To ride the piss tsunami?

[Curiousaboutchoices]

My 6 year old was a very late toilet trainer, on meds for chronic constipation and still leaves it too late for the loo in the day and often has wet pants. Poor child has to drink shitloads (2l) of water a day for the poo issues so there’s a lot to come out.

Day 3 of no pull ups at night. Pull ups weren’t dry in the morning but she had got up a few times to wee in the night over the last few weeks so we jumped on the easter holidays to give it a try. I was a bedwetter, if it doesn’t work we’ll pop her back in and no matter. We are being only very positive.

Night 1- little dribble that woke her in night at 1230am and rest on loo (in bed at 7 so we were impressed she lasted that long!)

Night 2 - big dribble at same time as previous night and less in loo

Night 3 - piss tsunami that she’d obviously slept in for hours but which eventually woke her up at 4am requiring nuclear safety suits and a full hose down to sort her out.

They’ve been in childcare while I work this week so are way more tired than at school (it’s a sports based club). She’s had a quieter day today at home and I’m off now for a few days so hoping it improves if she’s not too tired.

My question is how long do I keep this going for? I’m happy to ride it for as long as she’s happy, which she is as she feels a big girl and only one wee per night so far. Partner feels she’s not ready and we should put her back in pull ups. Eric (continence charity) says a week or more before you backtrack - longer if poss. Any practical experience or ideas from your own bedwetters? How long did you let them wee wee wee before you decided they weren’t ready or, conversely, they got a dry night after being wet?

Would love some reassurance, I’m terrible with night disturbances and can’t continue the current rate of Cadbury’s cream egg consumption for much longer without becoming a Cadbury’s style supersize me experiment. Please reassure me I’m doing the right thing?

Pinky how old is yours if you don’t mind me asking? I was so relaxed about it until someone referred me to Eric site which said they should see a doctor from 5 if not dry! I’d been prepared to wait til 8 when I stopped bedwetting naturally having driven everyone else in our house insane with months of a bed alarm that woke everyone else except me!

So I feel like Eric says it’s a problem from 5 and I therefore feel ive been remiss as I’ve never seen any health professionals for either child on this subject.

We've never really investigated it - stupid really. If he goes to bed later than 9.30 he's fine also - so when we go camping etc he's ok. I've just kept assuming he'll finally grow out of it. There was one point when he was dry at night at 3 and his 5 yr old brother not - brother dry at 7 so I'm hoping he will be soon. I've been lifting one child or other for the last bloody 5 yrs...I'm so over it...but I'm more over buying pull ups. I don't think 7 yr old would wear them now anyway.

Have you tried terry nappies? So the child feels wet, but it soaks up (some) of the wee which otherwise would end up on the rest of the bed. Think of it as a mini-duvet around your child's bum, whereas a pull-up is made too well and the child barely notices they are wet.

We have bought an alarm from ERIC for our 7yo. Night 5 night. One (and nought night two) alarms every night. He hasn’t woken for the alarm (we have and woken him). He’s motivated so we’ll persist.

2 weeks of the alarm and my DD1 was dry. I was a bedwetter til God knows when , it's a failure of the nerves to connect the messages via the brain to the bladder or some such thing. They (the continence team) told us not to even try until she was 7 .

Plenty of kids will go to beaver sleepovers with pull-ups. A few will still need them at cubs, and it’s not unheard of for the odd scout to use them. Leaders will be used to this and able to deal with it discreetly.

My now almost 8 year old had a similar experience at age 6. We tried bringing him to the toilet before we went to bed - didnt work.

After a few weeks we tried an alarm and this did the trick in about 2 weeks. Basically, he is a very heavy sleeper and needed to be woken up when he needed to pee to train him to do it by himself.

I might not have done it but the biggest pull up pants were too small for him and we were backed into a corner. He doesn't seem to have suffered any harm though - and no more pissy sheets

Romaine - not seen that duvet protector - am on it now, thanks so much!

We have two Brolly sheets. The whole effort would be untenable without them.

Tricky one, our DS5 has just become dry at night. He didn't have the same constipation issues as your DD but I did think he'd be in pull ups forever.
In the end he just decided he didn't want to wear pull ups so we just went for it. First two nights he was wet in the morning, third night he was dry. Cue massive praise etc. Fourth night a similar tsunami. So I bought more waterproof mattress protectors and sheets and made up the bed with double layers so at least in the middle of the night I could just wipe him down, clean PJ's, pull the sheets of the bed and there would be another layer underneath. It's been a bit hit and miss for a couple of months but now I'd say he's 98% there. Tiredness is a factor as are brown drinks such as blackcurrant.
The bedtime routine that works best is wee, bath, story, cuddles then one last wee before lights out. I wish you lots of luck

She’s 5 Curious. All HCPs I’ve spoken to have said to not even think about worrying until she’s 7. To be honest I have no bloody idea what to do. She’s been dry during the day for a very long time now and there’s no correlation at all with the bed wetting. Absolutely no pattern which just makes it harder. I can’t even put her in pull ups because she wouldn’t have it.

I do believe it’ll pass. I think....

Thanks so much for all this info. The alarm stories sound promising. She also sleeps deeply. In her own piss.

Random. Another good point re volume. That’s another egg coming up.

I know its not advised but I lifted at around 12 when I went to bed, so wake enough to go to the loo, take to loo and then back to bed up around 7. We also restricted water etc after about 6.30pm so not denied but enough for a few mouthfuls prob about 2 drinks. If she is needing to drink all that re constipation try and get a hang on when she is going for a poo and load drinking prior to that. Is she on lactulose or anything else for the constipation? Learning tummy massage can also help a little with that, as can a softer food diet - e.g mash not chips or boiled pots etc. Members of our family have a slow moving bowel condition which has the same effect.

Stick with it most kids get there my DD was around 8 when finally fully dry at night but we do have a habit of drinking loads in our house - easily 2 to 3 ltres a day pp.

“which said they should see a doctor from 5 if not dry!”

IIRC it doesn’t say that. It says a doctor won’t be interested until they’re 5. It also says the child needs to be motivated, which ours wasn’t until very recently.

Olives that sounds really positive! Fingers crossed for you.

Have you thought about a waterproof duvet- not cover but the actual duvet?

Would definitely try a bed wetting alarm, prepare for disturbed nights but it will hopefully be over in about 2 weeks. There is also a medication called Desmomelts that can be useful too to reduce night time urine production.

Mine never got on with the duvet protectors as they rustled too much. So, we swapped duvets for a few fleece blankets for a while. They are just as warm, they are cosy, but they are much easier to wash and dry.

In fact my eldest still prefers blankets to duvets.

Double wrapping the bed so you can just whip off the top wet layer at daft o'clock if needed is also the way to go.

ERIC does say "can be seen from 5" also to "address any daytime issues first" so I'd concentrate on getting him 100% reliable during the day first tbh.

Like this:

www.love2sleep.co.uk/waterproof-duvet-and-two-pillows-bundle-anti-allergy-wipe-clean-polypropylene-cover.html?utm_source=google_shopping&134=10&135=6&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIip3XtLOS2gIVyLvtCh1jGgJNEAQYBSABEgLHe_D_BwE

we were told 7 and did go dry about then overnight (had been fine during day since about 2.5). we found that milk and blackcurrant squash were unhelpful and cut them out after 4pm-ish in the day.

Re the washing could you put a waterproof sheet inside the quilt cover (on her side) so the quilt itself doesn't get wet.
If she wakes at all in the night could you teach her to just go an try if 7 when she wakes.

Dd is 7.5 and we’ve got a prescription for desmopressin, to try and sort the bed wetting. Dd was a pull up refuser till Christmas and wet most nights. I got her in pull ups on the condition we would speak to the doctor and try to find a solution. But, the condition with the medication is no pull ups, so we have to risk a wet bed for the next few nights while we wait to see if the medication will work. The past three months have been great with no bedding to wash.
The other option was a bed alarm, but I like my sleep too much to contemplate that at the moment.

With regard to sleepovers, especially organised group ones. I run a brownie unit and often have one possibly two who either wear a pull up or are on medication for bed wetting, so it is reasonably common at this age (brownies are age 7-10 and my sleepovers were normally for about 20 girls). It makes me sad when the child won’t come on sleepover because they bed wet. Honestly, the other girls wouldn’t have a clue at my sleepovers. The whole pull up thing is done very discreetly, sometimes with me pulling the girl out of the main bedtime routine to come and get their ‘medication’, which is actually me sending them into the toilet to put on their pull ups. So please speak to the leaders of the beaver group as I’m sure they have come across this many times and will deal with it sensitively for you.

RB68 - yes she’s on lactulose 10ml twice a day but still needs loads of water too or bungs. There is seemingly no rhyme or reason to her poo habits, she is rather scattergun. It’s like a poo and piss missile launcher at the moment, I’m just trying to get at least one of them under control!

Not heard of the soft food thing, where can I read about that? We find that loads of fruit and veg and little crap with loads of water really works for her. Even a party tea can wreak havoc on her bowels and have her in pain and we aren’t really sure why.

We used to wake DS when we were going to bed and make him walk to the toiler, otherwise we had to deal with a flood.

GP told us there's a chemical in the brain that doesn't kick in with some kids until they're 8 so there's no point in treating until then. He also said it's hereditary.