Bed wetting and smells

[vvviola]

DD2 (3.5) was almost dry at night for quite a while (about one accident per week, usually first thing in the morning), but for the past week or so, it has been every single night. We're trying to get to the bottom of why it is happening, but in the meantime - the smell!

Once I'm aware she has wet the bed, I strip it straight away. If it's close enough to morning I usually change her and put her in to my bed, and leave her stripped bed to air. I have checked all teddies, blankets etc, but her room still stinks. Even after airing it almost all weekend and washing the matress protector and duvet that I know didn't get wet.

Any ideas? Why is the smell hanging around and how can I get rid of it??

oddly, nobody else in the family seems to be noticing it, even DD1 who loves to find reasons to complain about sharing with her little sister

Has it dripped onto the carpet? Wash the affected area with biological powder, put a bowl of bicarbonate of soda on the window sill to absorb the smell.
If it still persists then consider washing the whole carpet in her room.

Also, wash the actual duvet not just the covers.

Hmm.... didn't think it had got on the carpet, but will give the area around the bed a scrub to see does that make any difference.

Weather isn't exactly great for drying, so will have to hold off washing the duvet until the weekend (when I'll be home to take it in and out off the line, instead of DH's "oh, did it rain on the washing, I didn't notice).

Wet again this morning. :(

If dd has been wet very night and it smells stronger than normal she may have an infection. Not helpful to the original question.

I had thought of that mostly but thought because there were no other indications at all, and no problems in the day time that it wasn't the case.

It isn't that the smell is stronger, it's that it kind of lingers.

I've actually just realised that the wetting every night coincides with putting up blackout curtains. Can't see how that would be connected though.

If it is the bedding that still smells after washing, then make sure you rinse in cold water / mild bleach before putting on a hot wash - washing immediately in hot water sometimes doesn't get the smell out. If the carpet, sprinkle bicarbonate on it, leave the Hoover later.
Does the room being darker mean she won't get up to the toilet herself (was she doing that before)

Does she wake as soon as she wets or might she be lying in it for a while? If the latter that gives the smell a long time to permeate into air and I suppose curtains & carpets, possibly.

Other than that, could her pillow have got damp? Or has she got any wet clothes stuffed under the bed, in bottom of wardrobe or anything? Areyou washing everything in bio?

... Or, is there any chance you might be pregnant?! That could explain horrid smells that no one else seems to notice...

It may be the plastic backing of the mattress protector that is retaining the odour. if you cannot find any other cause I would suggest replacing it.
As for the cause being linked with the blackout curtains, maybe she is sleeping more deeply.
Hope you get it sorted soon.

Well, definitely not pregnant anyway

We use non-bio washing powder as DD2 has sensitive skin, so I wonder if that's part of the problem. Although it's the room that seems to smell, rather than the sheets themselves, IYSWIM.

We've had 1 dry (yesterday) and 1 slightly damp (today), which is progress.

She could be sleeping deeper, but she never used to wake up to go to the toilet anyway - just would wake up at her usual time and go in then. When she's wet it's usually around 5am.

I had the very thin summerweight duvets that fit in machine , lots of fleece blankets that take minutes to dry, fleece onezies to keep them warm. Smart price shower curtains to protect the mattress...they just need wiping down when you have stripped the bed, though I do put a blanket on top as plastic not great to sleep on. Those plastic backed matress protectors take ages to dry.

I use a waterproof mattress protector, then a disposable bedmat huggies I think, then the sheet. Means the mattress protector needs washing much less often, so lasts longer (its a terry surface one, takes a while to dry). Or you can just use the bedmat on top of the sheet, but it's a reminder to the child that it's there, ifyswim

I use napisan in the wash if I haven't got time to rinse first. It is non bio so shouldn't be an irritant.

Duvets in my experience can get a bit wet with wee and dry so quickly you may not notice it, so yes I would defo wash the duvet too in case it has wee on it. As the poster above, we use summerweight ones so easier to wash.

Are you sure your protector is still waterproof? They can perish and leak, I check waterproofness before I put it back on his bed by sucking gently on the reverse with my mouth - if no air gets through, its waterproof still. Just if its leaked through it could be on the mattress

I think bio would help, but you don't want to irritate her skin.

Also as PP said, a cold water soak before washing can help. A hot wash with no soaking can 'set' the smell in the sheets.

She could be lying in it a while. And she is only 3.5, you could just put her back in pullups...

I use these for my frequent bed wetting DD, they are brilliant. I've had them 2 years and they have been washed hundreds of times!

www.brollysheets.co.uk/?gclid=CObf7P_BtcUCFWbJtAodN04Afw

They are amazing, completely waterproof. When wet just whip off the bed and child gets back into the dry normal bed sheet below, and throw in the washing machine.

Forgot to say, my DD wore nappies at night till she was 7, she wet the bed at least 4 nights a week!

Well, after much scrubbing and washing and sniffing of laundry the neighbours must think I've lost it I think the only remaining problem is the waterproof sheets. They stink. They were new a couple of months ago - good Ikea ones, the same sort as I had for DD1.

So I think an Ikea trip might be on the cards if the bio washing powder doesn't do the job this week. I've also invested in some bed mats to try to keep the laundry levels down a bit.

I am very tempted to go back to nappies at night. I think I might give it another week and see how we get on. The thing is - this happened once before. DD2 was dry 4 nights out of 5 for about a month, then she had an awful run of illness and severe allergic reactions which had her on very strong antihistamines at night, so she wasn't waking. I put her back in nappies as we were going to be travelling a lot and staying with MIL. I only took her out of them again at Easter because we ran out, and she was instantly dry at night - until recently.

Glad you are whittling it down.

Another thought - modern machines are designed to use very little water, and this can be a problem when you are dealing with a large volume of smelly liquid. Our old washing machine did cloth nappies fine, but our new one (much better quality, cleaned everything else well) left the nappies smelly.

What helped was the soaking, though that may shorten the life of your waterproof sheets, and counter-intuitively using the quick wash setting because that uses more water than the main wash. Waterproof sheets also sometimes rinse less well because the water can't get through, and soap buildup is a big cause of smelliness in nappies so that's another possibility. The first line of defence if they get smelly is 'stripping' them, ie washing several times with no detergent. No need to dry between washes.

You could avoid this by using a separate wipe-clean waterproof sheet like PP's shower curtain idea, and an absorbent layer on top, or just go back to nappies! And I've written WAY too much on this subject, sorry.