Ds7 still wet at night

[Mynameisntrelevant]

Looking for advice please. Ds 7 still wet at night, every night. He wants to be dry. I've looked Eric website but after some real life advice. He's a heavy sleeper ,i think drinks enough. He's in pull ups. Should I try no pull up? See Dr. ? Try alarm? What worked for you?

Cut down his drinks before bedtime and then just don’t worry. Some kids take longer. Mine still wet the bed a bit up to age 9

These things we tried, eventually the alarm worked aged 8.5. We didn't make a big deal but it was a bit of a problem for nights away at that age, in case ds wet the sleeping bag even with a pull up, so we tried the alarm.

• Avoid blackcurrant flavouring
• Plenty of drinks in the day to train the bladder to be full without urinating
• Wait another year

@BHRK thanks. Did you use pull ups? Or take them away abd just change bedding?

We ended up under a consultant paediatrician.

Lots of drinks in the daytime (to expand the bladder)

No blackcurrant/red drinks at all.

After 5pm limited drinks.

Wee at bed time. And then again 15 minutes later.

We had to do- alarms, recording wetting and then medical (desmomelts) route before being dry at about age 13.

We used pull ups for a long time. When we did the alarms we had to record how many/size of wet bed. Up to 5 times a night, including wetting sheet/mat/duvet meant they finally started to listen and let us try tablets.

We took away the pull ups and used an alarm. It worked really well, dry after a couple of weeks and only the occasional accident since.

@Mynameisntrelevant for changing bedding: top tip- make the bed like this

Mattress- bed mat (disposable/washable) then sheet, then ANOTHER bed mat & sheet (and depending on how many wets a night) ANOTHER layer.

So when they wet, in the middle of the night, all you do is strip- no making/adding required. It's all there already.

And in the morning, when you're more awake, you add the layers again.

Around here pediatric incontinence clinic (specialist advisers) will take on children who are wet from the night of their fifth birthday. My son is nearly 11 and never had a dry night. He is on desmopressin which seems to reduce the volume of wee overnight but he still floods even his pull up 2-3 times a night (but it’s 5-6 times a week without the desmopressin). He also has an over large bladder, found out in a bladder scan.

go talk to a GP now, and see what services are in your area. But also don’t worry about it.

@Seesawmarjorydaw wow- here they only take from 8.

Mine was 11 before he was dry. It was the alarm and sleeping in his room to wake him up that worked for him. And lifting him at 11pm when we went to bed.

No restriction on drinks per se, but obviously not downing them just before bed.

Don’t lift in the night.

pull ups, and washable bed mats layered under sheets.

Remember it isn’t a matter of practice, or training or whatever, it is hormonal.

DD is 12 and still on desmopressin at night. She has had scans to check that her bladder empties properly and it does, she just hasn’t had that hormone release yet.

DS was about your son’s age when he started to be dry, and didn’t have any medical intervention, just pull ups at night.

Youngest DS was dry by just turned 4. There’s no telling.

But- as a positive to everyone who read this thread.

DD who was wet for so long. SO much washing. So many attempt at alarms and lifting and different drinks and warning friends parents at sleepovers and no hot chocolate and warning teachers for trips- we tried everything. Including desmomelts which were brilliant.
And then- she got bigger, and older, and just didn't need them any more. She forgot one day, and it was ok. So we tried again. And again.

Yes. Much older than everyone else we knew. But not a worry at all any more.

Thank you all so much! My dd was dry at the same time as day dry so 2.5. My ds is starting to worry about it as he's away with school and Beavers soon and knows his friends don't wear pull ups. I did speak to Dr a few months back but he said cone back at 7. He's just 7 so will go back now. I might try alarm and will definitely try the layered bedding and no pull ups.

They wouldn’t see dd until she was 8. We just stuck with the “well, they sell pull ups for up to 15 year olds in Sainsbury’s so it is well within the bounds of normal” when talking to her about it. She wasn’t one for wanting to sleepover anywhere away from home anyway. Now she is settled on the desmopressin she will go to sleepovers. I will admit that I always worry a little for her, but it is pretty fool proof.

Now that she has hit puberty I may suggest she tries without it at some point, as apparently puberty/periods can be a trigger for hormone release in girls.

Can't advise on the night wetting however when my DC we're starting out with no nappies I used incontinence pads. Far easier than having to change the whole bed.

I have to admit that if I was in your situation I'd still use pull ups until the ball was rolling with medication.

My eldest didn't have a single dry night until he was nearly 9. Then he went to bed one night, woke up dry and hasn't been wet since. We did try the alarm but all that did was wake us up but he remained absolutely dead to the world and was an absolutely dead weight to try get up in the night. So we gave up and just waited.

My youngest is only just dry at 10.5. We didn't really even try the alarm with him and figured it would just happen eventually.

Both mine are boys and they, apparently, often don't produce the necessary hormone until later.

We’ve just gone through this with DS (6.5). No matter what I was trying he would be consistently wet. I kept leaving and coming back to it. A month ago I decided to try again, I layered up the bed like pp suggested which has been a lifesaver. I’ve changed his drink cup to a small one rather than a sports bottle. He can drink what he wants during the day but nothing after dinner. If he’s thirsty I give him the tiniest amount but he rarely asks. Bed at 7 then I put him on the toilet at 9pm and 11pm. He’s only had 2 accidents in the month and that’s when he’s been overtired. the only downside is because he’s also getting himself up to go to the loo, he comes in with me most nights because he’s scared to go back on his own so I’m shattered! It will come op, I used to stress about it but if he’s not ready there’s little you can do. Keep trying, and don’t always rely on a dry pull up to try either.

Dd was still wet at night age 7, i went to the doctor about it. We were given medication (I can’t remember what it was called, but think I recognise one of the medication names a pp has mentioned). That helped a bit, but didn’t solve the issue. So we went with the alarm and within the week, she was dry every night. Never had a wet bed since. (5ish years ago). I was sceptical if the alarm would work, but it did. We were able to borrow one from the school nurse service so didn’t have to buy one.

Also, I used to run a Brownie unit. There was pretty much always one girl on every sleepover/camp who would be wearing pull ups (over several years, so different girls). Id always mention at parents meetings for the parent to let me know and it was never a problem while we were away. Always dealt with discreetly, with minimal fuss and without the other girls knowing anything about it. An experienced leader will know how to deal with the situation, so please don’t worry about school/beaver sleepovers.

The Enuresis clinic here accepts children from age 5. We were told:

Drink 1.4L water per day - to expand the bladder during the day to make nighttime capacity greater
No drinks 2 hours before bed
Bedtime - teeth & toilet, story, then try to have another wee
No apple & blackcurrant and other dark squashes/juices as they irritate the bladder
Be sure any constipation issues are treated as this can contribute to bed wetting

Beavers - speak to the Leader who will help your child to discretely disappear to the toilets and they can change into pull-up and pjs without others noticing, and then dispose of the pull-up in the morning. I put DS’ stuff into a drawstring bag - pjs and two pull-ups (in case one burst on the sides, he sometimes manages to do this) and nappy sacks. Leaders are well used to dealing with this so don’t worry.

Thank you, yes I think I'm worrying about the sleepovers a bit too much.
I might look at the alarm in a few more months but he's such a heavy sleeper and I dobt want to start stressing him about it if its hormonal and could be years until he's dry....
Will be better with the drinks- sometimes we're only getting in at 6pm so he dies then drink with dinner and bed is 7:30/8pm so not 2 hours clear with no drinks- I will try though.

OP - I agree with previous posters incl @Bumblebee2022 I told both teachers and various leaders that DD was in pull ups - much later than is 'normal'

All were brilliant enabled bins/space for changing- and all very discreet incl with medication.

OP '2 hours clear with no drinks'
We were never told that. The key thing was drinking LOTS by 5pm if possible. And than later just keep weeing.

My son is 8 and no dry at night. We tried the alarms and all the other suggestions. As mybhusband, father in law and brother in law were all wet at night for quite a long time, I put my son back in pull ups and we agreed to try again in 6 months. If that doesn't work, we will go back to pull ups and try again. The Dr said that if my son isn't suffering any kind of emotional distress, she is happy to wait and see. It's hormonal and nothing will really work unless the hormones are doing the right thing.

Dd3 was eleven before she was completely dry at night, one of her sisters (on her dads side) wasn’t dry until she was 14, she had medications and interventions.

DS is 7 and the same. He just wouldn't wake up to go. I think it's more common than you think.

It's still really common at age 7, especially for boys.
Both of mine were 7.5 and 7 years when they got dry. My eldest was the hardest. We did the lots to drink during the day and the restricting liquid from tea time. But what really worked was a bed wetting alarm. Took months before he'd really use it though, he'd do 1 or 2 nights and then refuse it.every school holiday I encouraged he have another go and then the school summer holidays he told me he was determined to do it with the alarm and he did. Still has an occasional accident.
Would really recommend the alarms though!