Bed wetting - soooo sick of all the laundry

[Mrsacemay]

Can anyone offer practical advice for how to manage the laundry that comes with nightly bed wetting? Is there a special trick I'm missing to minimise laundry?

With 2 older children wetting the bed at least once per night, and pull-ups being advised against by the medical team, I just don't know how I'm going to keep up with the laundry. It's been hard enough this summer washing bed pads and thin fleece blankets with 1-2 loads per day on top of usual washing, but I just won't be able to keep up if I'm having to wash duvets every day too.

I've previously bought waterproof duvets but they were so plasticcy and horrible they were no use. Maybe there's a brand that is better quality? I'm more than happy to spend some money on a solution that works.

Any suggestions gratefully received 🙏

No suggestions but can I ask why the medical team advise against pull-ups?

Bed wetting alarm solved it here for a 9 year old. Took 3 nights. I'd never have believed it could work but it did.
A generous mnetter sent me it free of charge, years ago
So kind.

How old are they op and what was the reason they advised against it? What type of medical professional?

The medical team aren’t doing the laundry, they’re not spending a single minute thinking about the quality of your life.
Whatever the problem is with your children wetting the bed, it’s unlikely to be prolonged by wearing pull ups. Their lives are not going to be improved by an exhausted mother up to her armpits in laundry every single day.
Also what is the emotional toll on your children waking up in wet beds? Better to have pull ups and deal with those in the morning, a quick wash and on with the day.
You can weigh up the medical advice and decide if you want to agree with that particular bit of it.

I used cheeky wipes bedwetting boxers for our 7 year old. Of he had a HUGE accident then it would leak, but not badly, just damp on the sheet (waterproof sheet underneath), so I was just changing those rather than duvet etc.

They are cotton/feel like regular underwear so I don’t know if that would be better than the disposable type?

DS was prescribed tolteridine (sp?), which has pretty much completely solved it.

I meant to say if it was a smaller accident he didn’t leak at all.

some nights he would wake up if he was wet, others he’d sleep through and not realise till the morning.

I have a waterproof cover on the duvet under the decorative cover which helps. Still a load most mornings of sheet, duvet cover, waterproof sheet and sometimes mattress protector too. But at least all fits in one load

My eldest is 10. He has seen a consultant and is under the care of the specialist nursing team. They have advised that pull ups are designed to draw the moisture in and stop the child feeling wet which means they're less likely to wake up when they wet. My child can be prone to a little bit of laziness too and has been known to wee in a pull-up before he is even asleep.

We do know from some of the investigations that the underlying issue though is low bladder capacity, which were working on, but as it's not a quick fix I'm anticipating a good few more months of endless laundry.

Same here - after getting an appointment on the NHS to get an alarm she suddenly became dry aged 9 after two wet beds a night

We did try one but it's been a couple of years now so it's perhaps worth another go, thanks for the reminder.

This is a very good point. Thank you for a bit of perspective!

If it’s a question of them needing to feel wet, then maybe try pants under pull-ups?

We had similar problems, and as a PP said. It isn’t the bloody consultant doing the laundry.

Have you tried washable incontinence pads? I'm using these for ds5, who sometimes wakes at night for the loo, but sometimes doesn't and uses his pull up - which often leaks around his skinny chicken legs. I layer 2 sheets for middle of the night ease. They're not the fastest to dry, but volume wise it's less washing, and much less hassle than changing the whole bed everyday. We also use coverless duvets, which take up a full wash load each, but dry in less than a day with no covers to mess around with.

Thank you I'll give those a try. Also good to hear that medication did the trick, that's what we've recently started on so fingers crossed.

Have you tried putting pants under on pull-ups? So they feel wet or damp, but you don’t have to change the sheets.

It didn’t work for my ds but might be worth a try.

Pull-ups.
If it helps your laundry I wouldn't think twice.

@Mrsacemay Kylie sheets are meant to be easier to wash and dry then striping the whole bed and save the mattress
Youbcould try puppy pads also, same idea but disposal (& way cheaper than actual incontinence sheets even though they're the same)

Thanks everyone, some great suggestions.

We do use the bed pads and agree they are so much easier than messing about with fitted sheets.

The issue really is the duvet so the cheeky boxers, coverless duvets and pants under pull-ups are things I will try.

But also I will feel much less guilty for using pull ups when my sanity needs a reprieve from the laundry.

I'd put the pull ups on if he's not waking up anyway and is feeling wet, it's not working, so I'd rather use the pull ups they don't get up in the morning soaked and you don't have endless washing and wet mattresses.

My colleagues kids were in pull ups until they were at least 12. I thought the idea of pull ups making kids lazy had been moved away from.

Don't feel guilty. Sleep deprivation is terrible.
I would go with all solutions that make everyday life easier. In the end your mental and physical well-being is crucial.

Asda sells coverless duvets the cheapest I believe. They wash and dry really well

Like this, free delivery to store

We put a large puppy pad under the bottom sheet to stop it going through to the mattress protector. Having it there seemed to reduce his anxiety about bed wetting and actually reduced the bed wetting to the extent it no longer happens.

We have a wipe clean duvet. Game changer! I was also washing duvets every day and had two on rotation. This one just wipes clean and straight back on the bed. https://www.capatexcare.co.uk/kylie-wipe-clean-waterproof-duvet I wish I’d bought it years sooner than I did