Talk to me about 7yo's not even remotely dry at night

[phdlife]

Ds will be 7 next month and is not dry at night. He sleeps the first couple of hours without a nappy and that's been good for a couple of months now, but when I lift him at my bedtime he wees gallons. At least I know it's not a 'holding' problem (he also does giant wees during the day).

Think it's a waking problem. He sleeps like the dead, always has, though not a particularly active child. 12m ago he started sleepwalking after a bad reaction to redipred and GP says that indicates depth of sleep. I'd say she's right because although I talk to him when I lift him and make him walk down to toilet, he is manifestly not even the littlest bit awake and never has any memory of this happening. His morning nappies seem to hold several lbs' worth of wee, which suggests to me we might still be waiting for that magic hormone to kick in?

Any suggestions??

(As an aside, a slightly kooky gp I once saw re ds said that the trouble we have getting him to sleep, then heavy sleep, suggested food sensitivity issues - any experience/opinions?)

As a second aside, dd (5 next month) is in the same boat - although she does not sleep heavily - because she point-blank refuses to even consider the notion, i think for her it is more of an "I never ever want to grow up" issue (she's been explicit about that for over a year now).

Tia

My dd is almost eight and exactly the same. Hope someone out there can help?!

Have you tried an enuresis alarm? Also contact the Enuresis resource and Information centre, who will be able to help you.

www.eric.org.uk

DS1 is 7 and nowhere near either. He sleeps incredibly soundly. I've heard that there's some kind of hormone that has to kick in before they get the signal in the night and for some children it's (much) later than for others. I hope that's true! Anyway, I trot it out whenever my mum gets sniffy about it.

Another 7 year old DS here who's never been dry at night. He too sleeps like the dead. His three siblings were all dry within a few months of training so I know I'm not doing anything drastically wrong but I have no idea how to help him. Watching this thread with interest.

It does sound like lack of hormone

I'd go to GP and ask for referral to enuresis clinic

He may well be a candidate for Desmopressin (artificial version of hormone) which mimics its action (to stop wee at night)

Dd had it, used it for about a year or so until hormone kicked in naturally

Good luck

Ummm..... my DD was 12 and this was still her problem.

The advice is not to lift them. (I still did with DD until I realised it made no difference.

We tried all sorts at home, inc the alarms that sound when she wet, they woke the whole house and probably most of the street) but not her - she slept through.

When she was 7 we went to the GP, they said it was too early to worry, come back when she's older.

When she was 9 we went again and they gave us a referral to an eneurysis clinic.

They said no dark drinks, no acidic drinks, no milk (salty, apparently) and no drinks after half 6. DD wasn't falling asleep til nearly ten, so we move this til no drinks after half 7 - 8.

We had a star chart to fill in. We made no fuss about her sheets - in fact when she was still having problems at 11 and 12 (and just very occasionally now she is 13) she will just strip the bed herself and put the sheets in the bath. She'll even add some bio liquid and fill the bath with water to give them a pre-soak. :)

No one thing 'fixed' it. She just got better at having a good routine and got better at being able to hold it all night.

Oh yes, she tried desmopressin. It did very little for her unfortunately, long term. But it was a good safety net when it was time for residential school trips.

Make sure they are drinking lots of clear drinks during hand day (6-8 cups)

Nothing an hr before bed though

Mantra: WEE - TEETH - WEE

No 'lifting', if you do toilet them af night, they MUST be awake

x-post with invicta. I see the stuff about the hormone is on that eric site and does sound like DS1. Have always used pull-ups at night as I don't want to deal with the washing. Maybe should try without them though...

Also agree with no lifting. Whilst the hormone info is true, if they are lifted it kind of defeats the object (imo) of them "training" themselves to get up and go to the loo.

My DS is 7 in August and has (fingers crossed) been dry the last two weeks. I've never lifted him, changed umpteen sheets and if I didn't feel he was ready, I put him back in night time Stay Dry pants as it was too stressful for all of us.

Good luck

Don't worry to much. I know somebody who had the same problem and got one of those alarms people are talking about. It worked fine. Hope you get it sorted out.

Two out of four of my dcs were like this. It sorted itself with time, although ds took until age 11 to be reliably dry. It seems to run in the family, we had cousins and second cousins with the same problem.

My 9 year old DS has only been out of night nappies for about a month. We too were waiting of the magic hormone as the morning nappies were very heavy. He just gradually stopped over the cores of about a month. Still has occasional accidents but doesn't need the nappies any more.

DD age 7 however is still drenching her nappies. I have tried lifting her but she to sleeps through anything. She pees so much that I have to put a new nappy on her at about 11 because she has filled up the first one. She starts wetting almost as soon as she falls asleep, in the car she once fell asleep and in about 20mins her car seat was damp.

DS2 is 5, still in nappies at night but I'm not worrying yet. He also has an "I don't want to grow up" problem, as he doesn't cares that he wears them. He will keep it on in the mornings until I take it of and will walk around the house in just the nappy. His nappies are the most dry in the morning, however if I don't take it of quick enough he will wee in it.

I can't really suggest anything other than to wait. I can assure you that the dry nights will come.
X

it's Good to know how common this is, my 6 year old has never had a dry night.
Have you tried contacting ERIC www.eric.org.uk/?

I'm in Oz so ERIC probably not for me though thanks for that link - can prob do some reading there.

We only lift because like SuperHands' dd, we were going through 2 nappies a night. (iirc, DryNights and the other one both broke ds's butt out in dry, scaly, spotty skin)

oops gtg