7 yr old still wets the bed

[HalfShellHero]

My 7 yr old still wets the bed, he is fine during the day but at night regularly wets not every night but often enough. He has mild ASD don't know if that's relevant, he doesn't stir at all if he is wet, we have known to check when we go to bed and he is soaked and sound asleep. We have stopped pull ups and just has bed mats now, but I'm still concerned. I have considered talking to a GP but I don't know what reaction i'd get either.he took a long time to toilet train terrified of the toilet and I'm currently training my three year old and as a sufferer of depression I'm frightened of the aftermath if the response was judgemental and unhelpful. Any advice greatly appreciated.

[RiverTam]

As far as I know dryness at night is not something that can be taught, it's down to the child starting to produce a particular hormone, and until they do they won't be dry at night. I believe that boys tend to produce this hormone later than girls.

So I don't think bed wetting at 7 for a boy is that unusual, but maybe just check with your GP if you're concerned.

[HalfShellHero]

River Tam that's very interesting I didn't know that ...

[RiverTam]

It's something I've read on here many times (I have a DD who was day and night dry at the same time). Do an advanced search, you might find some threads with more info.

[Youcantscaremeihavechildren]

My 6.5 yr old still wets, she's in pull ups. It's nothing to be ashamed of/ judged about, I think 7 is around the time they start to look at doing something but for us the advice hasn't helped yet. She goes to the hospital (to see the poo nurse!) Because of constipation which is now under control, I guess the next time we go they might suggest something else as she's getting older.
Their advice was no fluids after 6pm, no blackcurrant juice at all, double wees, one before teeth and one after, and lots of water during the day to increase bladder capacity.

[WankersHacksandThieves]

It is really not unusual for a boy. My DS2 was closer to 10 and DS1 was about 7/8 before they were reliably dry at night. Day trained at age 3.

We eventually did the trainer alarm in DS2's pants and that worked but I don't think it's even worth trying before 7 iirc.

[WankersHacksandThieves]

I'd also add no orange/citrus squash ever.

[minsmum]

My ds wet the bed till he was 8. I went to the gp who said it's very common for this to happen not to worry and he would grow out of it.

[FranklyMeDeer]

My 7yo is still in pull ups. Soaked through most nights. It's not uncommon at all. We've seen the school nurse who has put us on the list for an alarm that will wake her when she wees, we're waiting to get to the top of the list. It might be worth a quick call to your school nurse if you're concerned.

[JunosRevenge]

My now 15yo son was still wetting the bed age 11, OP. Some boys are wet later than others. Our GP told us that out of a class of 30 10yo boys, 2 or 3 would still be wetting the bed.

If he had school trips/sleepovers, our Scottish GP prescribed tablets to suppress the weeing, but apart from that we didn't do anything special to 'train' him. I think the important thing is not to make a big deal out of it. Our son was mortified whenever he wet the bed but we never told him off. He is now dry thankfully.

(Only mentioned GP being Scottish because we are now in England and our English GP wasn't keen on prescribing tablets when our son had residential at school. I don't know if that's a difference in practice prescribing policy or individual GP opinion...)

[FranklyMeDeer]

The Eric website has loads of good advice.

[FlapsTie]

DD was seven, and soaked through pull ups every night. The GP suggested trying her on desmopressin (which mimics the hormone that's missing that tells your bladder to stop working overnight) and from the first dose she was dry. I think she did six weeks on it before we tried a night without it and has never wet the bed again.

[BlueberryBakewell]

My DS was still wetting the bed at 7. We managed to cure it within 3 nights with an alarm. This website is very helpful Eric

[SauvignonBlanche]

My DS, who also has ASD wasn't dry at night until well into his teens. He was referred to an enuresis clinic aged about 7.5 and tried all the usual charts and alarms with no success, the enuresis nurse explained that until his production of vasopressin kicked in we probably weren't going to get anywhere.

He started on Desmopressin which helped him get more sleep as he would go through most of the night before wetting.

We ditched the bed pads and just used bed mats under the sheet, with a good waterproof mattress cover and just put the washing machine on every morning. The best thing we did was to stop worrying. Don't worry about being judged, I just explained to DS that he had a faulty bladder and that it would get better, which it did.

He used Pull ups for school trips and everyone was very matter of fact about it.

[HalfShellHero]

Thanks so much for the supportive and reassuring replies. I'm looking at Eric and I'll look into getting an alarm . Some great tips such as more drinks in the day to build up the bladder, none after 7 in our house may have to push it forwards, truthfully he may not drink enough during day.

[Believeitornot]

Try and avoid any juices. They make my dd wet at night!

[mamimadness123]

My nearly 7 yr old still wets nightly. We have been to go who says it is very common. I think the stats are something like 1 in 12. In our area after 7 they can be referred to urinisis clinic and I believe after you follow the steps they can give tablets. Nighttime meeting is either hormonal or can be psychological. The pills replace the missing hormone that I some take longer to occur/build up. Your school nurse should also have advice or be able to help.

[HalfShellHero]

Does the pills have any bad side effects or issues?

[BeattieBowRisenFromTheDead]

My NT 6yo is still in pull-ups and while it's annoyingly from a financial/environment POV, I've never worried about it. We tried training him not to wet the bed when he was first potty trained years ago, but he simply never woke up even when the sheets were soaked. He wasn't ready. I'll give him another year or two before I address it again seriously; as a PP said, if you don't have the hormone yet then there's not much to be done! DH and I were bedwetters until a relatively late age too.

[CointreauVersial]

DB wet the bed until he was about 8. The mattress alarm didn't work, because he slept through it, and he was eventually prescribed a nasal spray by the GP which did the trick. He took it in the early evening and I believe it suppressed urine production in some way....eventually he stayed dry and came off it.

[HalfShellHero]

8 seems to be the common kind of age ...loads of advice here thanks how does the alarm work exactly?

[missyB1]

My ds is 7 still wet every night despite taking two desmopressin tablets at bedtime. We tried the alarm- didn't work. He's under the continence nurse but none of the advice makes any difference unfortunately. We just have to wait it out.

[Tubbyinthehottub]

My DS was wet at night until he was nearly six. It was like a switch had been flicked when he just told us he didn't need pull ups anymore. He's never been wet since.

[Tubbyinthehottub]

My DS was like yours, just slept through it. We couldn't wake him. Now he seems to not sleep so deeply, if I go in he sometimes stirs which was unheard of while he was still wet

[syntheticharmony]

My NT son is nearly 6 and still in pull ups as he isn't dry at night. He was dry during the day by 2.5. I've not pushed the issue at all since around 18 months ago when we tried night training with regular lifts. After a week he was too distressed trying to lift him so we went back to pull ups. He has no other medical issues so I guess he'll get there eventually.

I'm sure the same will happen for your DS.

[JunosRevenge]

DS didn't seem to suffer any side effects when he took the tablets. (It was Desmopressin that he was prescribed too...)

He's totally fine now. When he did become dry, it seemed to occur almost overnight.

Hallelujah!!