HELP!! 7 Y O still bed wetting...

[IfYouCanKeepYourHead]

My DS 1 is still bed wetting aged 7 1/2. Truth is he hasnever been dry at night. I have just got back from the Doctors who insisted on another urine sample and 'poke around' to rule out any physical problems.

His biological dad bed wet until he was 12 and he said there could be an hereditary link. He has also had a lot to deal with psychologically - 'real dad' stopped seeing him when he met his new wife, despite being a great 'absent parent' for 2 years, we moved twice in 1 year, I then had a baby that died, recently got married and inherited a step daughter and only now feel settled as a family along with our new baby.

Problem is, I just don't know how to handle him. I want him to know it's OK and I'm not cross about it, but I also want him to aspire to stop??? I am so worried about it as he already struggles to make friends and hasn't formed any close bonds at school. He was recently picked on in the playground and without a best friend to stick up for him, he just took it.

Help!

Please try not to worry too much...
My son...now 7...recently started wetting the bed.
He doesnt do it every night...but sometimes says he just forgets...and it happens in his sleep.
He is normally a very happy child...so i just put it down to a phase.
If your son isnt bothered too much...then try to live with it and reasure him...that it would be better if he could get up and visit the toilet...but if he doesnt...then so be it....maybe like his father...its just something that will happen in time.

THank you Israel. I don't think I would be so worried if he had ever been dry and tbh it's not the wetting thats worrying, its that maybe the stress he's suffered has created some big long lasting problems. Is it natural to fret this much?

My ds was 9 when he stopped wetting his bed.

My son is quite active and sleeps so solid that he just doesn't wake, we used to 'lift' him before we went to bed and once in the night, but I was told you must wake the child up so they know the sensation, it did work most of the time.

My son even had to miss a school trip away from home because of this problem I think that was the crunch, he has been fine since then.

Don't worry if the doctors don't find anything, thats good news! maybe your ds sleeps solid just like mine. He will grow out of it, I think it may be hereditory, my nephew was 10 when he stopped wetting his bed.

Good luck.

My DS wasn't dry at that age. We were told that there were 2 reasons why this might be the case: a) that he wasn't yet producing the hormone(?)which reduced the amount of urine we produce when asleep b) he just wasn't waking up when he needed to go, or a combination of both. We were referred to a clinic, he got an alarm which woke him when he needed to go and he was dry within 2 weeks. Maybe you could ask your GP about that? There will be lots of other children in his class and even further up the school with the same problem. Medical profession doesn't recognise it as a problem til they are 7 - ie up to 7 is within normal bounds for going dry at night. Try to make sure he understands that, but I know that even that didn't entirely take the anxiety away from my DS. If he has to go away overnight, there are sprays the GP can prescibe - which will help for the odd night but not fix the problem long term. Good luck to you, you've had a really tough time and hope things are looking up for you and your family.

Second Lilospel.

Both my DC did this up to the age of 7. We had no dry nights at all. Went to GP pretty much day after 7th b'day, were referred to specialist eneuresis clinic, got some advice on increasing the amount they drink, and were lent an eneuresis alarm. In both cases, 2 weeks later, pretty much completely dry. (Maybe one accident every 3 months or so).

Good luck

God, some encouraging stuff on here, that's good to know tbh - it's so taboo that I was beginning to feel we were on our own. I would like to get along to the eneuresis clininc asap really - just so he can see he's not alone. He came to me tonight and said he is going to try without pyjama pants tonight...so thats encouraging...?

Yes, if he's asking to try without pj pants then (even if he's still wet) that means he should be ready to try to do whats needed.

And yes, theres a lot of it about - they say that on average theres at least one wetter per class at this age.

My DD had never been dry; when she was 7 we got referral to enuresis clinic. it took a while but DD (now 8) has now only had one accident since the start of August. In her case, the main thing seems to have been that she didn't drink enough and therefore had a small bladder. So - counterintuitive as it may seem - part of the treatment was for her to drink 8x200 ml drinks per day (non fizzy or caffienated). The other thing was 'positive thinking' exercises just before sleep. And the other thing was for me to bite the bullet and ditch relying on PJ pants, get some waterproof undersheets and deal with wet bedding for a while. In retrospect I can see that using PJ pants delayed DD getting dry.

Hello there

A very gentle approach is to try cranial treatment.

Enuresis can often be helped with cranial treatment as it can commonly be caused by neurological disturbances (i.e. stuff going on with the nerve endings feeding the relevant signals to the bladder etc) as a result of issues that haven't been resolved following minor birth trauma. For info, in case you'd like to read about what is birth trauma/what causes etc (forceps, ventouse, c section, long labour, very fast labour, induction etc) here's a link to a page of useful info (also click onto the cranial section too):
www.barnes-chiropractic.co.uk/babies_and_children.html

Love Sara x

the alarm really worked for me, results within a week. Was lent it by clinic

Enuresis alarms also come in vibration mode only so it needn't wake up the whole house. My DS is deaf and used one. He hated it and I suspect he didn't use it consistently either. It hasn't worked for him. He's nearly 8.

IfYouCanKeepYourHead

I had this with my DS1 at age 7...

Never had a dry night, HV advised us that medically no action taken until age 7.
Desmopressin was the answer, now dry at night after taking tablet nightly for about three months. We stopped the tablets in June this year.

To have a dry night the child needs to produce a hormone, 'Vasopressin'. The start of production of this hormone is delayed in some children, and a synthetic hormone 'Desmopressin' can treat this hormone deficiency.

Your child takes this hormone nightly for a set period of time, say three months, then you have a week off to assess progress, then if still wet then carry on then re-assess.

Back to doctor with you, ask for referral to Continence Clinic (sounds horrible I know)
then hopefully if your DS is a good candidate then a prescription of Desmopressin will result in instant dry nights.

A tip in the meantime is to shower him in the morning, off to school nice and fresh .

HTH (sorry to be so technical)

Thanks guys for all this advice. He appeared this mornig at 4am with a wet bed. Tbh I was quite pleased as he has always just woken up and found it, but I think this shows some awareness that its happening. He put himself back into PJ pants tonight - but we are taking his sample back the the docs tomorrow. Should get our referall next week.
I think I am more nervous than him!