and then it stopped. We never knew why. Good luck. I know it is a frustrating situation for everyone.