7 Year Old Never Dry at Night

[Ichangedmynameonce]

When he was potty trained aged 3 it was straightforward, very few accidents.

But now he's just turned 7 and has perhaps had 3 or 4 dry nights ever and it's bothering him, he doesn't want to wear pull ups.

The GP referred us to the continence nurse but he didn't tell me anything new.

This is what we've done

1. ensure he drinks around 1000ml water a day (included in this is one glass squash or very diluted juice)

2. encouraged him to try to hold his wee- he wants to go the moment he feels it, and can easily go every hour or even more

3. last few days at his request he's gone to bed without a pull up. He's probably doing 2 wees a night and doesn't wake up, even in a wet bed!

Couple of other things;

1. I'm sure he has sleep apnoea, his older brother did and had tonsils and adenoids removed very young (recurrent tonsillitis)

2. he seems to have a very twitchy bladder- he cannot hold it even for a few mins without hopping from leg to leg and clutching himself. I tried setting a watch alarm for 7 wees a day but he can't do it, when he needs to go he needs to go.

I've told the continence nurse this and he didn't really give any advice

What can I do to help him? It's really bothering him.

It happened for my DS age 7 - he'd been dry in the daytime since 2yo. It happened naturally at night without me doing anything.

Thanks @LemonCitron it doesn't bother me, I feel like it'll happen naturally. But it's bothering him. I'm also concerned about the sleep apnoea, maybe this is impacting it . The GP and continence nurse both said it could impact but didn't seem concerned.

My DS(9) still wets the bed and its likely genetic as I wet until 13 yrs. Your DS’ body needs to produce the hormone vasopressin for him to become dry at night, although some success can be had with advice from the bedwetting clinic.

Have you looked at the ERIC website? They are a great resource and you can also call them.

The clinic gave us the following advice:

Drink 1.5 litres water daily
No blackcurrant squash or dark coloured drinks as they can irritate the bladder.
No drinks 1.5 hours before bedtime; better to stagger drinks throughout the day rather than towards the end of the day.
At bedtime do teeth & wee, have a story, then try and have a second wee.
Have you tried the alarm that the clinic can lend you?

It was explained, if I remember
correctly, that the bladder is like a muscle and you need to maintain it. During the day drink regularly, hold a wee, go to the toilet etc. It is important to drink the volume of liquid that you are told too because this expands the bladder, then wee and it retracts, it fills up again with more liquid and so the cycle repeats itself. This should mean that at night the bladder shouldn’t want to instantly release when wee starts to fill it, hence less likely to wet at night.

Also, it sounds obvious but ensure that DC are washing their lower body with soap & water in the morning before school to eliminate smell (nurse told us that many people forget about this!).

My 7yo has recently become dry overnight after previously no dry nights. We used a bedwetting alarm and were so surprised how quickly it worked (a few weeks). First week or two were hard going but things seemed to click soon after. We bought ours from Amazon, think it was £30/40

Thank you everyone I am reassured by these comments.

@Bambini83 how did the alarm help things to click? Does your DC now wake unaided to go to the toilet and/ or hold it in all night?

Thank you

Initially she wouldn’t wake at all but the alarm woke us and we would wake her (they advise they sleep in the same room as you for first 2 weeks). By week 2 I would say she started to wake before the alarm sounded I.e before she needed to go. From then we had the odd night completely dry/no waking. It’s been a good couple of months now and for the most part she doesn’t wake or if she does, she wakes and goes to the loo no issue and no accidents. I must admit I was skeptical but it’s worked wonders for us.

Thanks @Bambini83 that's Really helpful. Do you still use it?

Also, any chance you can link to it please? The ones I've looked at are alot more expensive.

Thank you

No problem, no she doesn’t wear it at all now. We stopped after about 6 weeks I think. It’s this one - I think we did get it slightly cheaper than this. Might be worth looking around.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DryEasy-Bedwetting-Control-Selectable-Vibration/dp/B00LX0OV2E/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?crid=2TS79N6SNIF2G&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.S_2nPdTm97qeojM_-phj4U4n-w1vt9vCrfWvi1nRSoO7ax37nVcEh35IUTGKN7G-2N49gv_1OcSyOenLALGiuoiyf_SdnX0ffttGj47Q1qIGVsh33bS4CWHyJfjzbZkwQnoA4nz7xAIbifgvAKsuQgWHl9r8qsMsp4rJxhXD1O6TbwUuTudt9IPvDhz5tqNKxoYvY3JotrbeIX9sCh7Orw.IqmqQNdadIoJ3d69bDeoTKzigMkv05rz5ECO9eTp9d8&dib_tag=se&keywords=bed+wetting+alarm+children&qid=1717093490&sprefix=bed+wetting+alarm%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1

I just used this alarm with my 7 year old daughter after the doctor advised to give it a try. It started taking effect in a week with us. I think she was in bad habits and also a deep sleeper so would previously just sleep through wetting the bed. I feel it must re train their brain. The alarm is loud and also vibrates as soon as any wetness is detected. Would highly recommend giving it a go.

Thanks @Bambini83 that's really helpful.

@Narcos was your experience similar to Bambini83? How long did your DC wear it for?

Thank you

No probs @Ichangedmynameonce good luck!

It’s very very common but one of those things no one discusses. It can be very hard to crack. Our DS was 10, DD was 7 when they stopped.
both had good and bad times particularly around moments of stress. Alarms made no difference.
night time nappies are a must - you can buy men’s washable incontinence briefs that look more like nice underpants than nappies
Make the whole thing as Matter of fact as possible - no shame etc.
good luck!

We used the incontinece nurse, did lots of measuring pee etc
but mine used the drynites
got GP medicine which was meltlets and it took months of 3 weeks taking them, and one week off, to train the body.

and it then clicked, dry as pie and if toilet is needed he gets up. But the medicine was the trick. And it did take a while but all worth it. I was advised against the alarms etc after a long call with the bed wetting team.

Thanks @curious79 and @Bodygi I haven't found the nurse any help at all- he doesn't seem very knowledgeable

It was a few years ago but the charity were fab. I rang ti order the products but they talked me out of it. Progressed it through GP instead and had lots of test and measuring pee samples and changing drinks etc, then got the tablets for night time. Eventually worked after months and months. It was a specialist nurse / department which helped with the tablets as it is about retraining the body. Good luck

Our almost 8yo has never had a dry night either. We're under the continence nurse who is great and dd has just had her desmopressin prescription doubled as the lower dose improved things but not enough for a dry night. Have you done a 3 day in/out bladder chart? The nurse could tell from dd's that it was likely due to a hormone issue rather than sleeping too deeply to recognise the signal to wake up for a wee. She would've recommended an alarm if that was the case.

Thanks @HauntedCosmos

We haven't done the three day chart, I wasn't even aware of it and we've had 2 appointments with the nurse. He's basically told us to monitor what he drinks (to ensure enough) , consider using an alarm to go 5 to 7 times a day (I haven't done this as he goes so much more and can't seem to hold it) and then if none of this works, to consider medication.

He didn't give me any more info on the medication.

When I go back to the nurse in June, should I suggest monitoring it over 3 days? Thank you