My six year old wets the bed every night...what can I do?

[nlo]

My son has just turned six and his little sister (they share a room) has just started to be dry at night...he is not (he wets every night and wears the night time pant/nappys). Whilst my daughter is very proud of herself, my son is becoming more aware that he is still wetting the bed and he is nearly two years older. Should I see the GP or what else can I do to help him, he doesn't want to get up in the morning because he is wet.

GP/school nurse can refer to enuresis clinic to be seen at age 7. There are medications & alarms that can be used but in the meantime reassure him it's nor his fault.
Our advice from the clinic has included
Restrict dark coloured drinks (blackcurrant etc)
Stop drinking an hour before bed.
Ensure he drinks a lot during the day as this will expand his bladder to hold more.

Thank you... I will try all of the things that you suggest... he just doesn't seem to wake up.

Dd2 doesn't. She has no trouble in the day so they say it's not a size of bladder problem, it seems to be hormonal with her so it's a matter of on off meds & waiting for it to kick in

My dd aged 7 still wets each night without fail. My ds 5 did have a dry period a while ago but is now wetting every nigth but we did go through the awkward period of dd being upset that she was the older one and still wetting.

Sorry no advice but I'll be interested in other posters comments

Definitely visti GP.
I left it too late with my dd and turns out she had a (symptomless -apart from the bedwetting) urinary tract infection which when untreated affected her bladder. Bladder became 'unstable'. She had to have medication for AGES, and still gets recurrant urine infections, although we are on it straight away with anti biotics now.
Other things that helped were drinking MORE rather than less, although not late at night obviously.
And get those drynite nappies.

Even now age 11 she is worrying about the school residential trip next week.

My DD1 who has just turned 5 still wets the bed sometimes, DD2 who has just turned 4 has wet the bed about twice since they both came out of night-time nappies when DD2 was 2.5. I too have found that making DD1 drink lots and lots all day and go to the loo regularly really helps. Also to limit fruit juice and certainly late afternoon/evening helps a lot (apparently it irritates the bladder).

I agree with Thatlldopig. There needs to be a medical investigation. He wil probably grow out of it but it may take until he is in his teens, however it is always prossible that there is an easily fixed medical condition eg a urinary tract infection. It happened to my dd1

I don't agree that you need to do anything. My 8 year old ds still needs a pull-up at night. Me and DH were apparently the same, except you couldn't buy pull-ups then so it was just a case of changing sheets every night. We both grew out of it. I would never put my ds on medication for this. I was told by the health visitor that the hormone for waking you up when you need the toilet does not kick in until late in a small percentage of kids. I wouldn't worry OP.

I wouldn't worry yet I am sure he will grow out of it. My youngest dd is 4 and was getting upset as she was wetting the bed at night if we didnt put her in pull ups. She wanted to be "grown up" like her big sis. So I started waking her up at about 9.30-10 ish at night and putting her on the loo. She would then be dry the night and not have to wear pull ups.
I am not sure if this is going to cause us more problems in the long term but she is happy and dry at night. Most night she practically sleep walks to the loo so it doesn't even disturb her rest.
I also encourage her to go to loo more during the day which I think is what causes the problem in the first place.

gp will do nothing until 7 unless there are other issues.

two reasons for bedwetting - lack of production of the hormone, or deep sleep. the first is hormonal (maturity will fix, but synthetic hormone in the form of desmotabs etc can be taken in the interim) and the second can be aided by enuresis alarm. (available for purchase - malem are good, or through enuresis clinic)

but 6 is too young to consider abnormal, and gp won't see it as aproblem.

fwiw, dd2 (dc3) was the first dry at night in our house.(at 2yo), then dd1 (dc1 at 8 yo using enuresis alarm) and we are currently using alarm with ds1 (dc2) at 9 yo. meds (desmo etc) didn't work with either of them, as they are deep sleepers.

but in short - as long as no uti (easily tested) then post again in a year

should add - dd1 was under enuresis clinic from 5yo for daytime wetting, and ds1 has been seeing paed and various specialists from 5 also for daytime wetting and soiling. so night wetting was a secondary concern and not looked at for the first couple of years.

Thank you for your advice and experiences everyone... you have put my mind at rest somewhat!

Hi, I believe that sleeping with a light on can cause the kidneys to continue functioning as if it were daytime, whereas sleeping in a darkened room causes a slow in functioning. If your DS is sleeping in the light this might be worth looking at, you've nothing to lose and it may make a difference.

I used a bedwetting alarm for my 5 year old and he was dry (after wetting every single night since time immemorial) within 3 weeks. I slept in his room during this time and every time the alarm went off, I quickly got him out of bed, ensuring he would wake up properly. I found the best way to avoid having to wash sheets every day was to put him in underpants, position the alarm over his penis on the outside of the underpants, then secure with a regular nappy. 3 weeks seems like forever, but it was absolutely worth it! You can buy the alarms without having to bother with seeing your GP (who won't be much help for another couple of years anyway because they don't give this stuff out to parents until your kid is 7). They are expensive, but you can re-sell. I've gone from 4 loads of washing a day (2 bedwetters - both boys) to washing sheets once a week. Heaven.

never, it only works for deep sleepers though - see my post above.
ds1 used to unplug the alarm (i assume yours is malem or similar) in his subconscious when he was asleep (before it went off) so it was impossible to use that type. (it worked v well for dd1 at 8. 5 is too young really unless you know they are producing the hormone)

we have purchased the mattress type alarm to prevent ds1 from unplugging without getting out of bed . you can still use the same malem alarm itself, but instead of the sensor for inside the pants it connects to a mattress detector instead.

Madwoman - he unplugged the alarm? Haven't heard of these mattress alarms - will have to recommend to friends!

ooooh, yes. we still don't really know if he was doing it subconsciously in his sleep if he felt the need to pee (!) or whether he was doing it before he settled down and fell asleep, because he didn't want to get woken up... but after a few nights of it working fine, we'd go and check on him when we went to bed and find the alarm unplugged. with the mattress alarm there's about a metre and a half of cable before it plugs into the alarm, so you can put it at the end of the bed, or an a bookshelf or whatver. it isn't attached to him and so easy to fiddle with. i imagine those alarms are uncomfy to sleep with on your shirt anyway - i think i might decide to get rid of it too!

anyway, this one with mattress alarm is much better - i've only found it unplugged once in two weeks - and i suspect it went off and he unplugged it and got back into bed without me hearing. he is such a deep sleeper that i really have to go in and put the lights on and do lots of noise and clapping and shaking to get him up. dd1 was the same, but as soon as her body worked out that just sleepwalking to the loo or holding it was the solution, we had no more wet nights. ds1 is a little more tricksy, but we're getting there now i think!