Bedwetting 7 year old and desmopressin

[Bugaboom]

My 7 year old DS has never had a dry night.
Every few months we try without pull ups for a week but no joy just a lot of sheet changes (twice a night is a good night, usual more like 3 or 4).

The GP has put him on desmopressin. The initial dose had no impact so that was doubled about 2 weeks ago. We initially left him in pull ups and although a bit lighter in morning he was definitely still wet. So we've taken off the pull ups again. First night he woke up wet in morning, we don't know how long be was asleep like that. Last night I woke around 1am and went to check on him- he was fast asleep but soaking . He woke at 4am and was a bit wet again.

Any success stories with this? I'm not sure if pull ups are making the situation worse but we all get so much more sleep when he's in them. We're doing the other advice from ERIC website- plenty of day time drinks, regular reminders to use toilet in day etc.

My DS had this problem and at 6 was referred to the enuresis clinic. They solved the problem in a week. It was simply a matter of his bladder not having 'learned' how it felt to be full. We were given a regime of a certain amount of fluid he had to drink before a certain time (I can't remember the time I' afraid!). I'm surprised you haven't been referred before trying meds. Mind you this was 18 years ago and maybe such things are no longer funded? Anyway, ask and find out. And good luck. It's horrid - I worried that my DS would never go on a school trip or get a girl friend of get married. Now he's 23 and has a job and is getting married later in the year so things will work out xx

Do you mind if I PM you?

No advice but watching with interest. My DS is also 7 and has perhaps one dry night in 7. We haven’t tried desmopressin yet but did buy an alarm. It absolutely terrified him on the first night we used it and he won’t entertain the idea again. I don’t think it’s meant to shock them into not weeing!
He only wets once each night, so I make a layered bed with layers of waterproof sheets and washable inco pads and wash each morning.
On holiday at the moment and he’s agreed to pull ups.

Thanks for the responses. TheoneandObi That's interesting about the euresis clinic. We will be referred if this 2 month course didn't work. I originally went six months ago to GP and he was still only 6 years old so too young to refer but they will refer from 7.
We have thought about an alarm but he's such a deep sleeper. The ERIC helpline said it takes at least 12 weeks to work and be prepared for lots of sheets changes in that time. But combined with the desmopressin it is sometimes easier.

Strawberrie yes you can pm me. I've never used pm before- do I need to activate something?

Long experience with bedwetting here!
First, until 8yo usually doctors don't give cures, bedwetting is not uncommon until that age and totally a natural body development thing. It shouldn't even be considered a real problem.
Second, pull-ups don't do the situation worse but the opposite, make everything easier for you and him, letting good sleep, much more dignity for him and less work in the morning. That pull-ups can extend the bedwetting years is only an impression, totally false. No kids like wetting the bed, in many situation the best you can do is just don't make a big issue about it, use pull-ups to manage the situation in the best way and waiting for the natural end.

The alarm solved my 9 year olds every night bed wetting in a week. I’d try that before medication tbh.

Have you tried drynite pull ups along with plastic pants which is designed to catch any leakage which will help both of you in the long run

I have a 9 year old on desmopressin. She's now dry.

Previously used the alarm & desmopressin and it had little effect. Tried again April this year with the desmopressin and the alarm and she's now dry every single night.

She's been on it around 4-5 months now, I think it takes a while to get into their system.

I'd definitely recommend the alarm along with the tablets, we got ours from eBay. Again it can take a month or so but it's worth persisting.

Once this course of desmopressin is finished I'm going to see if the bed wetting comes back without it as I don't want her to have to take them forever!

My son was the same. Was dry through the day by age 2 and a half but not at night. Wasn't worried initially as thought it would just happen at night like it did with my daughter but it didn't

Eventually age 7 went to gp, medication made no difference whatsoever, in desperation (as he was soon to be going on a school residential) I ordered a bed wetting alarm online.

At times he didn't even hear the alarm, but I did., so I would rush to wake him to tell him he needed a wee. Sometimes he heard the alarm himself and knew he needed to get up. I went to him every time the alarm went off to make sure he was aware and properly awake so knew he needed a wee and not just getting up in a sleepy state

By the end of week 2 he was dry through the night.

So glad I stopped the medication and went down the alarm route. Worked a treat for him and I can vouch for no further problems. He is 23 now !

My personal experience with this was frustrating. I wet the bed every night until I was about 15. We tried everything - alarms, parents coming to wake me up at certain times, plastic undies that are EXTRA unpleasant when wet, early bedtimes, late bedtimes, desmopressin for years up to 4x the starting dose... nothing reliably worked. I still had occasional accidents (maybe 2 per month, particularly when I was over-tired) up until I was 24 and then something just clicked. I haven’t wet the bed now in years but I couldn’t honestly tell you what changed.

My parents had no issues at all potty training me during the day from about 2.5 years old. Never any day accidents. But the nights... ugh. All I can offer you is that I know it sucks, but it didn’t ruin my life. It just is one of those things...

I only have anecdotal evidence which isn't always helpful but I'll share anyway.

Ds was in pull ups until 7. Like your ds, op, he'd never had a dry night. It seemed old at the time because youngest dc had been dry since two years old. I took him to the gp because my understanding was that seven was the magic age for treatment. The gp immediately prescribed desmopressin. Ds wasn't happy taking medication at the time and I wasn't happy going straight to medication, so we decided to keep hold of them but wait a bit longer. Within two weeks he was dry. It was completely spontaneous and we did nothing differently. It just must have been that the hormone people talk about it had kicked in. He's literally been dry ever since. In the years since he's never had an accident, even when he drinks late etc.

Again, that's just my experience. I wouldn't know what to advise you tbh. But I would say that, although it doesn't seem it at the time, seven is still really young.

I think it was desmospressin that I was on until my mid-teens (is it a nasal spray?)

My wetting was emotional and I grew out of it. But I do remember one of the things the doctor said at the time was that drinks with orange and red colouring were proven to increase the likelihood of wetting if drunk too close to bedtime.

Not sure if that's still a thing.

Anyway, the alarm didn't work for me. I could actually sleep through it, such was the depth of my sleep!