7 year old still bed wetting - should I be worried?

[moodywren]

My 7yo dd still wets the bed at least twice a week, and on nights when she doesn't wet the bed she always ends up wetting her pyjamas on the way to the toilet.

She also quite often has to change her knickers in the day because she hasn't made it to the toilet in time. I can't establish whether this is due to leaving it until the last minute or if she doesn't know she neds to go until its too late.

She has had a couple of urine infections in the past and her kidneys were scanned but no problem was found about 2 years ago.

Should I take her to the GP? Could there be something wrong or is she just being lazy?

I don't think she is being lazy.

The brain function during the night is slowed down completely and therefore the message is just not getting from her bladder to her brain quick enough for her to always make it to the toilet.

I would think at her age it is more likely that she is leaving it until last minute as she is engrossed in what she is doing.

You could visit your gp they will look at all aspects not just medical.

Take her to the hv and you will probably get a referral to the enuresis clinic.

In the meantime, you might try making her wear knickers and a pantyliner to bed so that she might keep her pyjamas dry on the way to the loo.

Also, when she wets the bed, always involve her in the work of changing the bed and washing her clothes the next day, and get her to have a bath, so that she can see that it will save HER time and trouble if she is dry.

My dd was a bedwetter for years and so was my brother. What really used to hack me off was if I didn't remember to check her bed, she sometimes didn't tell me when it was wet, so when she went to get in it the next night .... eurgh!

My dd isn't always telling me when she wets the bed now either and we had been encouraging her to make her own bed but now I'm having to unmake it afterwards to make sure its not wet.

I am getting really worn down by it now I have 2 ds both under 3 and am pregnant again.

Please don't blame her for this. It is not her fault, she CAN'T help it.
This could have been me 25yrs ago. She will grow out of it. Perhaps try to get her to do pelvic floor exercises for the daytime to help control, practice weeing and stopping midflow. The night time I would make sure the room she sleeps in has no false light from TV, lamp etc to decrease vasopressin which stimulates urine production during daylight. Leave the landing light and bathroom light on.
The more she worries about it, the worse it will become. Try not to get annoyed.
I was wet every day at home and dry every holiday, my mum thought I was lazy. I was actually being bullied at school, so was dry during holidays because I was away from them. My mum never realised until I told her 4yrs ago age 29y

Perhaps some little incentive for a run of Dry Nights, Moodywren? Not that I'm saying she is doing it on purpose. Probably not. But she can help to address the problem.

She should strip her own bed if she has wet it - my dd did that at age 7, but you do need to keep on top of them and check they've done it.

Congrats on imminent #4, and good luck.

PS she is probably not telling you because she is embarrassed, ashamed, upset at herself and sorry to have caused you more work. Covering it up she may feel it is saving you washing , especially if she senses you are getting angry (even though you might try to hide it.)

Oh Tori! You poor thing!

I must add that I did try to check that it was not an emotional problem with my dd, and I don't think it was. But of course you can never be entirely sure. I still give her lots of hugs even now she's 13 and our boobs collide! It never hurts to give children emotional reassurance.

My dd will be 7 in June and still wets the bed. It seems to go in fits and starts - sometimes dry for a week then wet every night!

I amsure she is not doing it on purpose as she really wnats to be dry and making her change the bed just makes her more upset. We have a hippichick waterproof sheet so we just whip that off if she is wet and the bedclothes underneath are dry.

We tried a bed alarm and that seemed to work for a bit but then she relapsed - really she is such a deep sleeper she cannot wake up

I don't think school is a prblem as she seems really happy and there is no real pattern to it

I beleive there is a hormone the doctor can give them but not sure they do at 7

She has a small plug in nightlight in her room which she won't sleep without.

She doesn't seem that bothered by it. I have tried being understanding thinking if she didn't worry about it then it would stop. I have been cross about it (when I am completely knackered by it all although I do try not to)

No matter how many times I tell her not to leave it til the last minute in the day she always does and it is frustrating.

I am trying in be patient and understanding but I am getting to the end of my tether

Yes, it was really upsetting at the time and I did eventually stop at age 12.

ds1 did not become dry at night until age 7

I keep wondering how long it will go on for. Should I take her to the GP or HV now or should I give it a bit longer?

I too was a bed wetter up until a frankly embarrassingly late age . I was apparently dry at night from 2.5 years and then started wetting the bed again at around 4 (just after my parents split up)

Some of the solutions from the enuresis clinic were a bit hit and miss, but I was eventually "cured" by using a nasal spray which stopped the bladder producing urine for 12 hours.

I only used it for about 6 months (I think) and it effectively "trained" my bladder.

I think I was just a very heavy sleeper and had a weak bladder

My DS 8 still wets the bed albeit only occasionally. It has only been in the last year that it has slowed down. Most times it was four or five times a week.

The irony is that he was dry in the day at 18 months which he did himself - wanted to wear big boys pants like his brother.

He is a very heavy sleeper.

Maybe it is that she is a heavy sleeper but that wouldn't explain the daytime problems.

If we could get it down to occasional I could cope with that.

I have tried waking her in the night but she gets really upset and won't sit on the toilet.

Have you tried not giving any drinks, after, say 6pm (assuming she goes to bed at 8-8.30 ish) ?

Its worth seeing the GP for a referral

She doesn't have any drink after her tea which is about 5pm and she goes to bed between 7pm and 8pm depending on school nights etc.

Last night she had her last small drink at 5pm went to toilet at 7pm before bed, went to toilet again at 9.30 and still wet the bed.

My 7yo DD still wets the bed 2or3 times a night every night. Have been referred to the enuresis clinic and am on waiting list for an alarm. But she is a very heavy sleeper and don't know if the alarm will wake her or not.

At the enuresis we were told just to give her drinks as normal and not to lift her at night as that does not work.

We have a spray that we use when she is on sleepovers and camps etc.

She is bothered about it and now i am just used to it, during the night i strip the bed but when she wakes up in the morning she strips and showers herself.

I just think that one day she will grow out of it, at least i hope so.

my little sister who is now 26 wet the bed every night until she was 13 ,she was such a deep sleeper that she would dream that she was already on the toilet so she just let go.
mum was extremly fed up with wet sheets every night ,took her to the gp he suggested no drinks after 5pm and an alarm clock that would wake her up half way thru the night .both failed to improve the situation.
she was very upset at not being able to stay at her friends houses on sleepovers as she knew she would wet the bed.
she did grow out of it.hope your dd does too

A lot of 7 year olds still wet the bed as do a lot of older ones.DD316 wet the bed until she was 14. Have a look at the eric site address is eric.org.uk/.
The advice from the enrusis clinic I took my daughtetr to was not to restrict drinks ( except fizzy ones ) and they told her to make sure she had a least 7 drinks a day.
Restricting drinks always makes vedwetting worse and we found this to be true.

Please don't make her strip the bed. I know it's hard - my 7 year old son still wets the bed - but the best approach is loving understanding and not making a big deal out of it. It's not a child's fault if they wet the bed and the last thing you need is low self-esteem later in life because too much is made of this very common problem. Grit your teeth, keep calm, show love and compassion - after all, you're the adult here.

Get her checked by the doctor in case there is a medical reason. My friends daughter has just become dry at age 9 so it might just take time.

Have you tried waking her slightly and walking her to the toilet before you go to bed so she gets used to waking in the night and sitting on the toilet?

My son wet the bed nearly every night & sometimes had accidents during the day as well.

The nurse at the clinic said we should encourage him to drink more, rather than restrict his drinks. She also mentioned that some people found blackcurrant juice caused problems. My son only ever drank water, milk & Ribena. We took away the Ribena and he was dry everynight instantly. I could not believe the difference it made to our lives.

I was really annoyed that I had been spending a fortune on Ribena Toothkind, believing the hype that it was better than all the other cheaper squashes. Although to be fair the other stuff may have had the same effect on him anyway.

thinbking it was better

a certain brand of blackcurrent

Check out www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/bedwetting.htm, which talks about how some children don't produce enough of a certain hormone at night. One of my friends had this problem with her son and it turned out to be this, and he's now fine. Good luck!

Well I'm Now In My Teen Years & I Used To Pee The Bed Until Like 4th Grade Its Usually A Stage , It Somethimes Might Run In The Family Like My Dad Did I Til He/She Was 14 . But Since Your Child Is Stil VERY young , s/he will be ok just Take Him/Her To A Special Doctor & They Will Give Him/Her A Alarm Thing Thats Goes Off At Night When He/She Peas & It Will Let Him Know To Get Up & He Will Get Anooyed EVERY NIGHT SO HELL START GETTING UP & PULL UPS DONT HELP . THEY ENCOURAGE KIDS TO PEA MORE .