Bed wetting older child

Constipation can cause this

My almost 15 year old son has had this issue for years. The urologist at the hospital said it was because he is a very large child/teen (as tall and heavy as a full sized man), but his bladder is the size of a child his age. This means it fills up and overflows. Basically his bladder has to catch up. We give him this wafer at night before bed which has been prescribedbyhis GP. It works and there are no adverse side effects.

My daughter was about this age when her bed wetting was resolved.

We followed the advice of increasing her fluid intake during the day to build her bladders tolerance to being full. This meant that any slightly over average intake putting pressure on her bladder in the night and wet.

It worked!
Reward chart for increasing water in day.

Being kind and soothing when accidents happen.

(We also had a ritual of saying goodnight to her bladder at bedtime and reminding him to wake her up if needed!)

Just saw your latest post, I'd suggest to her she wears the pull ups and if she stays dry then all the better. Good luck!

Pull ups are your friend here, and a 'stuff happens' attitude whilst time passing sorts this out. My DD was a regular bed wetter until 10ish, and then occasional until about 11, then it stopped at 12. Pull Ups saved the washing machine, and allowed for uninterrupted sleep for all.

My dd is 10 now. Still in pull ups at night. Tried all sorts - alarm, hormones etc .nothing worked. I think she will just grow up of it . Shes on a residential with school in June..spoke to teacher, she says they deal with this every year and they put provisions in place. Its not as uncommon as you think OP. Im sure itll all work out.

Thank you @LillteSwim I will take a look at those

Don't stop her from going to the residential if she wants to go.

My son was similar and I just gave him a towel to put down after if he had an accident and spare pair of pj's. I told the teacher too so that she would be aware it could happen but that he knew how to sort himself out. In the event he didnt have an accident. I also found that getting him to do the legwork of changing his bed the next day helped him to grow out of it.

My DC was similar at 8 - perhaps every 6 weeks or so - and now at 9 hasn't wet the bed for months and months so I suspect it is over now. I wouldn't worry so much if the wet nights rare as it does sound like they are already growing out of it.

My nephew suffered with nighttime bed wetting until about 9y/o. Doctors did mention it can be hormonal, with some kids not having sufficient production of an anti diuretic hormone that reduces the amount of urine your body produces during the night and this should naturally correct at a certain age.

Brother and SIL tried all kinds - stopping any drinking too close to bed time, periodic awakening through the night, waterproof mattresses, alarms that alert to moisture etc but he was still having to wear pull-ups at night, so was embarrassed and unable to say stay over at a friends house. Eventually, GP referred him to specialists and he was put on some meds (sorry don’t recall the name) and very quickly was sorted.

Go to the GP - there is help available. Hope you get your daughter sorted.

Would she not wear pull ups for residentials or sleepovers if bedwetting is the only thing stopping her from attending? You can get some really discreet ones these days that are just like underwear, Ninjamas I think they're called?

From my experience of school journeys, your DC is far from alone; when planning for school trips, it was routine to arrange loans of waterproof sheets, when forewarned by parents, from the local authority. As PP's have said, there can be a genetic factor, and it is sometimes developmental, so your instincts are probably spot on with this. You can always consult your GP is you think medication might help things along.

It isn't a sign of any medical problem. It isn't the norm but is far from unusual. She will not be the only bed wetter in her class. Most children grow out of this by year 6 /7 but as per pps a few carry on. It isn't pathological. The fact that she often wakes to go to the loo and that the frequency is lessening are good signs. If you want to intervene, the school nurse help with this and might suggest an alarm or medication via your GP. Look at the ERIC website.

One of mine has sleep apnea die to large tonsils with similar issues

Mum to a 13yr old bed wetter here. Currently trying to work out how I can support mine on a school camping weekend. She has done many a Brownie and then guide camp as well as residential in school.

If your daughter sees it as 'stuff happens' try and keep it that way. Kids can be cruel and I think the other kids are her biggest issue here. Teachers, guide/scout leaders etc have seen it all before and have ways of dealing with it. So do talk to them rather than stopping your daughter going away.

In terms of sleepovers there are beginning to be other options around. Look at the homemakers reusable period products. I only say homemakers because of her age and likely size. I've just bought my DD some Modibodi incontinence pants... which look exactly like the period ones she uses monthly. I'm hoping they do the trick.

Things to think about...

Blackcurrant or any other dark squashes and fruit shoots of any flavour (or similar bottles of own brands) are the work of the devil. Avoiding those completely cut down alot of problems here.

Over stressed and over tiredness often cause issues as do changed sleep patterns. I often predict we're going to have issues if she's had a few late nights then sleeps heavily to compensation (so the night after Brownie camp for example!)

Big thing is though do whatever you need to do to not stress about it. There is little you can do and stressing doesn't help (I have been there...)

Hi, occasional adult bed wetter here! I’ve been doing it since childhood and it’s got less and less over time (from weekly to now only once every few months). I did take desmopressin for it when I was younger and that worked very well, I would recommend asking the GP for it. I only stopped taking it as it became so infrequent that it didn’t seem worth it. Alarms etc are fine but never really worked for me.

One thing I will say is that (if not already) please try not to show any sign of annoyance when it happens. My mum would say it was fine but I could tell she was frustrated at having to change the sheets, and then I would feel more pressure not to do it and ended up doing it more. Even now, when it happens rarely, I only do it when I’ve just changed the sheets.

Hope you can get some help for your daughter as I know how stressed I was about sleepovers, I did wet the bed once and I was mortified!

DS is 16 and it still happens occassionally. The enuresis nurse said he should grow out of it by 18. If he drinks orange juice or squash at any point in the day it tends to happen or if his sleep schedule changes. He has a waterproof mattress so I just have to wash bedding when it happens (he takes it to the washing machine in the night if he wakes up). Nothing worked for him when he was younger - he is autistic with sensory issues which may also contribute. Either way he is unusual and most have stopped by secondary school but I remember on his year 6 trip I had to talk to his teacher and she said there are always 2 or 3 per class still bedwetting at the end of primary.

My DS(8) still wets the bed with only the odd dry night and has been referred to the Enuresis Clinic. It is totally normal for a minority of children to still wet the bed at this age and beyond. I wet until I was 13 and there is a genetic component to it as my DF also wet until a late age. M

The enuresis clinic referral took nearly 6 months to come through whereas previously it was only about three weeks - this time the nurse said the delay is because of a large surge in referrals of children aged around 9-10 who are due to go on school residentials - so don’t let anyone tell you that your child can’t go on a residential or that she’s not normal.

There is a number of strategies to try and ERIC has these and you can call them too. Given the very intermittent nature of her bed wetting you might be able to crack this by speaking to ERIC rather than needing to be referred to the clinic.

My son is 9 and we've recently seen a continence nurse. He wets every night. His bladder isn't holding as much urine as it should for his age so he's on oxybuytin now. We are yet to see any improvement but it's only been a couple weeks x

If you feel you need support you could ask to be referred to your incontinence team. An alarm is a good idea.

It can't be that unusual given every major supermarket sells pull ups for 8-12 year olds!

@RobinsEggBlue i find DryNites if he’ll wear them are pretty good to try and protect the bed