DS still in night nappies age 7

[Riddlediddle]

So my ds is 7 and still wears a pull up every night and every single morning these are full of wee. We have tried all of the usual recommendations (no drinks after 5pm, waking up to take him to the toilet, etc) but nothing changes. In regards to daytime toilet training he was very early doing this and went straight from nappies to pants literally the first day we tried this with him and has never had an accident at all. After reading up on it for so long I believe he must be missing the hormone that's needed to control his bladder at night. Does anyone have any experience of this and what do I need to do to move forward from here?
Thanks

You would normally speak to your gp i think

No insights but just to say sympathies! We are in exactly the same place with our 7 year old ds . He was also super quick to potty train and never had daytime accidents unlike his older brothers. Annoying for us but also makes him feel a bit rubbish. Know someone who’s 9 year old is only just dry at night too

What does GP say/any tests etc?

www.eric.org.uk/pages/category/bedwetting this might be of use to you

@dementedpixie I tried that before lockdown and they said to wait until he's 7. I've tried again recently but because of covid they said they would need to assess him but because he isn't ill they wouldn't want him in the practice at the moment.

@Harveywoo big sympathies! It's hard on them isn't it. There were recently talks of a sleepover at his friends house (before all these new restrictions came in) and bless him he said he didn't want to go because all his friends would laugh at him

Ask your health visitor. My son had night time accidents up until he was prescribed medication from her. We had to keep a chart on daily liquid intake for a few weeks and then he went on these tablets. I'm so sorry it was several years ago now. But, they worked and when he came off them he was fine. I apologise for being so vague.

One of mine was like this.
In our area they refer to continence service aged 7+.
Continence service did bladder scans, fluid diaries, we had to restrict fluids after a certain time, no blackcurrant juice. We then tried an alarm system but that only woke him after an accident. When everything else was ruled out he went on to medication this saw an immediate change he was on medication for two years then we weaned him off not had a problem since.

My DS1 was still in pull ups at that age (I even kept his younger brother in them so DS1 wouldn't feel different even though there was no need. for DS2) but he's 20 now and absolutely a normal lovely non bed wetting adult. DS2 had a friend who didn't go on sleep overs until he was in secondary school because of the same issue and is now also an adult with no issues at all. Flag it with your GP so it's there if you need help later but AFAIK the hormone comes in later for some but 99% of the time it's not an ongoing issue.

Sorry meant to put also that DS1 potty trained relatively early at about 22 months but nights were still an issue for many more years. Many, many years ago I worked with a paediatric urologist and she was totally unbothered by children who weren't dry at night by the age of 7.

Dd was dry in day by 2 but took til 7 at night as she slept so heavy

DD did this til she was 9 then suddenly stopped. We tried everything too. She was dry just before her second birthday in the day but every time she slept would wee. More normal than you would expect.

By the time my DS was 5 and a half I began to get stressed about it and bought a bedwetting alarm. It actually did the trick quite quickly. We still had the occasional accident but nothing like it was. The alarm was loud though!

I was talking to my 7 year old's paediatrician about this today and she said they wouldn't prescribe medication until he is 8.

It’s very unusual at that age unless the child has special needs. You need to speak to your GP.

It's not unusual at all!
GP won't do anything until around age 8 because it is well within the boundaries of normal.
One of my DS's was 8 and a half before he was dry at night. It took some intervention with medication from the GP and I also bought a wet alarm called Wetstop. Within three months he was dry and has been ever since.
I know plenty of other children who have been the same and they do not have SEN!

@Ranunculi it's very common actually, often runs in families. On what basis do you say it's usually only a child with SEN that would wet the bed at 7?

DS is almost 7, we have good months and bad months, it's very strange. I sometimes think it might be school/anxiety related (can go all summer/lockdown without an accident but the they start when school opens).

DNephew was the same, as was DH.

We ensure no drinks after dinner, wee before bed, that usually does the trick these days but we still have accidents once every 10 days or so. GP says no stress/meds until 7.5.

I wasn't reliably dry at night until I was 9ish, and it was really miserable.

Looking back I wish my parents popped me in a night nappy, and never mentioned it (aside from medical appointments), instead there was lots of talking, rationalising, planning, and bribing, all of which failed to have any positive impact.

My older two boys weren't completely dry at night until they were 9, whereas the youngest was dry day and night at two and a half.

There's a wide range of normal, and not being dry at night at 7 is much more common than you might think.

So I don't think there's any need to worry. By the time my boys were 8 or 9 we stopped using pull-ups and layered up the bed instead.

It's not unusual, please don't worry. My ds was dry from 2 to 7 but from 7 to 12 he did the same as your ds. It resolved itself in the end. It's just one of those things. I think with my ds he slept incredibly deeply. Hold tight and give him as much love and support as you can and I'm sure he'll grow out of it eventually. Sending best wishes.

One of mine was dry at night at 2 the other wasn't reliably until 9. Lots of stress and managing wet bedding / alarms / drink diaries etc until that point. Was also irritating as my MIL was very judgemental about it. You have my sympathies,. It did resolve itself for my DC (must have been the magic night time chemical that prevents weeing at night finally kicking in). By Yr6 residential all was fine, which was something I'd been worrying about for years!

Thanks everyone it makes me feel better knowing thay he isn't the only one. Like a poster said it's one of those things that isn't really spoken about between mums for fear of your child getting judged or laughed at

I know of two boys for who the wet alarms worked within a few weeks of use. I'd try that. Both boys wet themselves every single night and like in your household the parents already had tried less drink and waking them before their own bedtime to go to the toilet. Only the alarm worked.

Just looked online and the bed wetting alarms aren't cheap are they! Wouldn't be able to afford one of those unfortunately

I think the one we had was £25 ish?

The cheapest one I can find is £45 which is unfortunately too much for us to afford right now x