Desmopressin for bed wetting

[Exactfare]

Can I get your experiences of Desmopressin?

6 year old has been on it for over a week with no effect - I'm waiting to Hear back from GP about a higher dose or referral to the clinic

DC is 6 never had a dry night, already tried an alarm 😞

I've read everything on the ERIC website

Bump

6 year old is fairly young for intervention?

1in 5 kids aren’t dry at night until 7- they simply don’t produce the hormone required to shut the kidneys down so no “training” will help.

it’s unusual for an under 8 to be referred- just as a guide. Mine weren’t dry until 7 when it just clicked.

it’s hard but personally I wouldn’t worry too much yet.

DS was wet every night until just before he turned 7. There are dozens and dozens of parents on here who will say similar.

I think the lower dose is usually ineffective but they always start on that….but agree with pp, 6 is very young to be intervening.

Is there any other reason why your child is on this medication?

My 7 year old has only just started having dry nights. How? I fill him with water during the day. He pees alot more and doesn't need to go during the night.

I'm wondering if there's info missing from your post?

My daughter started desmopressin at a similar age, and like you we didn't notice any difference for quite some time. I'm not sure if it was the medication or just her natural hormone finally kicking in, but she did eventually become dry at night. Persevere with it is my advice.
Have you been given the other advice about avoiding blackcurrant and orange squash and having a wee, counting 20 elephants and then trying to wee a little more as they're worth trying? Sorry if you're doing this already. Have you also tried a wobbl watch to remind to go to the toilet regularly during the day to exercise the bladder?

Does he urinate frequently during the day?

my twins were referred to the continence clinic at 7 due to not being dry at night (incidentally, they told me they accept referrals from aged 5 so ignore snippy comments about it being normal 🙄). They had the capacity of their bladders measured and it was found their bladders weren’t holding enough (plus dtd had an overactive bladder meaning she would urinate frequently). The clinic wouldn’t attempt to tackle the bed wetting problem until we’d worked on increasing it, which involved ensuring they drank more fluids during the day. It was a lengthy process overall but the desmopressin worked quickly.

Theyve both been dry since.

@ChittyChittyBoomBoom I don't think the comments about it being normal are snippy.

My ds1 wasn't dry at night until 8yo, whereas ds2 was dry at 3yo. Both 'normal' as in 'very common and nothing to worry about'. I wouldn't medicate a 6yo unless other reasons eg. extreme anxiety about it.

I would push for the clinic referral OP, they will advise.

If you're near London there's a clinic at Guys I think sheikh is really good.
Not unusual at all for there still to be issues at 6/7. Some boys get to 10/12 ..... I know it's hard but important not to make a thing of it. Eventually it all works out.....

Agree. Not snippy, accurate. Mine was referred at 6 but continence clinic nurse told me bedwetting normal until 7 and they wouldn’t prescribe desmopressin before then.

But the op didn’t ask for advice, she asked for peoples experiences of desmopressin Which her GP was concerned enough to do.

It’s actually in the NICE guidelines that children over the age of 5 should be seen by a HCP if not dry at night. www.eric.org.uk/blog/what-age-is-normal-for-night-time-dryness.

My 14 year old is only just starting to get dry at night. He's been soaking most nights for his entire life, which he's obviously embarrassed about.

He's been under the enuresis clinic for years and been taking Desmomelt and Desmopressin for a long time!

To all those saying its normal until 7, well I used to think so too until I read the ERIC website and the NICE guidelines which are now from 5 and also explain that in children with severe bed wetting (like my DC who has literally never close to a dry night) it's a lot less likely to spontaneously resolve

I tried a bed wetting alarm (did nothing) and contacted the GP about a referral to the Euresis clinic as I wanted to get a head of the game (they aren't happy about it now and I assume it'll get worse when sleep overs etc become a possibility) assuming a long waiting list. In fact GP was happy to prescribe desmopressin given that we'd already tried loads of things, and said she'd refer us on only if it didn't work!

After nearly 2 weeks it's made absolutely no difference unfortunately

@ChittyChittyBoomBoom I really think this might be a big factor, but I'm not sure how to tackle it when they are at school 5 days a week. DC is "away with the fairies" most of the time if you know what I mean, and would not stick to any kind of drinking routine without adult intervention

@warnc007 I haven't heard about a wobble watch this sounds like a good idea, I'll investigate

Neither of my children were dry at night until 8. And I mean sopping wet pull ups hitting the floor every morning like a cannon ball! DS2 had the odd couple of dry nights during it all, then we would try him without pull ups, only for him to wake up in a puddle. DS1 was relentlessly wet. Not one dry night until he was 8. Eventually there were more dry nights than wet and we were able to stop the pull ups. I'm not saying I didn't stress about it because I was quite worried, but in the end just decided to wait and see. I set 9 as the cut off point when I would ask for help, but luckily it didn't get to that.

@Exactfare how are you getting on with the desmopressin now?
DS is 10 and has been on it 1 year. It works to an extent. He has never had a dry night in his life, he wakes up with heavy pull ups every morning. Over the years I’ve worked out he wee’s 3 times in the night. That was too much for his pull up and he was waking up wet, but the desmopressin stops 1 of those wee’s, so he only wee’s twice and normally the pull up holds that amount