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Parenting

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Original poster

DD deliberately wetting the bed - time to go cold turkey?

43 replies

MadMonkeys · 06/12/2014 10:18

DD1 is 5. I have suspected for a while that she is ready to be dry at night. I know that night dryness is controlled by the production of specific hormones and that there is nothing a child can do to be dry until these hormones start to be produced. However, I am 99% certain DD1 is dry for the majority of the night, then wakes and has a wee at about 6am each morning. I think she just doesn't want to go to the bathroom, so she wee's in her pyjama pants, which sometimes overflow. I suspect this because the accidents often happen on the floor rather than in her bed, so I think she gets up, starts to play then does a wee. She has a nightlight on the landing, and a torch, and knows she can turn on the lights to go to the bathroom, and she knows we are more than happy to go to the bathroom with her if she doesn't want to go on her own.

We have been encouraging her to go to the bathroom when she wakes up but she hardly ever does. She did a couple of mornings ago, at 6am, and bingo, her pyjama pants were bone dry. cue lots of praise from us etc. So I'm wondering if now is the time to take the bull by the horns and put her to bed without pyjama pants and see what happens... Any thoughts?

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TheFriar · 07/12/2014 19:04

Sorry arc was supposed to be a dc...,

Good luck OP. If she is thinking 'oh no I'll have to get up' then you are probably in a very good place.

SolitudeSometimesIs · 07/12/2014 19:28

Have you tried lifting your daughter just before you go to bed. We do this with ds1 (who's 3 and a half) and it's been brilliant, he's had 2 accidents in 6 months and they were due to drinking loads before he went to bed. We just lift him out of bed, plonk him on the toilet and he does a wee if he needs to and then we snuggle him back in to bed.

I think pull ups make kids too comfy, Ds's used to be like a bloody football in the morning because he'd do his first wee of the day in it, now he's fine.

Good luck tonight!

FamiliesShareGerms · 07/12/2014 19:40

Stock up on Ikea waterproof sheets, then layer them with bed sheets so that you can remove them and still leave a set on the bed. Then ditch the pull ups

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Original poster

MadMonkeys · 07/12/2014 20:01

Yep, I've got layers of sheets on the bed... Just checked and she is dry so far. I'm sure she is producing the hormones, will just have to see what happens early in the morning.

OP posts:

oobedobe · 07/12/2014 20:56

DD was in night pullups until 5 1/2 - every 3/4 months I would try a week with out and see how we got on. At 5 1/2 it finally clicked and now she takes herself to the loo at night or in the morning. I think if I had not tried cold turkey she would still be in them. Obviously this won't work for every child , but worth a try...

TheFriar · 08/12/2014 10:40

Hi OP. How did the night go?

Original poster

MadMonkeys · 08/12/2014 10:50

Wet at about 5 am. Then she went to the loo and did a massive wee. I think we will carry on without pull ups for a few nights and see if we have any dry nights. X

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Rhinosaurus · 08/12/2014 17:45

TheFriar have you tried asking for a referral to the school nurse for support with your DC?

I am a school nurse and I have supported parents to get hundreds of children dry. We have enuresis clinics which are always fully booked. Certainly if I saw a child who was 10 I would be accelerating them through the pathways to get them dry before secondary school. Is your DC motivated to get dry?

TheFriar · 08/12/2014 20:54

Well he has never complained about it and our message has very much being that it will happen when it will.

Tbh he has never had a dry night, his nappy us always wet through, and can actually leak from being too full. By experience, he won't wake up anyway. Or rather will when he getting cold. He then get changed, pits a towel over his bed sheet and goes back to sleep.

The NICE guidelines were really interesting. We will try and increase his intake if water a dc then I'm considering going to see the GP about it. But I have to say I'm bit looking forward to an alarm system. It will mean he won't get good sleep. I won't either and his bed is a high bed so changing bed sheets is a nightmare...
But .... Maybe it's time to be a bit lire proactive.

TheFriar · 08/12/2014 20:56

mad hope this night will go well too!

Rhinosaurus · 08/12/2014 21:03

You could ask your GP for a trial of Desmopressin as it sounds like he is not releasing vasopressin due to the amount of urine.

TheFriar · 08/12/2014 21:12

I know. That's why I've been waiting so far.
But there is the issue that it will make him uncomfortable at some point (eg school trip for 3 days). I need to weight that out against the fact I'm not keen on hormones for children so young.

Thanks for the advice btw :) It's always nice to hear from the 'professionals'

Rhinosaurus · 08/12/2014 21:32

I know a lot of parents are reluctant to give their children medication, but if the issue is a lack of vasopressin, desmo would work instantly. It is given in a melt which dissolves under the tongue in a second. Side effects can be a headache in the first few days, which resolves.

If it doesn't work, that is good too as it rules out the hormones causing the wetting.

Original poster

MadMonkeys · 09/12/2014 07:27

Last night dd was dry! She called me to go to the bathroom with her at about midnight, then went to the loo again when she woke this morning. I'm quite surprised because she drank loads after school yesterday.

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TheFriar · 09/12/2014 07:37

Yay! Fantastic news :)

cuppateaandtoast · 09/12/2014 08:02

Sorry to hijack thread but sounds like there are some knoqledgeable people on here. I was been trying to get my 5 yo ds out of pull ups. We go through phases of not wearing them for a few weeks but always end up with a wet bed. Its a big wee about an hour after going to sleep. Does that mean he isnt producing the hormone yet?
I know part og it is laziness fot him. Cos i discovered one nighy that he had pull up on ready to go to sleep. Got up to play in his room before actually going to sleep and had wee'd in it just cos he was too lazy to go next door to toilet! So now we put pull up on after he goes to sleep!

Rhinosaurus · 09/12/2014 17:22

That's great news OP.

If a child is not producing the hormones - vasopressin, they will not have any dry nights at all - they will be wet every single night, with a large amount of urine, usually within 4 hours of bedtimes.

If your child is dry some nights then they are producing vasopressin.

Original poster

MadMonkeys · 11/12/2014 16:27

The last two nights have been substantially dry - both nights she did a tiny bit of a wee in her pj's but shouted for me and did the rest in the loo. I'm so glad i went cold turkey! She is very pleased about it :) thanks for your advice everyone. X

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