bed wetting!

[laneydaye]

Hi all, my ds is 6 now and we are still trying to get him dry at night without much luck. He went through a stage around xmas time where he was more or less dry for about 3wks, so we know he can do it. When do you take your child to see the health visitor for this? We were told 7/8 yrs!!! I think he is as fed up with it as we are now...

All answers most appreciated..x

We were told they wouldn't see them until they were 7 too, so that's kind of comforting in its way. DS was well over 5 before he cracked it - like you, we'd had extended periods where he was dry for weeks and then it would all go wrong again. I don't think it was anything we did to be honest, it just stopped happening all of a sudden - the last good patch just kept on going iyswim. Not much help to you there, sorry.

Did it start up again when he went back to school? I used to think if ds was really tired it was worse - maybe he was sleeping too heavily to wake.

They won't even consider seeing children until they're 7, as it's not considered a problem until then. There is apparently a hormone which suppresses urination overnight, and until that kicks in, there's not much you can do. It kicks in anytime between the ages of about 18 months and 7.

It's a really common problem; one in six children isn't dry by the age of 6.

There's not much you can do really apart from ride it out until he gets there - although I understand the frustration because my daughter, who will be six in May, is still dripping wet every morning.

No comfort for you, but my DS (7) has the same problem - i thought it might be cos he is a very deep sleeper.
sometimes he doesn't even notice, and sleeps on completely soaked!
Other times, just gets up, changes out of PJ's and crawls into my bed.
We are just getting round to seeing the doctor about it - though DS is dreading going and talking about it.

Yes - I have heard about the hormone thing. There doesn't seem to be anything you can do except be very patient until they grow out of it...
Which they will eventually. Lots of washing though...

We asked the GP about this for my DD2 when she was about 6.6 as she was beginning to get self conscious about it. Like MrsBoo's DS, she wouldn't wake up even when she'd wet the bed.

School Nurse came out to see us one tea time and had a long chat with DD and me at home. She gave DD a sticker chart and lots of tips - she could give herself a sticker every morning for all the various behaiour that contribute towards being dry at night such as: only little sips of drink at bedtime, always trying on the loo before bed, helping to change the sheets etc in the middle of the night etc. Didn't think sticker charts would work for her as felt she was too old, but I think the fact that she would show them to the school nurse on her next visit was a big motivator!

She'd never even had a dry period before - always had sodden pajama pants every morning. But this worked for her - she only had about 3 accidents in the ensuing months. School nurse said she was exceptional in this respect, most children take longer so i wonder if hormonally, it was just the right time for her. Also, having someome else talk about it may have made it sink in a little and place going to the loo more prominently in her mind. That's the idea behind them helping to change the bed linen - they take responsibility and they remember it, I suppose.

It's horrible knowing your child is worrying about it though.

Thanks everyone.xx

Will stick with it anyway, would have loved him to be dry for our trip to legoland in march, ah well will persevere.
Might try the reward chart though.

Have posted this several times - please someone try it and let me know if it works on anyone not related to me....

Raise foot end of bed about six inches. That's it. Weird bit of advice passed on from my grandmother when dd1 started wetting bed (she'd found it worked with my mother 50 years earlier!). Good luck.

I suspect that if I did that, dd would just end up with the top half of her wet rather than the bottom! She's such a heavy and regular wetter that I can't see anything other than time doing the trick.

This is the advice we were given for our DD age 10 (she also has a disability and we weren't sure if that was causing/adding to it but she has been dry for 50 nights now!!!)

You need to train the bladder. Lots of large mugs of water/clear fluids during the day. So drinks on waking, with breakfast, before school, then throughout the day, continue after school. Lot's of peeing!! again on waking, before school etc. Continue the drinks upto and during tea. No large drinks after 6/7pm. Sips to quench thirst ( shouldn't be a problem as they have drunk enough during the day to be hydrated for the night)Make sure they pee last thing

No red or fizzy drinks ever (we found coke was worse than pepsi! lol)

Ditch the pullups

Don't bother waking in the night for tha toilet, let their body learn (has really helped DD to wake up wet)

We bought something called a kylie sheet that is very absorbant but also comfortable (machine washable)

I'd also check there is no urine infection

Hope that helps