Bedwetting - will it ever end? Positive stories please. (ds 6.5 and nowhere near dry)

[ketchupkisses]

My ds is going back into nappies again tonight after 3 nights of accidents. To be honest its clear he is nowhere near ready. We've tried without on countless occassions and the usual pattern is a couple of dry nights followed by about 50% success for a week followed by accidents every night. We make sure he drinks lots of water during the day but none after 6pm. We lift him at around 11pm and again at 7am by which time he's usually already wet.

The thing is he doesn't actually mind being in nappies. In fact he prefers it.

I have no doubt that he's just not ready. ds2 is now completely dry at night at just over 3 (no lifting) which reinforces that it is not behavioural.

So, does anyone have any positive stories of late bedwetters? I've read about the hormone thing on eric.org. When it does kick in is it gradual or sudden? Does the child suddenly become aware and ask to ditch the nappies or do they gradually get to a point where we can get him through the night by lifting? At what age might this go on until? And why, oh why, are big nappies so bl'min expensive?

It's a hormone thing, if they don't produce enough of it the wee doesn't concentrate enough for them not to wet overnight. Someone on MN posted that her dd became completely dry one night think she was either 8 or 9.

My dd is not reliably dry at 6.5 it upsets her but she just sleeps so deeply, as soon as she is the tiniest bit unwell she wets.

Mine is 5.5 and we removed nappies about 5 months ago.
We were in the same boat....30% time dry 70% time wet for the first 4 months.

BUT we have persevered.
He is now about 70% dry and 30% wet.

I bought 2 of those matress covers that are like fitted sheets and terry toweling with the rubber underside.
Got them from ebay about £6 each i think they were, they are great.

No drinks after 6.30, wee before bed, liftuing at 11ish..blah blah blah,
but we make no fuss at all whatsoever if he wets, he gets up changes his pjs and comes in with us.

However, huge fuss and praise for a dry night.

My DS 6 years 9 months still wets. He's in pyjama pants at moment (although these are only just a fit).

Sorry not positive but at least you're not alone.

We've tried night lifting but we just can't wake him up to go to the loo once he's asleep. Also tried those alarms, even this didn't wake him up. Tried letting him and and not letting him drink before bed - neither worked.

Don't know when he will stop bedwetting, hope it's soon.

We have put DS2 back in nighttime nappies - he is 5.3yrs. He was wetting more than not. He was actually happy about it as we had all got fed up of the night time disturbances and he didn't like being wet.

I don't think I will be trying lifting though - it doesn't teach them to wake themselves up when they want a wee and they have to be wide awake and aware of what they are doing or else surely weeing on the loo would be no different from weeing in the bed as they would be too sleepy to control it either way. And if they are wide awake, I would be worried they didn't go back to sleep quickly. Just my opinion although I do have a friend who lifted her DD and she thinks it didn't really work. Lifting for months at a time is not teaching the child anything because if it was teachable it would be learnt more quickly. I suppose it does save you the cost of a nappy and I agree big nappies are horribly expensive.

It is a hormonal thing and I think you just have to wait. It might be worth a trip to the doctors for a child who is approaching 7 yrs old though.

Just as another experience to add to the mix, my DS1 was dry at night from 4.5 but previous to that he woke up every single morning sopping wet. Then one day we left his nappy off by accident and he was completely dry in the morning. We agree that he would leave his nappy off the next night to see what happened and he was dry again. In fact he has never wet the bed but he also never had a dry nappy or asked to leave his nappy off so I don't really know what signs you can be looking for. Waiting maybe your only option if a physical problem has been ruled out.

Hi, He sounds like most of our sons.
We have 4 bouys and all still bedwet.oldest is 12,the little guy is 5 yrs old. iam a cloth nappy mom, so all are in cloth napps and plastic pants.
e-mail me if you wish.
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Cheers,Lois

Hi, My DD1 was not dry at night until she was 7. She was happy to have nighttime nappies and didn't show any interest in not wearing them. Her nappies were soaking in the morning. The breakthrough for us was buying a bedwetting alarm after the doctor suggested it before starting on a medical route. I was very sceptical about it, but its the best money we ever spent. She is now dry all the time and doesn't have to get up in the night to wee. It took around 1.5 weeks for her to become dry and we stopped using the alarm after around 1 month.

The alarm we bought was bedwettingalarm.co.uk/

The way it works is as soon as the child lets out a drop of wee the alarm goes off and they have to get out of bed to switch the alarm off and change their pants. Over a few days they become tuned into when they need to wee and will wake up themselves or in my daughters case she sleeps through and just wees in the morning when she gets up. She dooes have drinks at night and has water by her bed but still is dry all night.

Hope this helps.

loiscampbell, out of interest, where do you get terry nappies and plastic pants large enough for a 12 year old? My nearly 5 yr old DS is still in night nappies and a very heavy wetter. It's sometimes quite a struggle to pin a boosted terry on him. I have a friend who's 7 yr old DD is also still in night nappies and she has the same problem.

DD 8 1/2 and almost there (once/twice a week) we were advised no nappies as they then arent aware. She has been on meds (desmomelts) for a while and is weaning off them now. Have you spoken to the school nurse? They will refer to enuresis clinic.

Get a referral to the eneuresis clinic. I think you need to be around 7 or 8 yrs old before they will see you at the clinic.

My DS and his friend were both treated successfully through this method.

My DS's friend's problem was hormonal, and he gets a tablet to take which helps him.

For my DS it wasn't hormonal, but they were able to treat it with an alarm - all really quickly.