Bed wetting alarm advice

[zippyswife]

So after trying everything I’ve resorted to a bed wetting alarm for ds 6. We started it 2 weeks ago and in each week he’s had 2 dry nights. But there doesn’t seem to be any overall Improvement yet. We’re in it for the long haul but I suppose I was hopeful that it would be more or less resolved by now.

We’re using night pants so he has the sensor clipped to his pants then night pants over it so I’m not changing the bedding every night. I’d read this suggestion before but am now wondering if this is slowing us down?

I’m just after any advice. He so wants this to work as he’s become quite self conscious about wetting the bed- hence the reason I got the alarm.

Have you had a look at the eric website? Lots of good info on there. I think an alarm can take several months to work.

Night wetting is usually hormone related so until the hormone is released, they will still wet at night. It can be difficult to train. One of mine was nearly 7 and just stopped wetting, no issues since. We went down the route of explaining that it’s not their fault, some people’s bodies stop wetting at different ages, there will be friends who use pull ups but probably won’t say, some adults use them when needed, etc. DC knew to put pull up in bin themselves to limit embarrassment and we made no issue out of it. Even on dry nights we didn’t comment/praise or anything, just very matter of fact.
(One of my other DC was completely dry at night long before they were dry in the day).

You can go to GP to see if there are any underlying issues (sometimes can be linked to constipation/bowl problems etc) but it could make him more self conscious that it’s a problem rather than just something that’s common/normal and he will grow out of.

We tried everything for years - lifting, alarms, nasal sprays etc. He slept through everything and it was a nightly occurrence.

When he was 12, he went on a 5 day residential school trip and we worked out a plan as to how he was going to change his pyjama pads privately.

He came home with all the pads unused and he never had another episode.

Despite all the interventions, I suspect something deep in his subconscious was not going to allow any incidents in front of his school friends.

I did find the Eric website useful but I think it is just one of those things that will happen when it happens.

Agree completely that it will happen when it happens. One of the best things you can do is stop worrying about it as they do pick up more than you realise even if you think you aren’t showing it!

We've tried the alarm, but the fact for us is that he just sleeps far too heavily. The alarm wakes us at the other end of the house, but not him - despite it being next to his ear!!!!

He is getting better, but we are resigned to it just having to take the natural course. He's 10.

We have found that removing soft drinks helps - even decaffeinated and sugar-free.

I honestly don't think anything helps with bed wetting, you just have to let it run its natural course. My DD is 11 now and we can finally go months between occurrances, but we tried everything previously and it doesn't help. She sleeps through the alarms, lifting only made it worse if anything.

As others have said, its based on particular hormone, and as with any other milestone, it varies massively when it hits. Until then, you may as well be banging your head against a brick wall, may as well just accept that you're going to be doing a lot of washing.

I think it was around 8 when the NHS will take it seriously and will do checks to make sure nothing else is wrong, but until then, my advice is to learn to live with it and to try and reduce the embarressment it causes your child as much as possible.

There are tablets you can get from the GP that stop the production of urine. These definately work, and as a short term fix for a holiday, residential or sleepover are a life saver. But they can't be given long term.

Thanks for the replies. I’m fine with it but it bothers him. I think partly because his 2 year old brother has been dry for some time now too. His older brother was also dry through the night at 2- but he is such a deep sleeper the urge to see just doesn’t wake him. I will stick with this another month then if there’s no improvement I think I’ll just let it run it’s natural course.

The tablets from the GP can be used long term, but they like there to be a week long break every three months to check they haven't grown out of it. Unfortunately some children are in this for the long haul. Definitely check out the ERIC website.

I think the tablets are like an artificial hormone while you wait for the natural hormone to kick in. I think personally I would rather just wait than put on medication long term if it could be avoided.

It’s hard when a younger sibling is dry before them.

Does he get his own pull ups out the cupboard,on,off,in bin himeself? This can sometimes help with the embarrassment as he’s not having you pass them to him,etc.

Be careful not to seem pleased or praise on the nights he is dry as it’s rewarding him for something he can’t help which will then make him feel bad on the nights he’s wet.

In some ways the alarm can make the situation more of a big deal than it needs to be, like it’s something wrong he needs to fix. If it doesn’t work it can seem something else he’s ‘failed’ at.

I would work on normalising the bed wetting to him as it seems it’s not actually the wetting itself that’s a problem, it’s how he feels about it (which may be far easier to fix than trying to stop him wetting when his body just isn’t ready).

The alarm only worked for us in conjunction with the medication (desmopressin). Even then it took at least a month.