6 year old DS still wets the bed. What should I do?

[Doshusallie]

Hi,

DS2 is 7 in August. He wets the bed fairly regularly, at the moment it is once a week. I take him for a wee when I go to bed. It is always about 4-5am when he is clearly sound asleep, and he wakes up immediately when he has done it.

It is not every night and on every other morning I hear him take himself to the toilet for a wee and go back to bed.

He has Beavers Camp coming up and I am really worried that he won't be able to go if he is still doing this.

I don't shout, I don't get angry, I tell him that I know it isn't his fault - but i am at a loss now!!

Any suggestions??

TIA

have you tried a bedwetting alarm?

no - what is that?

Speak to the Beaver leaders. I'm sure he's not the only one!

He's only 6. A GP wouldn't consider referring him until he was 7. Bed wetting is very common, and an alarm at this stage, when it's likely that it isn't a problem, is probably jumping the gun a bit.

You could try getting him to drink more during the day, starting in the morning, and finishing an hour and a half before bedtime.

The nhs website suggests 5 as an age for this to be an issue, but the enuresis clinic I was involved with don't accept referrals until a child is over 7, and even then, many can be sorted by putting the child onto a drinking timetable (ie. drink at 8am, 10am, 12, 2. 4 etc)

Hi Bohemian,

Thanks alot.

Yes the drink thing is hard to control, as he is at school obviously and then with a childminder until 6. I don't let him have big drinks when I get him home but it's late by then.

It's all - yes I have let them know. Just will worry. Wetting a bed and wetting a sleeping bag are two different things! Plus they won't be able to avoid others seeing and I don't want him to be embarassed...

DS wet the bed until about 6 months ago. He's 8 and half.

We had a session with the continence nurse but oh my goodness she was patronising, and the strategies she recommended frankly seemed not relevant or appropriate. So we ignored her and decided to wait it out.

DS did a couple of away nights with Beavers when it was still a problem. the first night he took bedpants, and put them on and disposed of them discreetly. He wasn't the only one, and I am sure your son won't be either. Second time we alerted the group leader and made sure he was briefed to go to the loo immediately before bed. (as this was about 12.30 he made it through the night).

My DD is 12 and only now is she dry nearly every night.

She was refused a referral til she was 8 or 9. And then it was of limited use.

THey did star charts and helped her see a good routine for drinks/wees etc. Limited what she was allowed to drink after midday (nothing acidic, brown, fizzy, no milk either as apparently it is salty). And they put her on desmomelts.

THe only thing that really worked was waiting until her bladder had matured and she had more control over it.

She slept like the dead and when she was little I had picked up a wet alarm from ebay. It was a nightmare. It woke the whole house up, and probably the neighbours. It was painful getting close enough to her to switch it off. And still she snoozed on.

When she had residentials/sleep overs I either had a little word with the parent, or she took a sleeping bag that had a pullup hidden at the bottom. She'd slide into it once in her sleeping bag and noone was ever the wiser.

Ds3 will be 7 in July and is not yet consistently dry at night. He wears pyjama pants and they are wet about once a week. He is not worried about it so neither am I.

He will be away with beavers in the summer and I'm sure the leaders will take care of it. He will be dry when he's ready.

DS2 was over 8 before he was dry at night.

DSS was 12.

They're ready when they're ready. Apparently it's to do with hormones. They can't be dry til they start producing it.

Pop him in pull-ups and try not to worry.

If they're experienced Beaver Leaders they'll have been through it before. I always recommend they wear a pull up and I always have a spare sleeping bag with me just in case.

Not one child has ever known that another has a pull up on. They go to the loo and put it on, so no-one sees it.

DS1 is 8 1/2. Before Xmas he had an appt with the enuresis nurse. Tbh I thought it'd be a waste of time as I thought that he just wasn't 'ready' and he's also an incredibly heavy sleeper.

She suggested he drinks more!!! Has a wee first thing in the morning. Nothing to drink from an hour or so before bed. Doesn't have blackcurrant. Basically she said that he needs to get his kidneys working more in the day (hence the drinking more) so they don't need to work at night.

He was dry within days

www.eric.org.uk/ is a really useful website/organisation which can give advice & support with regard to enuresis (bed wetting).