bedwetting and blackcurrant/Ribena - any connection?

[mckenzie]

My DS luckily is only a very occassional bedwetter (apart from when DH is away but that's another story!).
DH and I think we've discovered a link though between his bedwetting and drinking blackcurrant or Ribena. t could of course just be a coincidence but we wondered if anyone else has ever noticed a link.

I suppose it depends on how much he drinks and how soon before bed he drinks. I have heard orange squash is bad for bedwetting as it stimulates the bladder.

A friend told me ages ago that one of the main preservatives used in squash (sodium benzoate) affects the nervous system. She said that when someone suggested the idea to her initially, she was very skeptical, but then when she cut it out of her son's diet, he stopped having accidents. Moreover, almost every time he had an accident after that, she realised he had somehow ingested something with sodium benzoate in it. Coincidence? Hard to know....

V.interesting mckenzie. I have a 7 year old who is prone to a v.occasional wet bed and he wasn't out of night time nappies until 4.5. Most of his drinks are Ribena. Whereas his friend who drinks mainly water and milk was dry, night and day at 2.5 years. I, too, wonder whether anyone else thinks there is a link?

Mine drink Ribena Toothkind and neither has ever wet the bed (age nearly 10 and 6). Not much help, eh

I should add, we cut squash out of DD's diet this spring when she was having constant accidents. I really don't know if she got better or not, it seemed like she became more reliable but maybe I was being hopeful. Or maybe she got more reliable because of us scolding her, hard to say.

I was told there was a link between ribena and bedwetting by dd's consultant, and to avoid drinking it at night.

This is really interesting, by ds age 4.7 is not dry and night and often has accidents (oddly only at home and not at school). He only likes blackcurrant squash, I dont buy Ribena, normally a High Juice or a no added sugar one. I will try and cut out the squash and see what happens. Perhaps a Mumsnet test is called for. I shall report back my findings in due course.

thanks everyone for replying.
I'll be interested to hear how you get on Pepsi. Good luck.

LOL mckenzie -didn't read the post properly and thought there was a suggestion to switch from ribena to pepsi!

my dd's only bedwetting accidents have happened when she's been drinking lemonade or fruity fizzy stuff (don't know what it's called) at friend's house. at home its just water or milk, and fizzy drinks are never asked for.

If your ds really likes ribena type drinks, (my DD is very sensitive to additives and loves Ribena) try switching to Rocks Organic Juice - you can buy it in Tescos easily enough. It is a little bit more pricey (£1.99 for a bottle) but is additive free, can be diluted loads and saves on washing! They also do an orange and a lemon one - both delicious. Bit pricey but worth it if your child is sensitive to the usual additives.

my friends ds wets the bed all the time and the doc he sees at the hospital said that blackcurrant was one of the worst drinks he could have.

yeah, i was told by my HV to cut out all drinks but milk and water after 4pm to try to get my DS1 dry at night (he was 4.5).
In the end we cut out all squash and juice all day with help from nursery (he knew and was fine about it). BUT lots of drink, just not squash.
Observing in an unscientific way, I have noticed that yes, if he ever drinks Ribena late in the day (we don't generally have it) it does seem to be linked to wet bed later. He's 5.5 now. I think it is some kind of direuetic (sp?). Worth eliminating for a while at least.
BTW DS drinks juice etc again now, tho I do try to avoid it after 5pm or so.

I am stunned by the timing of this posting! I was about to post for advice as my 6.5 yr old dd, who older than years in many ways is a constant bed wetter, however never does it at others houses. After piling yet another bedding set in washer thought can't take much more and will ask on here, saw this, and my god she drinks loads of blackcurrant juice at home, which may explain why it doesn't happen when away. I will cut it out today and see what happens. Heres hoping!

Havent stopped the blackcurrant yet as I forgot to my more squash when I went shopping...am going tommorrow so will put something different on my list.

Hi
My daugter has been attending a incontinence clinic and blackcurrant is a diretic so is a big no no.She is'nt allowed fizzy pop either for the same reason orange squash, water, milk and diluted fruit juices are ok.Hopefully if you stop the blackcurrant you will see a great improvement.

For my DD the answer is yes definitely. We notice that whenever she had Ribena she would wet the bed without fail. Otherwise, she would only wet maybe once or twice a week. She decided not to have Ribena any more for just this reason.

Hi Meea, sorry to pick your brains, you say orange squash ok as it is the diuretic effect of blackcurrant. Do you know if there is anything in the idea that it maybe the preservative as mentioned on here? Hows the incontinence clinic? Any joy for you?

Arrrgh, I posted a few days ago about being fed up with my DS1 (almost 6) bedwetting. The frustrating thing is that he has been dry at night, between the ages of 3.5 and 4.5, it seems to me that he doesn't drink enough during the day and is worse when he is at School. I have started sending him with a drink for morning and afternoon breaks and bought Robinsons Hi-juice but have discovered that it has the additive that Zebra was talking about in it! He does have a bottle of water at School but left to his own devices he doesn't drink it.

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have a load of stuff from ERIC on my desk atm but haven't seen anything specific about blackcurrant yet.

You have got me worrying now to be honest the consultant was so horrible we have stopped taking her frightened my poor darling to death.
I am sure orange was ok will have to check we have an incontiance nurse of all things .Can you imagine going to peoples houses and discussing wee all day.
If I going to be honest I have given up for the time being and she wears pull ups.

secur, my DS1's School has the same policy and his teacher gave them all a little pep talk about water being good for the brain but my DS1 still comes out with the bottle virtually full, I usually get him to drink it on the way home so it's not that he doesn't like water. We have a parents' evening at the School soon so if there is time I may raise the issue with the teacher when we are there but for the next few days we will try watered down pure juice, only that puts us back to the old dilema, proper pure juice that costs a fortune or pure juice made from concentrate at a fraction of the price.