An alarm that actually works for bed wetting

[bookworm1982]

Can anyone suggest an alarm for bed wetting? My 7 year old still wears night nappies and we’d really like to nip it in the bud once and for all. I’ve heard they’re successful, but there’s a few to choose from - any particular recommendations? Thanks chat

I got one via the school nursing team. We went for an appointment and they lent it for free. It clipped directly on to the pants so sensed as soon as the wee started which seemed better to me than one with a mat underneath the child which would presumably take longer to sense the wetness so the whole wee might be done before it went off.

it was EXTREMELY effective for my daughter who was almost 7 when we got it - we went from wetting pretty much every night (sometimes twice) to dry in less than 2 weeks, and she hasn’t had an accident since. I think this is unusually fast though!

Thanks so much for your help. Any ideas what brand/kind if was? Was it something like this?

https://amzn.eu/d/08tN8Qw6

We used this one. The actual alarm worked really well. My daughter just wasn't ready to be dry yet. We tried for about 2 months.

I would recommend.

I’m sorry I can’t remember the brand but yes it was similar to that. A clip worn in the underwear and a unit wired to the arm. It vibrated and made a noise I think.

My child sweated so much that the alarm went off all the time

Just don't. They are inhumane. Wait for the body to produce the right hormones in time.

I couldn’t disagree more. Yes you can’t force the body to produce hormones that reduce the amount of pee, but you can teach the brain to wake at a full bladder, or to hold. If we’re bandying about words like ‘inhumane’ I think letting an aged 7+ child keep waking up wet for years without trying easily available methods to help them, is pretty cruel.

We used one called dry easy I think, about £40 on Amazon and also had good results.

we just used one nurse gave us worked within a week. I also had to use one when i was a child. Its not inhumane some just need more help especially deep sleepers.

Modern technology goes hand in hand with modern tech.

Modern nappies are very very effective at feeling dry, and no one says using those is inhumane.

Inhumane? Jesus, bit dramatic! My son is 8 years old and does not want to be in night nappies anymore. He’s being unreasonable, is he?

Thanks for all the other helpful replies xx

None of them worked for my ds. Have you been referred to a bladder and bowel clinic? We had to go via our local school nursing team. It was a real faff because you have to keep a water, urine output and bowel diary before they will even refer you.

We tried alarms which didn't work as ds was / is a very deep sleeper. Desmopressin melts which are meant to replace the hormone but they didn't work all night and as ds got bigger / older the doesage wasn't enough for his body weight. Then bladder relaxants first Oxybutenin followed by Tolteradine. One didn't work and one gave horrible side effects. We ended up with solafenacin which worked. Hormones finally kicked in at 14.

Anyway worth getting a referral because it can be a long journey.

We are on week 5 of using this one and the results are amazing. My son is 8.5 and had never been dry at night. I used a different one previously that involved having a sensor in his pants but it just didn't seem to work for him. With this one, it lies flat on the bed and you put a towel over it or a doubled over sheet. We've had a couple of false alarms when he was a bit hot and sweaty but otherwise it's been brilliant. For the first time I feel confident that we can conquer the bed wetting.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B002SQN02E?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

We like a PP, have gone from wet every night, totally sodden pull up to dry overnight (touch wood!) in around 3 weeks for my 8 year old. Tried max dose of Desmopressin previously which didnt work at all. Wish I'd tried it sooner TBH but the thought of disturbed sleep put me off and my DS wasn't bothered but he has a school residential coming up so I wanted to try and crack it.

A friend used it and it took about 2- 3 months but her daughter was slightly younger (6.5/7) so you may need to persevere.

We used this one www.healthandcare.co.uk/bed-wetting/dri-sleeper-eclipse-wireless-bedwetting-alarm.html?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22893795054&gbraid=0AAAAAD7hp2r694QnFph1SufbsrJz7cyFz&gclid=CjwKCAjwqonVBhA4EiwA9wYJ3VrnY5GgZe82kVzUVwVoiT-_z981eHwMNJj9b-U1VHSV5FKtTmoWdhoClKYQAvD_BwE

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Bedwetting-Comfortable-Melodies-Solutions-White/dp/B0H2Z2GFVG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=3377BQPC771N1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.I5-VHmOTI0X7rnWPXfwCuJ3ucPkbzGyUOM0FYBlDAz1Ijv39X6K7f7o4JyDpXMGbIvKOe3yeiUPFDHW0ofBFNnz6GVcuXuBp9hOmimSlXPPngpruTbf5DBGrNFc96A4tPXMBmzASytjTfH-uIjHLv_Y0qWrb-PedKOncKIHKETDGGs3h-1h3sXJEDwaU_S02yOcK8KLqlx7loDRLyC9_4w.aapi08O0uH2uCfYj5nUj88mUHKtegU8RsTJiu7jgAMY&dib_tag=se&keywords=bed+wetting+alarm+children&qid=1789108172&sprefix=bed+we%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-1-spons&aref=lWs92uMqA5&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1

We have just got this one. Unfortunately I can't comment on how well it works, as we've only used it for 2 nights so far, and the first he was dry and the second he turned it off as he "didn't want to be disturbed by it" (!?) and then wet the bed. Sigh.

Please don't dismiss my lived experience. I still carry trauma from one of these alarms 40 odd years on.

His body isn’t ready, he’ll be dry overnight eventually. One of my sons was almost 10 before he was reliably dry. It just happened, no need for these alarms that scare the crap out of everyone in the middle of the night and disrupt their precious sleep. It wasn’t worth it to us and he navigated school/beavers trips and sleepovers just fine with his pull ups. It’s very common.

i read lots of things like this before using one with my daughter. We had 10 nights of disturbed sleep using the alarm (following months of disturbed sleep not using the alarm because she was waking up wet and the bed needed changing). Then we’ve had 7 months of undisturbed sleep since where she’s not wet the bed once.

I honestly didn’t think it would work for my daughter - not least because she is terrified of loud noises - but actually the alarm was no where near as loud as we expected and she was keen to give it a try. I’m so glad we did it when we did.

Every child is different. If the child wants to give it a try, and the parent is on board, i think they should go for it. My daughter was getting very self conscious about still being in nappies. For every ‘he grew out of it himself at 10’ and ‘I found the alarm traumatising’ there’s a ‘I didn’t find it traumatising and am glad I did it’ and ‘I was out of nappies at 6 instead of 10’.

We also went through the paediatric continence service after a referral and what they recommend is so simple I don’t understand why GPs can’t give the same advice without the long wait for an appointment.
A lot of night-wetting can apparently be due to the fact that the bladder hasn’t been stretched enough to last a long period of time. DS had to drink at least 2 litres of water a day, emptying his bladder at least every two hours and filling it back up again. They gave him a toilet pass so he could go during school time.
He also had to up his fibre intake as if the bowel isn’t empty it limits the amount the bladder can hold. That alone got us to 50% dry in a couple of months and we were then prescribed a low dose laxative to properly get his bowels in motion and that sorted it completely! Our specialist nurse is evangelical about bowel health being at the root of most child continence issues.

Oh I forgot - and going to the loo sitting down (for boys), counting to 20 when they’re finished and then another push. And two wees before bed, 20 mins apart.

We found this with the one the continence nurse lent us.
We used a wired pad however and after experimenting found that a pillow case round the pad was also not enough to prevent sweat from setting it off but a towel over it tucked in very firmly worked.
It had three volume settings and the loudest one woke us up but not DD. So we went in and woke her up but it did work.
The nurse said that she had to be able to be woken by her bladder to get up and go to the loo so we think she was such a heavy sleeper she wasn't being woken by anything (she also used to cry in her sleep and not wake up when she was smaller).
It did help though, once we started waking her up she eventually (a few weeks IIRC) started waking herself up.