Has anyone tried Www.stopbedwettingforgood.co.uk?

[mistressdipdop]

My 8 yr old ds has never had a dry night. GP prescribed some pills to help but we were uncomfortable about giving these to him. We have also tried lifting him and controlling what he drinks in the evening. He is an enormously confident little man and is very popular so he gets lots of invitations for sleep overs which he always turns down. I found the above website that claims it can stop bed wetting. Has anyone used it and was it successful? I have been relaxed about the bed wetting but am getting a little more anxious as he gets older. Thanks in advance for your comments.

He is a bit young yet to be unduly worried.
Cut out all fizzy drinks, no dark drinks like red coloured ribena etc.
Do not cut back drinks in the day or evening, as what you DO want is a bladder used to holding large amounts. So encourage plenty of drinks in the day and one last drink 1.5 to 2 hours before bed. See how it goes.
Also stop the pyjama pants. Just pjs or boxers and tshirt to bed.
Use waterproof bottom sheet/bed pads.

By the way, stay away from websites like the one you mentioned.
Charging vulnerable parents money for information that is freely available?
Bedwetting is simply the child in too deep a sleep for the 'I need a wee' feeling to wake them up. There is no need to worry about it, and that website seems like a crock of shite.
Try what I have said. If still worried ask for a referral from your gp to an enuerisis clinic.

We saw an Eneuresis Nurse who started with star charts and just trying to get as many dry nights in a row as possible and agreed rewards. This worked really well. We also bought a new bed ( one needed anyway) and made a big deal of that and new pyjamas. Second the no pyjama pants. We were told no lifting and the tablets were a last resort which, thankfully, we didn't get to. The tablets are if your body does not produce enough of some hormone or other. You can increase production by waiting longer before going to the loo during the day ( or something like that). No red, brown or fizzy drinks. Also, straight to sleep - no reading in bed as urine production, if the hormone is working, stops when asleep but continues while awake reading, playing etc so loo and then sleep immediately. This was all a few years ago so sorry if it is a bit muddled. NB I have no medical training, this is just what I remember.

Our gp recommended we buy an enurisis (sp?) Alarm for our 7 year old. It vibrates when wet thereby training the child to recognise that feeling of wanting the loo even in deep sleep. Will let you know how he gets on.

thank you for such helpful info. Have been looking into alarms, DS is very exited at the prospect of a dry night gadget to help him - he understands that it wont be an overnight success but a step in the right direction. I think a visit to the nurse would be a good idea and both of us going 'cold turkey' on the night time pants - I admit, I am not looking forward to that! Allgoodinahood, I look forward to hearing how you get on with your alarm and I will also keep you posted (thanks)

Just wanted to add a question in if thats OK.

I've stopped my DS having red drinks in the late afternoon/evening. Should he not be having any at all to help him get dry?

Good luck to you and your DS OP.

Ds1 still occasionally wets the bed he is just 9. We went to the GP when he was 7 as he had a residential school trip.

He was prescribed Desmopressin which mimics the hormone Vassopressin which tells the body to slow down urine production at night. As the tablets worked for my son, we knew that he wasn't producing the hormone so were relieved that it wasn't something more serious.

His last drink is at 5.30pm with his dinner, no red drinks, loads to drink in the day and making him wait a bit when he realises he needs the toilet. Have a look at the Eric website.

He has never been totally dry at night, I only took him out of nappies at 4 1/2 because they were literally exploding with the amount of wee in them. We have a waterproof fitted sheet on the bed so that if he does wet the bed we can whip off the wet sheet, dry the waterproof sheet and put a clean sheet on. He also has a spare duvet ready to go.

He uses the Desmopressin if we are on holiday in a hotel with the GP's consent. We know just by experimenting that if he has a drink after 6pm and his bed time is 7.30 he will wet the bed.

I would be interested to hear about people's experience of the alarms although we are happy for our son not to need any further intervention.

Smoked, thats right no red/brown/dark/fizzy drinks ever. Water, or watered down orange squash is fine :)

DS has managed a run of dry nights but then a run of wet nights. He is definitely better when we manage to get him to drink a lot during the day. Also when he goes to the toilet twice before bed.

A friend had an alarm for an 8 year old - he ignored it until his cousin came to stay and shared a room with him. He was too embarrassed to set the alarm off and was dry ever since!

I would be interested to know how the alarm works for children who really have no control!

Thanks.

DS is not going to be very happy about that!!!

Everybody - it doesn't.

Well, it depends what your definition of 'no control' is. The alarms work for children who wet because they are deep sleepers, so the body is trained over the period of weeks to recognise when it needs a wee by the alarm going off. Children who sleep through the alarm because they sleep so deeply are v common (it isn't necessarily 'ignoring' it, if they weren't deep sleepers they wouldn't need an alarm lol). In that instance the parent is supposed to wake when the alarm goes off and rouse the child immediately and unpleasantly (lights, clapping, shaking, whatever rouses them). Eventually they learn to react to the noise of the alarm because they don't like the lights/clapping/ shaking routine. and then once they learn to rouse to the alarm, their bodies learn to rouse when they need a wee before the alarm goes off.

Alarms don't work for children who are light sleepers but don't produce vasopressin. Those kids need Desmo to mimic the hormone.

Sometimes, of course, you get a kid that is a deep sleeper and doesn't produce vasopressin. then you need both.

But generally speaking, the reason for bed wetting is either absence of hormone (cured by synthetic hormone) or deep sleep (cured by enuresis alarm).

Not sure why the op's son won' t go on sleepovers or whatever in pull ups though. It's pretty common at 8. I ran cubs and a fair few of the boys wear pull-ups and bed wet at camp. It's no big deal.

Re alarms - make sure you get one that vibrates and has a number of alternating noises. This prevents the child 'tuning out' the single alarm noise. I like malem, but I'm told there are good wireless versions available.

Incidentally - in my opinion, I wouldn't try an alarm if you haven't checked whether Desmo works... Alarms are a real pita. They wake the whole household and can take weeks to work. It's a big commitment if you don't know that the answer isn't vasopressin related. I'd much rather check that first than have potentially weeks of disrupted sleep for everyone with no guarantee of success.

Interesting - by no control I meant more that the boy in my example could control it! I think my DS is too deep a sleeper.

What age is it considered to be a problem?

My DS1 is nearly 12 and still wets the bed. He was given some tablets a few years for when he was going on a school residential but they didn't work :(

I have a feeling he is wetting not long before waking up as I go to bed late ( sometimes 1-2am) and he is dry then.

I am thinking of getting an alarm for him as he is due to go away in July on school residential again and as he is now in secondary school I would really like it to be sorted if possible.

Enuresis clinics will usually take at 7yo, but slightly earlier if there is an interesting co-morbid or any daytime wetting.

See, the boy with the cousin I'd see as a bog standard example of how and why an alarm works...

Two reasons for bed wetting, deep sleep and/ or non production of vasopressin.

So if a child is a light or normal sleeper but body is not mature (doesn't produce hormone) then the cure is a synthetic hormone in the form of desmo.

If a child sleeps too deeply to be roused even when they are leaking, an enuresis alarm will be needed to rouse the child. For really deep sleepers, of course, it is the parents who need to be roused by the alarm, and then to move into full on deeply unpleasant awakening mode - clapping, shaking, lights on, (shouting if necessary) so that the child connects leaking to an unpleasant occurrence. Then the subconscious reacts by hearing the alarm (instead of the full on deeply unpleasant parental hoo ha), and eventually, the noisy unpleasant alarm every time there is a leak means the body makes the unconscious connection and rouses the child before they leak, so they stumble to the loo and pee in the peace and quiet, instead of the intrusive wailing and buzzing of the alarm, or the parents... So, in my opinion, the boy whose cousin came to stay wasn't controlling the bed wetting deliberately, he was just sleeping lighter because of his cousin and his fear that the alarm would go off. No real 'control' about it at all - just a really deep sleeper whose subconscious worked pretty fast when there was an impetus.

On that note, I'm unsure why the op has decided to try alarm first rather than desmo. In my honest opinion, the hideousness that is an enuresis alarm should be the case of last resort as it is so unpleasant for the entire family, and works over a period of weeks, which are characterised by disrupted sleep for everyone. And, to be blunt, if deep sleep isn't the problem, then it isn't going to help. Really you should rule out the simple hormonal fix first. If desmo works, it's easy and problem free, and there are no weeks of sleepless nights for the entire family, just pretty immediate success.

I know people are often anti medication, but tbh I don't get it. Why would you put your family through weeks of sleepless nights when it might not help, when a week on desmo with everyone sleeping will tell you whether that's the fix?

Of course, you also get kids who don't produce the hormone and are deep sleepers. They can be a bit tricksier.

Unsure why no sleepovers though. I run youth activities (cubs, brownies etc) and we always have kids in pull - ups and bed wetting on camps. And private sleepovers too. Kids are less likely to wet at camp for the same reason as the boy above (their subconscious is on total full alert) but tbh it's all dealt with easily and quickly. Bags for the pull -ups, spare sleeping bags, and making sure the campsite has a shower for use if necessary. No bother. And if it's a sleepover at a parents, just let the parent know and make sure Ds has a plastic bag and spare pjs. No need to punish the kid for something he can't help by not letting him do perfectly ordinary 8yo stuff. He needs reassuring that loads of boys wet the bed, and that it will be easy to deal with on a sleepover. Or try some desmo.

Try here for loads of useful (free) info on the matter. We went to school nurse rather than gp who referred us to a clinic. We tried the measuring wee, cold turkey, la la, didn't work for us, but were then given an alarm. Ds was dry in no time (and his sleep patterns weren't upset either).

Yep, dd1 was the same. Dry in two weeks with an alarm after much measuring pee and med trial hoo ha.

Unfortunately not so for ds1, lol. He unplugs his alarm in his goddamn sleep. Before it goes off. and has destroyed two alarm cables the same way. The next one will be wireless...

I was told a rough rule of thumb, wet early in night more likely to be hormone, wet later in night (ie early morning) more likely to be deep sleep. Drug for first, alarm for second. Also a lot of places won't give the drug until a child is older (ie they are waiting for it to naturally kick in). We had two shock awakenings with ds and that was it.

agree with madwoman. The point of the tablets is to up the levels of a hormone that most of us have naturally anyway. The bedwetters don't have as much of this hormone so this just brings them up to the normal level.

My DN (9) has both the problems described here. V heavy sleeper and not enough hormone. He tried the drugs but they only reduced the wetting from three times a night to once a night...Next step is drugs plus alarm.

I think it's v v common and it's a shame there's not more openness about it.

Margo, yep. I think that' s the next thing with ds1 (10). But with a wireless alarm.

He has some other issues which might be complicating it which are being looked at separately, but absolutely agree. There is no need for all the secrecy and taboo.

This summer, this summer....