Bed wetting

[Tini]

Any tips on getting a boy to stop wetting the bed?

I've heard/read (Incl a recent article on Dr Dobson's site) that its quite normal for boys to wet the bed a little longer than girls.

We have a matress protector etc. but he still only gets though about every second night on a dry bed.

Thanks

 

[mamaneenie]

My son is only 2 and not trained during the day yet, so I haven't crossed this road. However, I have a friend whose son is 4 and has only just stopped wearing night nappies. How old is your son?

 

[Tini]

He's 4 - almost 5. Been trying now for a good few months with a night nappy - but have had more sucess since we took the nappy off at night - seems like he is more aware of the consequences than having a safety net. Still we have a no anger or recrimination policy if he does have a wet bed.

 

[JillLars]

Try using positive reinforcement, reward him when he makes it through the night without wetting the bed. Also make sure he uses the bathroom before he goes to bed and doesn't drink a lot of liquids after his last potty trip before bed. I'm not a parent yet, but that would be my advice.

 

[Karl - Liberal Backslider]

Accept (a) there's no voluntary element to this - you wake up, you're wet.

(b) it can take years. Some kids still can't guarantee a dry night into their early teens.

(c) being stressed about it makes it worse.

If it carries on into later years, you can get devices that wake you up if you start wetting, which can be very effective - if you're ready for them. But there's no simple answers.

 

[Tini]

If it carries on into later years, you can get devices that wake you up if you start wetting, which can be very effective - if you're ready for them. But there's no simple answers.

I've heard that these can be very effective - at waking the rest of the house while the perpertrator sleeps right through it.

One of the reasons is that they are such deep sleepers and dont feel the need.

 

[Tini]

Try using positive reinforcement, reward him when he makes it through the night without wetting the bed. Also make sure he uses the bathroom before he goes to bed and doesn't drink a lot of liquids after his last potty trip before bed. I'm not a parent yet, but that would be my advice.

Thnaks guys

We've been cutting his fluid intake - he's quite good at this. And we offer rewards for a number of dry beds - he is one away from going to the movies (Finding Nemo opens in SA on Friday - so he should make it by then).

A rule of thumb I've picked up for thers is that the average bladder = AGE + 2 ounces (so for a 4 y.o. - about 200+ml metric). Not very big at all.

 

[Evening Mist]

My 7yo still wets everynight. We mostly just put him pull-ups to get through the night. I can't deal with all the laundry that would result otherwise. We've tried various things -- it appears that he is just not ready. We do our best to make it a non-issue. He will grow out of it eventually and in the meantime I don't see any point in stressing him out about it.

 

[Kelly]

I wet the bed until somewhere in 1st/2nd grade. It was really embarassing. I once went all over a neighbor's guest bed when I spent the night with a friend.

My family put down the vinyl matress cover, I wore what were effectively Depends at night, they cut out any liquids after about 7pm.

One day I just stopped. It literally never happened again no matter how much liquids I drank or when. My mom sez that one of her other sons (previous marriage) did it too.

Speaking from experience, just never get down on the him. Even the 'tisk tisk' vibe they gave me when they would change my sheets really hurt.

 

[Evening Mist]

Speaking from experience, just never get down on the him. Even the 'tisk tisk' vibe they gave me when they would change my sheets really hurt.

Thats really sad, Kelly. I'm sorry you experienced that.

One day last year I very casually suggested to my son that he could strip the sheets on his bed and carry them down to the washer by himself, if he wanted to. (He wears pull-ups and we wake him to potty during the night everynight, but sometims he has wet sheets anyway.) I tried not to make it sound like it was a hassle for me or anything -- I just wanted to give him some power in the situation because I could see that he was beginning to feel self-conscious about it. I think it helped him a lot -- I usually find his linens in the wash machine already when I get up in the morning. I put clean sheets on while he is at school. This way -- we can go about our life without making it a major issue.

I also asked his pediatrician to talk to him about it. She told him that it was very normal, and that even though nobody talks about it -- she would bet money that there are at least 3 or 4 kids in his class experiencing the same thing. He seemed very relieved to here that from her. He's having a rough time over it now, because his baby brother who is only 3 is now staying dry through the night. Sigh. I hate to see my sweet boy hurting over this at all, you know?

 

[oncewaslost]

If it carries on into later years, you can get devices that wake you up if you start wetting, which can be very effective - if you're ready for them. But there's no simple answers.

they do work really well. in my experience with them the only people who woke up were the parents. the rest of the household slept quite soundly.

 

[Kathleenb]

We used a buzzer device with DD#1 for three days and she was cured. This was the kid we woke up during the night to potty (before the buzzer) and she walked down the stairs, waved her hands in the direction of the bathroom, and turned around to go back upstairs. LOL

DS is 9.5yo and we've tried it with him off and on but either he's just not receptive to it, or we've given up too easily. In fact, we're working on him again now. They're worth a try; our pediatrician agreed with using one at about age 5 if bedwetting was still an issue. It worked so easily with DD that we wished we'd done it earlier.

 

[water_ripple]

I do not know if this is true or not so asking a doctor would be wise...I have heard that sometimes a child's bladder does not grow as fast as the rest of their body, and that could be a reason for prolonged bed wetting?

My 2 year old has a wet bed every once in a while, but since I have cut back fluids after 6:30 she is waking up dry almost every morning.

 

[Svt4Him]

Dr. Dobson may have some books on this specific issue, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[HMM1]

My daughter just turned seven and just stopped wetting at night. We had a lot of tests run because I thought the issue was medical ie infection, spinal pressure. Her body is/was totally normal she just had a small bladder and is a very sound sleeper. We opted not to medicate for her small bladder or do the buzzer. We also did not put her in pull ups after she was five. They were kind of embarrassing at overnights and such. We just made sure the parent where she was staying was aware. We did a few things to get us through the nights. Very limited water at dinner (no milk, it's harder to digest and will enter the bladder later ie 2-3am). She would empty her bladder before bed (of course). Before I would go to bed we would take her to the bathroom. We would take her no later than 2.5 hrs after she went to bed because if we waited till 3 hrs we usually had to change some sheets. So she still sleeps really soundly but I think her bladder is finally big enough to last for the night although we still limit her fluid intake in the evening.


Blessings and perserverance!
Heather

 

[Evening Mist]

I posted on this thread in November about 7 yo. I just wanted to let everyone know that he has been try everynight for over a month now!! No more pull ups. I have no idea what made the difference. It was an out of the blue change. He is very happy with himself. Just wanted to encourage the OP and everyone else. This too shall pass, apparently!

 

[KayDee]

My grandson wet the bed until he was 13. He was snorer ever since he was little. When we took him to have his tonsils out the Dr. asked if he wet the bed. We were shocked. It seems if they snore, they have to go into such a deep sleep to get any rest that they don't wake up when the have the urge. He has not wet the bed once since his tonsils were taken out. So, if any of your children snore, check the tonsils and adnoids.

In His Grace
KayDee

 

[Salsa_1960]

Some kids just aren't ready at 4. My oldest daughter was not completely free of accidents at school until halfway into 1st grade. About the same for bedwetting. We almost pulled our hair out trying to come up with ideas. She finally stopped when she was good and ready.

 

[straightforward]

Thnaks guys

We've been cutting his fluid intake - he's quite good at this. And we offer rewards for a number of dry beds - he is one away from going to the movies (Finding Nemo opens in SA on Friday - so he should make it by then).

That sounds alot like what I did for my son...but I added a special little twist. I took a piece of cardboard (not very big) that had a white side (I guess even poster board or something like it would do) and used all the neatest looking colored markers I could find to make a grid (like a calendar but the squares didn't have to be too big). Then, for every night he had a dry bed he got a star on one of the squares. Oh, up at the top we wrote 'Big Kid Chart'...he was about 4yrs. so he was happy with that. We didn't leave any blank squares...so we weren't keeping track of the wet nights at all. Whenever he got up to 5 stars he got something (I never had the option of saying what it would be ahead of time because I never knew how much $ we would have when the 5th star happened). And they didn't have to be 5 in a row...just an accumulative 5. I think that lasted about 4 weeks and it worked really well.

Thing is, I had worked really hard to make it look as special as I could. It was such a special thing and there were so many positive feelings associated with it for him that we had to keep it along with his art (I keep an "art box" for special stuff). About a month ago we were going through the art box and I pulled out the chart. He's 10 (going on 11 now) and I thought he was going to be embarassed. He was actually so happy to see it because it brought back some memory of accomplishment or something. He was actually proud of it. Every kids different...so I don't know if it would work for everyone but it might help.

 

[Lost]

I had a friend who had this problem. I sat down with her little girl and played dolls with her. After a little bit we play acted with the dolly being tucked in for bed.

I figured out that she was afraid of getting out of bed and going to the restroom at night by herself.

I told her mom.

She told her to call for her and Momma would go with her. (They left the doors open so she could be heard.)

The very first night the problem was solved. Yayyyyy!

(Sometimes kids don't tell us things - we have to figure them out.)

Being a parent is a tough job.!