How to get DD to drink more (bedwetting issue)?

[AngryFeet]

Dd (7) still wets every night and the enuresis clinic just keep saying get her to drink more to stretch her bladder. They want her to drink 1.5l through the day but it is a nightmare. She doesn't drink much and doesn't want to. She does want to be dry and understands the connection but struggles to force liquid down. I would say on a regular day she has two bowls cereal (1 weetabix at a time) with 250ml milk in each. Then she won't drink again till lunch time when she would have about 250ml water or milk. Then she would have maybe a 100ml water from the cooler in a little paper cone. I offer her a drink after school but she never wants it. She has maybe 200ml juice or squash at dinner then I stop her drinks. So she gets through just over a litre. She needs to drink more at school and I give her a water bottle which never gets touched. Tried reward charts buts she just gets upset at being made to drink when she doesn't want to.

Argghh so frustrating! I have put her back in pull ups as I can't cope with the washing anymore (sheets, pillows and duvet every night).

Any ideas?

Just sympathy
My DD is almost 5 and I can see our path to you...

DD wees little and often and I would say she has an irritable bladder. So do I but I was dry at night at 18m. As was DH.

Realistically, her fluid intake is no different to other children. Her bladder output is though.

I would insist on being given the synthetic hormone to practise using, so she can do sleepovers etc confidently.

The rest will happen in time.

I have a dd who is 6yo and doesn't drink much, infact probably less than the amount you have described for your dd but she doesn't bedwet. Does she wee frequently in the day? Am guessing you have probably tried most other things I could think of like lifting to the loo, is she aware when she wets - does she wake up?

Drink as soon as she gets up in the morning before she fills up on breakfast.

Sounds like a viscious circle she is not thirsty because she is constantly dehydrated.

I would also go down the bribery route.

Smalltown - why not Blackcurrent?

yes get school onside

hand her a sports type bottle of water as you walk out of school gates

red/brown drinks can irritate the bladder, Blue

Is there any other drink she would love? Milkshake? Smoothie etc. You have my sympathies, ds1 is now just 9 and is finally dry at night.

Are school aware as to how important it is for her to drink at school? Our school encourages everyone to drink after their first break at 10.15am. Does she like water or not? Do school only allow water? They should allow juice if there is a good enough reason. My friend's son would faint from being dehydrated as he won't drink water so he is allowed juice.

We did the medication route for an overnight stay on a school trip 2 years ago, we actually took him to the GP before then to try them out to see if they would work and they did so we knew it was a hormonal problem. He only took them for the trip and as agreed with the GP we use them when we stay in hotels. But for every day life, we just deal with his bedwetting.

It is terribly frustrating, we have a waterproof sheet that you leave on the bed ie it is not one you take off to wash, we have a duvet with a cover on ready to go. I bought cheap Matalan duvets that have been washed and tumble dried hundreds of times. We just chuck everything that is wet into the bath and deal with washing it in the morning.

We have 3 duvets so we don't feel pressured to get it washed and dried in one day.

It is something I got used to as ds1 was never dry at night, we only took him out of nappies at night time because they were literally exploding the filling out in the morning.

My kids have cereal and Nesquik at breakfast. They also like Crusha. They clean teeth after brekkie.

They also love lollies made from fruit juice. Perhaps you could try those.

smalltown that is a brilliant idea about the fleece blankets!

I have re usable bed mats but they take forever to dry,and its such a rush in the mornings to change a bed and get a wash on before work,so its ready to dry after!

AngryFeet,my DD doesn't drink much either.I always try a liquidy fruit (like melon) and healthy lollies if she is heading towards being a bit dehydrated - OK it'd be hard to judge the amount of liquid going in but it would at least increase it.

Hi there,

Why not contact ERIC - a charity that gives info to parents about childhood continence issues like bedwetting - www.eric.org.uk Helpline - 0845 370 8008

Good Luck!

Jayne

My ds1 (8) was wetting the bed every night until recently. We've tried getting him to drink more during the day in the past, which only made a difference to the extent it resulted in damp daytime pants in addition to wet beds... and we've tried taking him out of nappy pants, but that just resulted in several months worth of wet duvets and bed sheets every day... and we've tried artificial hormones, which made no difference whatsoever... then we left it for a while and recently started using a bedwetting alarm in addition to upping his daytime drink intake (damp daytime pants are so rare these days, it seemed like a good time to give it another go). It's a Rodger bedwetting alarm and is wireless operated, so no external wires, just a neat pair of normal looking pants with the wires hidden inside so you can't see them and a tiny box to pop on to the top of the pants which sends a wireless signal to the alarm system, which is plugged into the mains near the bed, if the pants get wet.

In the first week of using the alarm (when I slept in the room with him to help him get used to it), ds1 was being woken twice in the night by the alarm and we would need to change his pants for another pair and his pyjama bottoms, which would have got a little damp patch on, but he was waking in time not to wet the bed itself and taking himself off to the loo. In the second week, I returned to my own room and ds1 was waking once in the night and had a couple of dry nights. He was now waking up quickly enough that the damp patch in his pants was tiny and he didn't even need to change his pyjama bottoms. Now, in week 5, he is dry for at least half the week and the other half of the week being woken some time between 6.15am and 8am by the alarm, so colossal progress for a boy who wet the bed every night of his life prior to that and who used to wet the bed far earlier on in the night. I would really recommend the alarm system we got - it is so discreet and easy to use and, from objecting to the idea at first, he now happily uses the pants and doesn't object too much to being woken to go to the loo, as he is fed up with needing nappy pants or wetting the bed. He also likes the times when he wakes up needing the toilet, without having had the alarm go off at all. And it is wonderful to be nappy free and not up to my eyeballs in washing!!!!!! I'm hoping, if we keep up with the alarm for a while longer, he will start going through the night all the time, give or take the possible occasional, rare accident.

ps you can get the Rodger bedwetting alarm system from Amazon. Someone else on Mumsnet recommended it a while back, which is why we ended up trying it. It's not cheap, but is so definitely worth it.

Hi there,

Why not contact ERIC? It's a charity that gives info about childhood continence issues like bedwetting - www.eric.org.uk or call their Helpline - 0845 370 8008

Good Luck!

Jayne

Homemade slush puppies - ice and diluted squash/ juice- in liquidiser?
Second the juice/ squash or smoothie lollies- fun to make together too
And, do you lead by example? Dietician suggested to us we put jug of water out at each meal, all have a glass, all drink blah de blah. And masses of ice in drinks to make them more exotic?

We have much the same struggle. Found providing a straw with large drinks helps them go down.