5 year old wetting the bed

[HippyChops]

For the past 2 weeks we he have been trying to get the boy to become dry as he was becoming frustrated at still wearing pull-ups at night. We have tried all sorts, lifting at the same time at night, setting the alarm in his room, stopping all drinks after a certain time. Now we have booked an appointment at the Doctors to see if anything is wrong, as he wants to be dry but he is such a deep sleeper. Any help please.

I really think the first thing to do is to stop using the pull ups. My nephew was wearing these at five and his parents were told by the school nurse to stop this immediately - they did and quite soon afterwards he became dry at night with the odd accident here and there but on the whole he was dry.

I do not think it is considered a problem till they are seven plus. My dd 5.10 is still in nappies (Pull-ups)at night. Some night she is so wet that the nappies leak. I have to say I'm much happier with one wet nappy then wet sheets every morning. I tried with out nappy and after 3 weeks and one dry night I got fed up of changing sheets. I work on the fact she will get dry in the end.

I have posted loads about my DS1 and bedwetting. IME the Dr won't do anything until he is 7, although it is still worth while to visit the Dr to rule out any medical reason for the bedwetting (they may want a urine sample in case of any infection).

My DS1 appeared to become dry at night at around 3 and 1/2, for about a year he would wet only about once a month which was fine. Then at about a year later we reaslised he was starting to wet more and more often until it got to the point that he was wet almost every night. At this point we took him to the Dr as he was also weeing a lot during the day and with a great deal of urgency, however no infection or reason was found. We put him into Pull-ups as the stress of frequent wet beds wasn't good for anyone.

When my DS1 was 7 we approached the School Nurse and were put on the waiting list for an appointment at the Enurisis Clinic. They have been fantastic, we had a few appointments before his alarm became available, the alarm has been used (albeit with a few teething problems) to some degree of success. With the alarm DS1 had been dry around 8 weeks so we were told to take the alarm off the bed and lo and behold he had a couple of accidents. The HV at the clinic had some advice and so far it seems to have worked as he has been dry for a full two weeks again, he is now over 8 years old.

I also have a DS2, aged 4 and 1/2 who is nowhere near dry either. My DH wasn't dry at night until he was 12, I believe it can run in families.

My DS was very late out of nappies during the day and even later at night. He is now just 6, and we probably have one wet bed every 10 days or so, gradually getting less frequent. He's a very deep sleeper and just says "I dreamed I was going to the loo and I woke up and I was" He's very calm about it - quite often he puts on dry pyjamas and gets into bed with us, sometimes without waking us up! Plastic sheet on the bed, wooden floor in the bedroom so easy to sort in the morning. They all get there in the end - INHO particularly if they aren't stressed about it.

This is normal lots of 5 year olds still wet the bed. The Doctor won't refer him anywhere until he is at least 7.

HI Hippychops

how are things now ? This is something that is worrying me too. My DS is 5.3 and goes through phases where he can have dry nights for almost a week then repeated wet nights for weeks on end.

I've tried the last 3 nights with no pull ups, I've watched what he drinks and limited that from tea time, he went to bed later the 1st two nights, and had dry nights both of them. Last night I did the same, took him to the loo when I went to bed, and he did wee, but this morning he was wet.

He too is a deep sleeper, God help me getting him out of bed when he's a teenager, I can lift him, and dress him and he will still be asleep at the end of it.

My DS isn't too bothered about wearing his pull ups but I think he's becoming more aware.

DS1 in comparison was dry at night as soon as he was dry in the day at about 2.5.

Have you had any other advice ?

My 3 eldest children regularly wet the bed (possibly 2 or 3 times a week) until they were about 6. It was exasparating and annoying and like you, I tried everything I could think of to get it to stop.
Funnily enough, ds stopped completely when we moved house / he moved school. I thought it would have the opposite effect and make him worse but it didn't.
I didn't take him to the doctors, because as others have said, I had heard that they treated it as 'normal' and 'not a problem' until children were 7 +.
By the way, I'm not advocating upping sticks and moving house as a way of solving the problem

Am having problems with my son 5 yrs 9 months still not totally dry at nights. Can go a few dry then a few wet no particular pattern. Have tried limiting drinks and lifting, sometimes works, sometimes doesnt. He is aware and upset by it particularly as he shares a room. I am not looking forward to washing sheets most days during the winter months but dont want to put him in pull ups as he woulld be totally insulted.
HELP! Any ideas??

I was at paeds enuresis clinic last week and apparently the advice now is not to limit drinks as if they do not get the practice of holding a full bladder, the muscles won't develop. Give lots of fluids [more than usual] during the day to help muscles develop and for child to 'learn' signals of really full bladder, when fully awake. You can then stop drinks 1/2 hour before bed but no earlier. Lifting at night also stops them being woken by bladder signals as they are often not awake enough to realise what you are doing. Set alarm and wake child fully to take to loo. We have potty and night light in bedroom but DS1 is light sleeper and is distraught if wets bed so he's often weeing a lot in the potty at night as he hates wetting.

Enuresis clinic won't see until at least 6 as night wetting is not considered outside 'normal' range til then. I would ask GP to check if there is an infection and apparently, there is a genetic link, if you or dh were late to develop dryness at night, this will have an impact....its always our fault!!

HTH