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Original poster

11 year old still bed wetting - can anyone help??

34 replies

ishouldbedoingtheironing · 25/08/2006 12:03

My dd is 11 and still wetting the bed EVERY night - v. bad last few days.
We have tried the following
medication from GP which stopped bedwetting but made her feel sick and she suffered headaches
referral to clinic which specialises in this and was given buzzers and charts - complete failure and clinic actually said nothing more they could do and suggested homeopathy
Have been going to homeopathy for 14 months(privately at ?45 per go ) no success either
DD is a twin and she feels this particularly cos her twin sister not only not wets the bed but can do most things better than she can.
DD is now being referred to a child psychologist due to lack of self confidence and poor self worth ie thinks that the family would all be better off without her as she is useless at everything - shes not!!
Can anyone help I am willing to look at any suggestion as we are at the end of or tether.
My mum says that it is something that she will eventually grow out of - is she right??
thanks for listening

OP posts:
CheesyFeet · 25/08/2006 12:30

Sorry no advice but bumping for you.

Original poster
ishouldbedoingtheironing · 25/08/2006 12:35

thanks cheesyfeet

OP posts:
fairyjay · 25/08/2006 13:04

I do feel for you - my dd always seems to find things easy compared to my ds!
Have you tried hypnotherapy?

littlerach · 25/08/2006 13:08

Not much advice, but a friend's son is 9 and still wets the bed.
They have tried the same as you, but with no success.
Interestingly, he has been referred to a child psych, partly through th school, as he gets v anxious and is easily upset by many things.
His mum is hopeful that this will work, she is sure it's down to his position in the family, as he is the middle child, and she was v poorly when he was small.

He wears pullups most nights, else his bed is swimming in the morning. His mum as sterted to use Napisan in the wash as his bedding really smells even when washed.

Original poster
ishouldbedoingtheironing · 25/08/2006 13:19

thanks littlerach my dd was the smallest of my twins and had a difficult birth. Also v. anxious and upset easily so maybe there is something in that. At first I was really upset that she was being referred to psych but maybe it will help.

OP posts:
Original poster
ishouldbedoingtheironing · 25/08/2006 13:22

Fairyjay no not tried hypnotherapy how does that work?

OP posts:
littlerach · 25/08/2006 13:32

I'm sure it will help.

Original poster
ishouldbedoingtheironing · 26/08/2006 16:09

cheesyfeet ( or anyone else whose around )
As i am new to mn can you tell me what bumping
means
thanks

OP posts:
UrsulatheSeawitch · 26/08/2006 16:22

If it's virtually every night, and she's very wet each time, it's a developmental delay - the body is supposed to produce a hormone called vasopressin which slows kidney function while we're asleep. In most children this starts in the first few years but in some it just doesn't, their bladders can't hold the amount of urine they make overnight and they don't wake up when their bladders are full.

Was it desmopressin (synthetic version of vasopressin) she had the bad reaction to, isbdti?

UrsulatheSeawitch · 26/08/2006 16:24

Oh, bumping means giving your thread a nudge back up to the top of Active Conversations, just to make sure some more people see it. You can post "bump" or "." or anything you like

PinkTulips · 26/08/2006 16:26

bumping means adding a post to a thread so that it will move up in active convos so more people see it

i've no advice on the bedwetting i'm afraid, sounds like your getting good advice already though

Original poster
ishouldbedoingtheironing · 26/08/2006 16:27

yes desmopressin - what you say makes a lot of sense because if she goes to bed later or has a sleepover when there is no sleep then she is not as bad
Oh God does this mean that my mother was right after all - and if so do i need to tell her !!
Will she just grow out of it?

OP posts:
UrsulatheSeawitch · 26/08/2006 17:09

Yep, sorry, mum is right

But you could try hypnotherapy if she can't use desmopressin - it can't affect her urine production but may be able to teach her to wake up when her bladder is full.

The other thing you could do is bladder training; does she go to the loo a lot during the day, so it's always being emptied and never holds very much? If she does, you can use a timer to get her to practise holding on for longer and longer each time she goes, and then she should be able to hold more at night too.

bedwetting help page

Original poster
ishouldbedoingtheironing · 26/08/2006 17:11

thanks Ursula youve been a lot of help

OP posts:
UrsulatheSeawitch · 26/08/2006 17:14

Oh, and do tell her that she is not the only 11-yr-old still wetting (it always feels like that because people don't talk about it):

"Statistics show that in an average class of 30 children, six will still be bedwetting at age 5 and two will still be bedwetting at age 10".

UrsulatheSeawitch · 26/08/2006 17:16

Have a look at the ERIC website - it has sections for parents and for children of different ages

bumbleweed · 26/08/2006 19:51

I wet the bed myself until around this age. My parents tried all sorts - buzzers, star charts etc. I remember hating hating hating doing it and feeling so dirty and useless and babyish and so my heart goes out to your dd.

I was asking my mum about it only the other day actually, and she said it improved a bit when they started waking me and taking me to the loo during the night.

But it only really stopped when I started going to friends for sleepovers and school trips, and the embarrassment initially was detrimental, but then somehow seemed to make me stop.

Thats my mum's take on it anyway - it could have just been an age thing and at age 11 my bladder matured. I still have a very weak bladder and have to wee loads much to the amusement of everyone who knows me.

I really feel for her with the self-esteem thing - I'm sure you are doing other things to boost her confidence generally, which can only help.

Good luck with it. x

cat64 · 26/08/2006 20:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Katymac · 26/08/2006 20:19

DD is 9 and started wetting after a bullying problem - we have been given the following advise
Have water within minutes of waking each morning
Don't go more than 20 minutes without a drink
Drink 2.5 to 3l each day until about 4 pm
After 4pm no milk, coloured juice (orange/blackcurrant etc only lemon barley or water) no tea/coffee or fizzy & only drinks to sip
No liquids from about 1.5 hrs before she goes to sleep

It occasionally works - you prob know all that anyway

Original poster
ishouldbedoingtheironing · 27/08/2006 16:17

thanks to everyone who responded - it has been a great help and I now feel the I have somewhere to go with this.

OP posts:
DeMaMa · 27/09/2006 13:53

I've just joined to check this website to see if I could find a solution for my 11 year old daughter, and like you say, have tried everything. At least I know she is not alone though. My 9 year old also has this problem so think yourself lucky you have only got the one . Let me know how you get on.

sandcastles · 27/09/2006 14:08

My neice wet the bed until she was 14.
She & her mum went thru eveything to get it sorted, GOSH, buzzer, not drinking after x o'clock, waking her at 2 hourly intervals, meds... you name it...the lot.

They were claiming DLA due to the amount of time she had to replace the sheets/matresses.

Eventually all they could come up with was that her bladder wasn't sending the right signal to her brain to say she needed to go to the toilet. (When I had dd I was cathetured (sp) and had no sensation to wee AT ALL...god daughter says that how she felt, never had the "need" to go.)

At school she was allowed to leave class when/if she needed to make sure she didn't have any accidents in class.

You are certainly not alone. Neice is 17 and as far as I know she just "grew" out of it.

Good Luck, I know it's not easy.

sandcastles · 27/09/2006 14:14

bumbleweed, my neice improved ALOT when she started sleepovers. When she came to me (for a long w/end) she would wet 1 night out of 3 (for example) But at home she would have wet at least 2 nights, if not 3. At friends she would very rarely wet....

heavenis · 27/09/2006 14:19

My ds wets the bed he's just turned 7. I have mentioned it to the doctor he says health visitors have to come and see him.
I'm not really keen to have buzzers.
I'll have a look at the links.

angie2477 · 13/10/2006 22:35

Hi my daughther is 9 and is on tablets for bed wetting the tablets are desmotabs of my gp she never has a wet night when she is on them.The doc said to try and keep her on them for a month then have a month off them but has soon has shes off them she wees the bed i cant understand whats wrong they say her blader is fine. she is a really deep sleeper which doesnt help things they said that could be part of it.