Parents of older night wetters?

[PenguindreamsofDraco]

My son is 6.5 and has never had a dry night. That's fine, he'll get there. We used to use Underjams and they were great, but have now been discontinued. The only make I can now find are Huggies DryNites (the ones with Spiderman on), which are utter shite - they leak virtually every night, and he's getting quite upset.

What do any of you use?

From memory, although DS is only 13, I think we just used waterproof mattress cover and stripped if wet.
He wasn't dry through the night until about 8-9. I found contacting ERIC, a charity that specialise in bed wetting etc. They gave me tons of advice and were supportive.

One thing that really worked for us was stopping Ribera/black currant drinks. We also made sure he drank loads in the morning.

He now still gets up about twice per night but is able to wake himself up so no wet beds any more.

It is incredibly common but not talked about.....

moilcare do small adult pullups that might fit.

you could also make the bed in layers and have another quilt ready.

So you make it up with a protective sheet, then a normal sheet, then another layer of the same. so when wet one sheet and bed protector can be stripped off quickly leaving a dry bed.

He would utterly hate waking up in wet sheets, I wouldn't do that to him. Plus, he comes through to us on many nights and I would really hate waking up in wet sheets . He wees a lot over night - it wouldn't just be a small trickle before he woke up.

He's a small kid - not quite 20kg - so I think kids' products would be better. I don't understand how there can really only be one on the market - loads of kids have this issue.

Sorry, should have said thank you both!

We found we needed to size up with the Huggies.

What helps us:

Masses to drink during the day, but as little as possible after 6, and none after 7 (9/9.30 bedtime). This means that if we have soup for supper, we have to eat no later than 6. Which leads on to...

Supper finished no later than 7. He is much likely to wet heavily when we eat late.

Double weeing at bedtime. So he reads until lights out, is sent to do a wee, then has 5mins quiet cuddle and chat, then is sent to do another wee. Only them do I switch his light off.

Fuzzy drinks and red juices/squashes are said to be problematic. We don't really drink them much, so I can't comment on them.

We've tried the alarm. Didn't work for us. He's just not ready.

Desmopressin helps when we're travelling and don't want to risk leaks. Some people find it very effective.

Pampers Baby dry pants size 6.

You probably have done so but have you tried reducing liquids in the evening?

Gosh I don't know, dd is 8 and the dry nights are fine for her. Do you think he might be having a fiddle with his penis at night and leaving it pointing at odd angles? Ds1 used to do that

Might be worth trying the lidl size 6 pull up nappies, they fit dd when she was 7. Otherwise maybe investigate reusables though expensive to buy. I regret not buying larger ones now, I keep thinking it won't be worth it as dd will become dry but she's not got there yet!

i do sympathise, ds is 8 and never had a dry night. hes in the huggies spiderman ones, luckily mostly they work well for him although they have leaked occasionally. Ds takes medication to reduce his nighttime wetting, it hasnt made him dry though so we are starting the alarm next week - I am not looking forward to that!

Asda do their own version of Dry nights they didn't work for us, but might be worth a try?

I didn't really want to go back to anything with 'Baby' on it - he was so relieved when I found the boys' ones with the ages - proving to him that lots of older kids are wet at night. I suppose I could buy and hide the wrapping.

He may well be a sleep fiddler, his father is

Thanks for all the tips too. I haven't really been concerned to address it because there wasn't really a need, as I saw it, but if he's going to be wet every morning anyway maybe I should.

Try different brands... DS is 8 and 28kg and up until September was in nappies. I have an unsubstantiated theory that the own brands made him wee less. Nappies rather than pull ups seemed better.

I want different brands! That's what I'm asking - what do other parents of older kids use?

I'll have a word with him - he may be more against continually being wet in the morning than he would be against the idea of a nappy.

Poor kid, sigh.

DS was not dry at 6, but it wasn't every night, and it was mainly due to being such a heavy sleeper, he wouldn't wake in time to go to the loo. We used drynites but they leaked for us too. He's now 7.5 and apart from a few accidents in the last year, he's pretty much ok.
When he was still wetting the bed we would pick him up when we went to bed for an extra pee about 11pm.

Now after his bedtime story we make him go back for an extra pee and I also rouse him at 11pm just to ask if he needs to go. He doesn't wake fully and mostly doesn't answer either but it's enough to get him to break a deep sleep.
Only night recently we didn't do this we had a wet night. Not sure that's the reason but we'll keep doing it for a while yet.

Have you spoken to your gp?
My ds was a bed wetter until he was over 7 and still has occasional incidents.
The consultant suggested we get him as involved as possible in the post pee clean up so that he's aware of it and what needs to be done afterwards. Strangely not long after we did this

Things improved! Have you looked at training pants or washable pull ups? If he feels wet without being sopping it might help.

Another mother of an 8 year old here. We use the Huggies Spider-Man too, so no advice there I'm afraid. We don't usually have leaks.

missyb1 I'm interested to read your comment. My son will have 3,4, even up to 6 nights in a row not wetting at all. Then we'll have weeks and weeks of no dry nights. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. I have had advice from ERIC and they said to let him try without a pull up for two weeks. We have done that on a couple of occasions, but he doesn't wake up even when he's wet. He will literally lie in a soaked bed for hours. In the end we had to stop because his skin got sore. Does your son wake up once he's wet? I'm loathe to try the alarm as he is a very deep sleeper/sleepwalker/has night terrors and it would be like waking the dead. I just can't imagine how he would wake up enough to get involved in changing the sheets in the middle of the night etc. Please could you update re. the alarm as I'd love to know your progress! Good luck!

Another user of Dry Nites Spider-Man pull-ups here too . My DS, that is (not me!)

I've always wondered why there doesn't seem to be any brand competition on these. It always feels like it's Huggies or nowt. And they're so expensive!

DS is turning 6 and has never had a dry night in his life. Sometimes his pull up fails (like last night for instance ) but largely is ok. I agree that it's prob to do with their willy poking-up at an odd angle (if they've had a little fiddle, or a nighttime erection).

It's only recently that my DS has started talking about/mentioning the idea of wanting to become dry. But I can't imagine he ever will whilst he's still a terrible liquids-avoider, because his bladder's only the size of a pea .

www.fill-your-pants.com/training-pants/pop-in-night-time-pants.html
2xl size might do?

My DS is also 6.5 and nowhere near dry at night and still has occasional daytime accidents (we have been referred to the hospital due to the daytime wetting). We use: groceries.asda.com/product/little-angels-nappies/asda-little-angels-peppa-pig-first-pants-size-5/910002363714 from Asda as it doesn't seem to bother him but they also sell these (although they're more expensive): groceries.asda.com/product/little-angels-first-pants/asda-little-angels-day-night-boys-pants-size-m-47-years/910002558369 As they have the ages on as you describe they might fit the bill if you have an Asda near you?

Ds is a sleep fiddler, and we'd often find him asleep with a hand down inside the nappy. Sometimes his bed would be soaked, but the nappy would still be dry - on the inside. So we put him in onesies to sleep. Makes damn-all difference! Except that we don't get dry nappy wet bed any more.

Forgot to say that we also lift him about 1.5h after he has gone to bed. If we don't do that he is far more likely to overflow the nappy.

He is 9 BTW, and has never had a dry night without being lifted or taking desmopressin.

It's comforting to read this thread. When I tell people DS is still in pull-ups at age 8, I am sometimes met with shock. I know it's nothing I've done as DC1 was 6.5 and DC2 was 2.5 when dry at night. So, wildly different yet brought up the same.

If hardly anyone bought pull ups in the larger sizes, there's no way all the supermarkets would sell them . I reckon people are ashamed to admit it, which is why people are surprised when I tell them - not many people talk about it.

Sorry my post was annoying. . Pampers and Tesco do size 6+.

(We don't live in the UK and find the supermarket brands are better...)

wineusuallyhelps
No ds doesn't wake up when he's wet,we don't know until the morning when I go to drag him out of bed, he is a very deep sleeper. I'm not holding out much hope for the alarm tbh but the continence nurse is keen for us to try and ds wants to. I suspect after a couple of nights he will have gone off the idea!

Do you lift him at 11pm for a wee?

We used to lift ds but quite honestly it never made any difference so we stopped, also the continence nurse didn't recommend it. We do encourage a double wee at bedtime, so a wee when he does his teeth, then reading for ten minutes then another wee before lights out.

Get some Brollysheets. They changed my life.

DS is 6 and has also never had a dry night. We use Huggies and Brollysheets for when they leak. As others have said, I think it's fiddling/scratching that causes them to leak but the Brollysheets mean that I am not stripping an entire bed when it happens. I have them for his bed and for mine as he ends up with us quite often.

m.brollysheets.co.uk/