DS 7.5, wetting bed at night - have you used an alarm?

[kw13]

DS 7.5 regularly wets the bed at night. Never really been dry at night, and I have a history of it too, so no surprise really. Looking for experience of others. Did you take your DS to the GP first? Or did you go straight for the alarm at night? If you used an alarm, which one worked for you? I've looked on the (excellent) ERIC enuresis site and they have a couple of different alarms for sale. They are expensive though, so it would be good to hear how others got on.... Thanks!

I haven't used an alarm, but wanted to post because my DS wet the bed every night until a couple of months before his 8th birthday.

I never thought he would grow out of it, but he did. I'm sure alarms have worked for many families on here, but I just wanted to give you a bit of hope that he might just grow out of it if you can stick it out for a few more months.

He doesn't drink after 7:00pm, and drinks loads during the day, which seems to help.

My ds2 was referred to the enuresis clinic by GP at 7.2 having never had a dry night. He w as still wearing night pull ups but was unhappy having to. The consultant advised upping his daytime fluids ( I think 8x250ml drinks) and gave us a chart to monitor his drinking. We had to measure his bladder capacity and hope that increased fluid intake would stretch his bladder over time. We were also told to steer clear of purple or brown drinks like blackcurrant and also milk after 6ish.

After 6 months bladder capacity was slightly larger but ds2 was still wet every night. We were given an alarm. It woke everyone but ds2! We persevered for a month but ds2 never woke for it so we gave it back. He was prescribed desmomelts at 8.1 and had his first ever dry night! He took them in 3 month blocks with a week break in between to see if he was dry without them for a year.He is 11 in Feb and now only takes them for sleepovers and is wet at home once or twice a month.

It is definitely worth asking for a specialist referral to discuss all the options, particularly with the hereditary aspect. There is a strong family trait with us too so I felt I didn't want to wait it out.

Fingers crossed that you find something that works for your ds

Hi hud,

Your post is really useful to me.

My DS 8.4yrs still has the occasional wet night (ironically last night, after I posted yesterday.)

Next May, he is going on a residential trip with school for 5 nights, and he will be devastated if he wets the bed. I won't be able to regulate the time he drinks in the evening, and I know they have things like midnight feasts, with crisps and chocolate, both of which will make him want to drink.

Do you think the GP would be able to prescribe the drug you mentioned, or do you think I would need to go to a specialist?

Do you know of any side affects? I will of course make an appointment to see the GP, but if you could give me a bit of info before the appointment, I'd appreciate it.

It hadn't even occurred to me that there is medication out there that could help my son during the trip.

You have given me real hope that he might be able to have something that guarantees he can be dry throughout the week, and still enjoy the midnight feasts that the teacher has said they always have.
TIA

PS - Sorry to hijack your post Kw

All really helpful thank you, and much appreciated. Will start with an appointment with the GP I think. Misfitless: I have heard of medication and have a similar situation coming up and was planning to ask my GP about it. I am fairly sure that for such a short period of time it will be fine!

Thanks!
Hope you get somewhere. I'm going to make an appointment to see the GP, too.
Good luck with it x

Misfitless I'm not sure about the GP prescribing, ours does now but the initial prescription came from the specialist.

His midnight feasts would still be a problem with medication though. DS had to take it an hour after his last drink and then go for a pee an hour after that. We had to have a very strict routine so he was still awake for that last pee!

The medication is a synthetic version of the hormone our body produces to stop us needing to urinate overnight. So if he were to have a full bladder after taking it he wouldn't be able to pee, wouldn't feel like he needed to. We were told that this could dilute the salts in his system and cause fits (not sure I've quite got the technical bits spot on but that was the gist of it).

It sounds quite scary but as I say, we were strict about doing it properly and made sure DS knew how important it was and why. He was fine and we had no issues.

Some good tips we got for sleepovers might help your DS on his residential. DS was told to have a bottle of water at his bed side which he could "accidentally" spill on himself to explain away wet patches. Also to keep an identical pair of pj's in his pillow case so that if he was wet he could change into dry ones under covers and be able to get out of bed and no one would know. I think ERIC have some links to sleeping bags with waterproof liners. If I remember rightly they were quite pricey but they might be an idea.

Sorry thats a bit of an essay! Hope some of it is helpful.

I really appreciate those ideas hudyer.

The bottle is a brilliant idea and I will certainly look into the other options. I'm so glad that the OP started this thread (thanks KW.)

If he wants to join in the feast I'll send him some nuts and will come up with other ideas that he can eat without becoming thirsty.

I'll get onto the GP on Monday.

Thanks again.

At times like these, I wonder how we all managed without mn - I certainly don't have anyone in rl who knows about all this stuff!

An alarm worked like a dream for DS at about the same age. I would strongly advise giving it a go. GP referred us to health visitor. Good luck. (Had to suffer a few nights of everyone awake with it, but worth the hassle-- never looked back).