ds just turned 7 still not dry at night, should I worry?

[dandycandyjellybean]

A couple of times a week he has a dry pull up, but that's it. He is a very heavy sleeper, as was I, and I had problems with wetting the bed until I was 10 or 11 and I felt very ashamed and anxious. He is not at all bothered about it, not into sleepovers, etc, and I don't want to give him a complex. To be honest I wasn't bothered until yesterday when sil was suitably horrified and said he should have that 'brain chemical' by now, and he should be able to hold it until morning if he's 7. She thinks I should take him to the Doc. Mil and dh are both adamant that it's fine and will work itself out...now I don't know what to think!

Hello, I don't have an answer for you I'm afraid, but was hoping instead to ask a question (either way, gives your thread a bump for you ). . . What nappies/pull ups do you use and have you ever had problems with leaking/your son waking up wet in the morning?

My 3 1/2 year old DS is not dry a night and shows no signs of being completely dry - similar to your DS we get a couple of times dry a week. But, on and off he waking up absolutely soaked - wet bed sheets, the lot. I restrict what he drinks before bedtime, but still . . . We currently use Tesco pull ups (the extra large ones) as he is a big 3 1/2 year old, looks more like 5 tbh.

Well its good that he doesnt feel ashamed. And don't project your old feelings on to him. I took DS to the speciaist about it aged 10 but it seems to be sorting itself out, although still not entirely. No treatment was recommended.

my DS1 was about 7 before he was dry at night. I was surprised how many others were in the same situation when I muttered about it in the playground. Try not to worry. My theory was "They wouldn't make pull ups in age 8+ just for my son would they?" so loads of others must have been in the same situation.

Thanks folks...BlueSky I found from about that age that I couldn't get away with generic pull ups anymore and use either pampers or huggies pj pants or night time pants. Did used to have leaks before but never do now, hth.

Thanks sexbomb, will order in some better nappies I think! We're off to London at the weekend and have been a little concerned that we'll be ringing down for fresh bed sheets and laundry requirements daily.

Hi, sorry didn't get chance to reply yesterday but just wanted to share our experience as it can be quite a lonely, undisclosed subject.
My ds is 8 soon, was never dry at night. No issues during day and never had any infections or problems in that region. Just absolutely soaked every night. We used Huggies and pampers underjams/ night pants depending which were on special offer, as they very often are in Asda etc if you can shop around.
Ds wasn't producing the desmoppressin hormone that concentrates the urine. It is possible to get a synthetic hormone to mimic this but it is only a short term fix and doesn't help train the body or have an ongoing effect once use is stopped.
We took ds to the GP a year ago, just after his 7th birthday. After ruling out infection and any emotional upheaval he was referred to the local hospital peadiatrics.
The appointment in May was pretty straightforward and after taking a history and ruling out any physical problems ds was referred to the enuresis clinic.
That appointment was in August, so it is a pretty long process, which indicates the scale of the problem in young children as there is such a demand for the service.
Anyway, ds saw a very nice nurse specialist who explained a lot of things to my ds in easy to follow terms and asked what we were looking for as treatment/outcome options.
We were given the choice of an alarm to use to wake son as he started to wee.
I really wasn't convinced how this would work long term but apparently it can be really successful. It didn't seem overly intrusive, however we wanted to go away and try the other tips she had suggested, keep a record etc and seemed a bit afraid of the alarm.
We we encouraged to use sticker charts which surprised me as I had felt that would make an issue of it but she said yes, for all positives reward with stickers.
A week before our next appointment a month after the first we had to ditch the night pants and record what happened.
We had 5 dry nights out of 6! Ds was ecstatic.
Ds was then gutted that he didn't get to have an alarm after all and we then had loads of wet nights after the 2nd appointment.
This eventually improved and he has had 3 weeks of being dry.
I don't know what actually has worked, whether it is an age thing or simply getting rid of night pants but ds is really chuffed and I am very relieved.
We use the Huggies bedmats and ds just wears underpants.
Sorry it is long winded but hope it helps to know how common it is. Family history is a strong factor as well.
The specialist nurse was brilliant with ds. She reassured him and us.
She did say it is better to start looking into it sooner rather than later though as it may be harder to tackle if child is a lot older.
I think 7 is the usual age to start addressing it.

Good luck.

Ds had never had a dry night when he was seven so he was referred to the enuresis clinic by our GP. There was a long wait for an appointment so Ds was 8.4 before he was seen. They suggested we tried bladder training first which basically meant making sure he drunk 200.ml of drink seven times a day at regular intervals, with no drinks for an hour before bed, he also had to make sure he went for a wee regularly and did wee, teeth, wee before bed. The nurse said for the majority of children this worked by stretching the bladder so it could hold more over night. We did this for three months but made no Difference, Ds was still wet every night. The next appointment they gave us an alarm to try and within two weeks he was completely dry, we stopped using the alarm at easter this year and he has never had a wet night since. I would probably try and get a referral soon as the wait round here was nearly a year, hopefully your Ds will be dry before he needs the appointment but if not at least he's on the list.