Still wet at night :(

[Misspollyhadadolly92]

not sure if I'm worried unduly- my son is 6yr5moths and still needs a nappy at night. He only drinks water and milk, so there should be no factors in his diet. He is a deep sleeper and has never been dry at night. Its starting to upset him now. Part of me is thinking he needs more time but the other part is a bit worried.....any advice please?

It's fine. My daughter is 6 yrs 6 months, only stopped nappies 2 months ago and I still have to lift her before I go to bed. My middle one was the same whereas my eldest was dry by 3!

It's more common than you think just people don't talk about it as they or their kids are embarrassed. You could talk to health visitor to see if they have any tips but I don't think doctor would do anything yet. My brother was about 9 I think and there was no medical intervention just advice.

My daughter also sleeps very deeply. When I lift her she dues get wake up!

My ds 6 3/4 often wets the bed particularly when worries on his mind (should say hes not adopted perhaps). Im not worried. :)

My son is 10 and now dry x very heavy sleeper we used alarm in the end

My DS was 5.5 before being reliably dry at night, my DD was much older, nearly 7.

How long has your little one been with you, and is he reliably dry through the day? Night time wetting can take longer to resolve - if you have a look at the ERIC website there’s some good information about helping night time wetting.

Could be lots of things at play, or he may have some physical development - being dry at night is a hormonal process first and foremost, so he may just need more time.

I think boys can be wetting at night for quite a lot longer than girls. School nurse may be of assistance? Could also be refered to specialist? I knew a little boy aged 8 they ended up prescribing medication to him but he did eventually stop by himself at about 10

Different viewpoint. Our son was still very wet at night at Christmas (was due to turn 6 in April) We had had the very occasional dry night but sporadic. I’d started taking him for a wee before I went to bed, but he was still wet in the morning even if he’d had a massive wee in the night. For Jan and Feb we cancelled all overnight plans and borrowed a friends bed wetting alarm and just went for it. 5 nights of the alarm going off and then totally dry.....I never take him for a wee in the night but he does take himself occasionally and no accidents at all in the last 6 months. It was like he knew how to do it but pull ups were making it too easy to just go for a wee in bed. Just a different perspective. X

Ps when he was in pull ups we were really careful with drinks at teatime etc as the pull ups were always soaked. Ten days into using the alarm (you use it for 14 days even if it works quickly) we stopped restricting drinks and he was still dry at night. The main issue was that I was left with about 50 unwanted pull ups as I’d bulk bought when they were on offer convinced it would never work! Good Luck with whatever you decide to do!

Thanks for your replies. He has been with us since 20months.
Its a real mixed bag- I guess with the restrictions in place school may not refer to the school nurse.
He generally has his last drink at about 4.30- 5 ( teatime) ready for bed 6.30ish. On the rare occasion he has drank blackcurrant he has been absolutely soaked through to his pyjamas. So maybe there is another issue too.

There is always something to worry about!

Blackcurrant (or indeed any dark coloured drinks) can really irritate the bladder so I’d avoid them. Orange squash is ok, ribena isn’t so good. The thinking is that you give them more to drink during the day to help expand his bladder, which just means he has more capacity to hold urine overnight, then the hormone changes which slow down urine production overnight kicks in.

You could ask your GP for a referral to the enuresis clinic but they might want him to wait a little longer. He’s within normal parameters and may also have a degree of developmental delay, many adopted children do have some physical delay to deal with.

You might find getting him up to pee around 8/8.30 might help just from the point that going 6.30 to say 7.00 is a long time not to pee even if all is working well. I know my DS being dry overnight coincided with him going to bed slightly later.

We contacted the GP (when our son was aged 6) who referred us to the community nurses who specialise in this. They made various suggestions which we tried but didn't work. We were then referred to a urologist who tried him on a few different drugs which seemed to help.

His now 9 and dry at night.

Definitely speak to your GP.

Ok thanks for your advice- we have been quite laid back about it all as didnt want to worry or make him feel worse so I guess we probably need to look and professional guidance once lockdown eases

Do try to get an appt with GP now. NICE guidelines state bedwetting can and should be treated from age 5. The longer it’s left, the longer it can take to tackle it and resolve the issue. Many continence clinics have closed or switched to online appts. Wherever you are living there will almost certainly be a long wait for a referred appt - so get on the waiting list as soon as you can. That said, bedwetting is still fairly common at this age so no cause for alarm or panic. While you are waiting for an appt, start filling in drinking and bedwetting diaries to record what’s happening in terms of intake and when the wetting happens. You might spot some patterns that you can then use to change your routine. This will be the first thing a GP or clinic should ask you to do, so if you already have that info to hand, you will be one step ahead. Those drinking / bedwetting charts can be downloaded from the ERIC website that the previous poster mentioned. Also definitely worth ringing their helpline to speak to an advisor - chances are you will get much more comprehensive advice than the GP. They are often busy, but keep ringing till you get through!

Both of my boys took ages to be dry at night, DS1 had just turned 9 but then took until he was about 13/14 to stop having occasional accidents

DS2 was just coming up for 11. He was absolutely soaked every night, we had an alarm ( which stressed him), then decided to just go for it with DH waking him at about 3am. Then DH went away with work and I would not wake in the night and nothing!! No accidents since either! Bizarre as he was drenching through pull ups every night beforehand.

I don't know what it was, laziness? Who knows. It's great!

My son never had accidents during the day but as soon as the pull up went on he seemed to view it as a mobile toilet. Even if he went to sleep dry by the next morning he was soaking. Eventually I just decided to buy disposable waterproof bed sheets, took off the pull ups, cut the milk to half a bottle, lots of reassurance that accidents were no big deal and within 2 weeks we had a dry sleeper. Still the very occasional accident. He is a very deep sleeper. I too am left with loads of disposable sheets and pull ups!

DS never had a dry night until he was 8.5 and was dry every night within the month. It just clicks and I think there’s little you can do until they’re ready. Very similar story for friends DS. Just deep sleepers. Tried all sorts.

DD was dry at 2.3 and never had an accident. Just different kids. Nothing to do with how I approached it.

It took until the summer between yr5 and yr6 for dc1 to be dry at night. That was when the hormone obviously kicked in. This was after a lot of washing of sheets, stress and a lot of angst and trying all sorts. It also cost a lot in night pullups. So glad it finally resolved itself and the year 6 residential went without incident.

I don't think people realise what a stress it is unless they've been there!