DS 9 years still wets bed sometimes--- has dyspraxia

[KangaMummy]

DS 9 years old wets the bed sometimes. He really drenches himself, duvet, sheet etc. Then wakes up.

He has recently been diagnosed with dyspraxia.

Approx every 3 months it happens and then again a few nights later. Then another long break.

There does not seem to be any pattern.

We do have these ideas:

a) following him being exhausted.

b) Or the last time was a few days before starting Class 5. So could be stress this time.

c) Having fizzy drinks or squash after/at tea which is very rare.

The problem is that next summer the school go away for a week and sleep in a dormitory and I don't want him to go with this still happening as any or all of the above reasons could happen there.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what to do please?

He was in night-time nappies/pull ups a long time after his friends.
He was very prem. 27 weeks.

If he is usually dry then the pills you can get for long-term wetters won't help, kangamummy.

You mentioned fizzy drinks, might he have had coke, that is supposed to be a trigger? And might he have stayed up later than normal because there was a party or something, hence the coke?

It's hard to know what you can do really. Sleeping patterns go out the window on school trips anyway (DS2 went in June and he claims they didn't sleep at all the first night!) and I have read that accidents are less likely to happen away from home because the surroundings are different...

There is a very large size of Dry-Nites...might he be able to put one of those on inside his sleeping bag, just before he goes to sleep, and take it off the same way in the morning, and smuggle it out later? (You could probably rope in a teacher to help, I'm sure they will be understanding.)

Thanks JanH

I had thought of the dry-nites but am sure he would be too shy/ashamed to be wearing them, ie like a nappy.

I didn't know about tablets. Where are they from? GP? How do they work? Any side effects?

Would it work if he just took them a few days before the trip and then while he was there?

He is so embaressed about it.

my dd is 10, has autism plus possible other stuff going on too, she was dry at night from age 6 until 8 then had a urine infection and started to wet, so maybe worth checking the urine, once dd's infection went she contined to wet but not sure if it is now a little routine she has got, there are medicines kids can have that will work if they have previosly been dry, i know some kids that this has worked for sadly it didnt work for my dd, i'd go to the dr's and take a sample.

The tablets that I know about (desmopressin) work for children who are not dry at all yet, because they don't produce the hormone (vasopressin) which closes down kidney function overnight and reduces urine production. As your DS is generally dry, so is presumably producing the hormone naturally, I'm not sure he should have them, and I don't know if there is something else he could have, but it would certainly be worth seeing your GP.

Nobody would need to know about the Drynites if he could put them on and off inside his sleeping bag/bed. And although I can see he would be embarrassed for a teacher to know, statistically there will be probably 2 or 3 in the same boat in his class, maybe more. (Can never remember exactly how it goes but it's always more than you'd think because people don't talk about it. I'll try to find the numbers later.)

Anyway talk to your GP or HV first and see what they suggest.

One of children had this for a while. I have to agree that he should take some drynites just incase. He would be mortified if he wet himself there. Caffiene is certainly a trigger as well as complete exhaustion.

Thanks onlyjoking we never thought of infection. He is not ill with it ie temp or tummy ache.

It is just that it happens randomly.

Sometimes we can think of a reason and other times it is baffleing and makes no sense.

It has happened since he stopped being in nappies/pull ups.

I think we will ask GP about tablets as well.

We don't find it too much of a problem just at home. He has a absorbent pad thing that goes under top sheet. He does drench it and everything else so he doesn't stop after a dribble. Which is why we think he must be in such a deep sleep.

If it happened several times a week then it would be far worse. We are just worried about the school trip.

Looking for statistics (it's approx 2 out of 30 at age 10) I found this site , kanga. These are more expensive than Drynites but look like normal pants...?

sorry I was typing my last reply so crossed.

JanH I think may be having read your last post that we should not have the tablets.

I am thinking again about dry nites do you know how thick they are ie whether you can see them under pjs?

Drynites website - I wonder if you could get them to send you a sample? The sides are thin, there is a thick bit in the middle front to back, they really don't show under pyjamas IME, but there is a tendency to rustle a bit.

The cloth ones might be better (but at that price and for a small amount of use they would be v expensive).

Thanks Janh and fiorocious,

I looked at the website very interesting I never realised it was so common for boys of 9 years.

We will also ask the head what her opinion is from past trips.

I would pay whatever just to make him more comfortable. rustling I feel may be hard for him to cope with, whereas ones like pants would be better.

The only thing is would 100ml be absorbent enough? I mean he really soaks everything.

I thought that, but you can get an extra insert (350ml) for the pants for older boys here , you might be able to put them inside the smaller ones? (Although it says they need a "pouch".)

Oh, this page has boxers with a 175ml integral pad - I wonder if that would be enough?

Those boxers look really good thank you so much. I think he could wear them under his pjs no problem. I think it would be much better for his confidence.

175ml may also be enough we can try and see. If not we will go down the pad route.

We just got him some boxers to wear at night instead of long pj trousers in the hot weather.

thanks so much for all your help.