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 🙏

It may be unhelpful to get another opinion but I was advised by medical to use the pull ups. That the ‘feeling wet’ will make no difference. That it’s not about learning to wake, that a child shouldn’t need to wake to go, that they should go all night, that the kidneys should ‘go to sleep’ and not produce huge amounts of urine. We were told to use the pull ups while we hunted for the cause. In my dd case we pinned it down to anxiety disturbing her sleep, waking the kidneys making urine all night. Now I can predict when she will wet based on the week and use pull-ups

DD is 5 and just saw the bladder and bowel team and will be starting desmopressin soon. She has sensory problems so doesn't keep pull ups on well and hasn't since she was 1.5, I feel you on the laundry front OP but for everyone's sake go back to pull ups and maybe put some pants or a flannel in them to feel the wetness.

I wet the bed for a long time and was called lazy but I genuinely didn't feel the need to go at night or would dream I was on the toilet then go 🤦‍♀️ the Dr we saw the other day suggested that given our family history (more than just me) we might have a physical problem so DD is getting an ultrasound

😱😱😱😱😱

I don't love the microfibre but these have held up well and withstand 60°

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That's what DLA is designed for. DS is in receipt of Child Disability Payment and we get money to help with laundry detergent, bedding, extra pants etc. He doesn't bed wet but has accidents during the day instead.

Duvets like the Kylie one can be affordable for those claiming DLA for their DC with consistent continence issues under medical review. That's what the money is for, to help buy resources to help the child.

I would use the pull ups, i used to leave their pants on underneath so they still realised they were wet. I agree with a pp, your quality of life has to be taken into account too, for everyone's sake.

OP please do consider claiming DLA due to the sheer expense that continence issues can cause.

not the cheapest but the seedling home and go mat has worked well for us- my little one is much younger but I just pop it under her when shes fallen asleep in the back of the car and not wee’d before bed- it’ll hold a fair bit!

Mine was 14.before he was dry
He outgrew pullups so they weren't an option.

I used a couple of boots square washable matress protectors under the sheet. The sheets were the teddy bear sort which dried quickly. I used normal duvets with no cover. Most mornings I only washed the matress protector and sheet. The duvet might be a bit damp but febreeze and hanging over the door sorted that out. I only washed them on my days off I was so pushed for time

I had a couple of each, matress protectors, sheets and duvets, and daily washes were the quickest possible.

I'm glad I'm through all that now. I don't envy you, but don't feel you have perfect standards. I didn't 😂😂😂

I don't know anything about this as my baby is only 1yo, but I read that cloth nappies don't wick away moisture like disposables do so still feel wet. There might be pull up versions you could use so you only have to wash those and not bedding

Desmopressin medication my dd 9 years was a bet wetter, from the first night she took this she has been dry... on month 4 now.

Previously I used pull ups so I wasn't washing and changing beds daily

I found waterproof mattress protectors great for preventing damage to the mattress.

Washable kylie bed sheets

My DD was a bed wetter till aged 10 so I can sympathise. She used to wear the disposal pull up pants and I used mattress protectors (but put them on top of the bottom sheet) from www.hippychick.com
They were excellent, very absorbent, machine washable and quick drying. Not plasticky at all.

I was a cloth mum. By the age of 4, nothing worked overnight properly. Fleece wraps were OK, but the nappies were so bulky the kids quite rightly objected.

You can't keep bolstering the nappies, and no teenager is going to want a cloth pull up that big!

My solution was actually normal underwear, and to slip a hot water bottle in the bed. As long as the kids were covered up with the quilt, they stayed warm all night so didn't need night time bed changes. They only felt cold when the air got to them when they got up, but it was straight into the shower for them anyway.

I was a single mum with a job and 2 late bedwetters. My ex pushed for medication but I wasn't happy with that route. Mine stopped in their own time, and I took the easiest (slovenly😁) route for the duration.

DS16 who has asd had been bed wetting since he was 3, was dry in the day by 2 but couldn’t get past the nighttime betwetting. Not using pull ups wasn’t an option for us because he was in a bunk bed. We did try the alarm. Everything. He’s out the other side. One day he just stopped… still taking the imipramine , weaning him off slowly. Had one accident in 6 months. One thing I will say is just wash it straight away because once it dries it’s harder to get rid of the smell. We didn’t put ours on full washes. Just a 59 min one with a bit of extra powder.

I am convinced there is a link between asd and bed wetting.

I have no scientific fact, just family and anecdotal evidence.

If small bladder is his cause OP then I'd use the pull ups till that's resolved. You can get full PJs and pants that are washable which might help with the expense.

For anyone else who has similar issues with unknown cause... ditch the fruit shoots (and similar looking bottles) as well as dark squashes - blackcurrant in particular is the devil's work it seems! Get plenty of spare bedding to take the pressure off washing - make the whole idea as least stressful as possible (you could be in for the long haul!) I also agree with getting them to sort their own bedding - strip it dump it in the bath! Load the washer! Remake the bed depending on age. (Teen dd bedwetting here!)

If washing the duvet is getting to be a problem could you try a waterproof duvet? Or waterproof bedding?

We've used the coverless duvets (M&S). They feel a bit like a sleeping bag at first but soon soften. If you can afford two, it eases the pressure of washing.

A tip I was taught is to double up on sheets and waterproof sheets, so from the bottom up waterproof sheet, fitted sheet, waterproof sheet, fitted sheet, so that in the night (with bed pads) you only should only have to pull of a layer and the bed be made.

Black currant is a bladder irritant. It's a thing I promise!

Also op it's a hormone thing for bed wetting, there is literally nothing you can do to stop it until the hormone is released on a regular basis. So put him back into pull-ups. He isn't being dramatic or lazy. He literally can't do anything about it.

I would definitely try and get a private consultant to see if he is a candidate for desmopressin if that's an option for you?

My dd was still wetting the bed at 9 and we took her to the Dr. The advice was to wake her when we were going to bed, then again during the night. If that didn't work, then try an alarm, failing that the next step was medication. I thought it was crap advice if I am honest, but it worked. After a couple of months we just needed to wake her once, and within about 5 or 6 months we stopped waking her altogether and she was dry ever since. No idea why it worked.

Tbf I think it’s connected too, i know a few other autistic people who had the same thing.

Use the pull up pants. Or puppy pads under the sheet.

This is rubbish. My children were both 5/6 they were ready when they were ready!

I tried everything.