11 year old still bedwetting anyone ells in the same boat

[Alanna88]

Ds1 is 11.5 and has never really been dry at night. Not sure what to do. I have tried waking him but he still ends up wet. I had an alarm but he would just sleep threw it. He wares huggies drynites nappies and they are full each morning. His two siblings age 8 and 5 still ware night nappies so he doesn't feel too bad about it, but he does find sleepovers a mission to get threw with his nappy. One thing I have noticed is on the weekends they are more wet than normal, and they seem warm. This is possibly because he lies in and has his morning wee in his pull up. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks x

Hi Alanna. He has enueresis (sp). It is much more common than people think and he WILL grow out of it. It often runs in families, my brothers had it and my ds, and it is simply a physical condition.

It will pass.

I wet the bed until I was about 12. There was nothing I could do about it. I was never aware I had done it until I woke up.

It will pass!

We had success with this:

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My eldest got dry himself at around 7/8 but my younger son got to almost 9 with no sign of a dry night and he was wanting to go on camps etc with Cubs. We had a couple of fails and retrys, but essentially he was off the alarm after about a month.

I gave the alarm to another MNetter for her daughter who was a bit older and I think she had success too.

My son has actually regressed a bit recently (now 12) but i think thats more to do with puberty and high school etc so I am sure he will get back to completely dry again without needing an alarm etc.

You can read a lot more, and get support on the ERIC website

homeopathy, i was sceptical at first but my then 12 yo dd was wetting the bed every night and we had tried everything. went the the homeopath lady, answered some questions (took about 30 mins). she gave 2 pills and dd took one that night and one the next morning. she is now 14 yo and hasn't wetted the bed since

My friend's son who is 12 is still wearing drynites. His friends have grown up knowing this and accept he wears one for sleepovers, but it his Mum is concerned it will get to the stage where they make the fun out of him. His Mum has tried cutting back on drinks in the evening, waking him and nothing has helped. She has recently taken him to the doctor who and he is being referred to the hospital for checks and support.

I can second the ERIC website, ds1 is only just dry at night at 10.

As we have residential school trips where they stay overnight from year 3, we went to the GP when Ds was 7, they prescribed Desmopressin which mimics the hormone vasopressin.

As this worked we knew that Ds didn't produce the hormone that suppresses urine production at night. This means the bladder fills slowly and is therefore not full because when it is full, it signals the brain to empty it.

We only used the drug route for school trips and holidays so that he didn't wet a hotel bed. At all other times we just dealt with the wet bedding, and we have always had waterproof mattress protectors on every bed ever since my waters broke with no warning whilst I was in bed

Don't cut back on liquids in the day, you are meant to make them drink a normal amount, more on that on the ERIC website.

We did eventually try the alarm route which worked well but Ds would wake up near hysterical; frightened out of his mind with the noise and/or vibration but it worked.

He very rarely wets the bed now. Ds2 has been dry since 2 years old.

My suggestion is to go to the doctor and get referred to the eneuresis clinic. Desmopressin worked brilliantly for my son.

My ds1 is on that Desmopressin stuff.
He's 8.

We have to make sure he takes it by 4.30pm or it doesn't work.

I put those drynites pads on his bed. One under his sheet and another on top of the sheet. That way he is able to rip off the top sheet, get fresh pyjamas and get back to sleep quickly.

This is far more common think you would think but nobody really talks about it at the school gate.

Thanks for all the replies, I think I'm going to have to take him to the doctors, he keeps saying he doesn't want to because he is embarrassing but its clear that he isn't just going to grow out of it, the nappy pants are getting heavier in the mornings. Maybe desmopressin might be best, I have always been cautious about drugs but I can't see anything ells. He can't be in drynites forever, I know its very common and the nappies go up to age 15, but its still depressing to think he has never even been dry enough to not have a nappy or pull up. I hop3 my other 2 aren't sill wet at this age.

My dd age 9.5 takes desmopressin. Its brilliant, shes been on it since 7 (we take breaks during sch hols to try without). It makes it possible for her to go to sleepovers etc without worrying and a full nights sleep every night for her has made a huge diff to her.

I went through the school nurse as the gp couldnt do anything for her.

Definitely go to the doctors. We have just been referred to the eneuresis clinic for DD2, who is 8.5 We had a consultation with a lovely nurse, who was very matter of fact and reassuring with DD2, explained the biology to her, asked loads of questions about her sleeping, drinking, eating patterns etc and gave us an action plan. It wasn't embarrassing at all, once we'd taken the plunge and it felt good to have someone supporting use, and a list of things to try out.

We've now stopped DS1 taking that drug. He was waking up with severe itching and freezing cold fingers. He was distressed in the night. I would rather he wet the bed!

My son is nearly 8 and has been taking Desmopressin at its max dose without any positive results. He wets the bed every night and I feel his self esteem slipping :-(
He is a lovely, happy boy who loves school and is full of life. I really don't want this problem to start carving into his personality. How do your children react?

Venslou, my ds is the same.

I try to let him take charge with a bedwetting pad under and over the sheet.

When he wets the bed, he strips off the top pad, changes pyjamas and hops back into bed. Managing it himself seems to help him a bit.

Please take him to the doctors and get a referral, we did this with my son he is now on medication and a much happier child. I was really cross at myself for not going sooner.

The fantastic nurse we saw was so helpful and mater of fact that he was immediately at ease. She scanned his bladder, did a flow test. We started off with desmopressin, which made a small difference, but did not stop the bed wetting, or cure his urgent need to wee, so he also has a medication that has lessened his urge to wee. Hurrah now dry at night, less dashing to the loo, dry pjs etc.
The difference in not having to wash sheets and pjs is also brilliant.

Good luck.

I might just try that approach Winkywinkola (great name by the way!) At the moment he wakes me up and we wipe him down with a baby wipe and change the bed together but your routine seems better.

Well I felt sorry for him apologising to me each night. So now I leave wipes and fresh pyjamas out for him. But he knows he can wake me if needs be.

My 10 year old DD has been on Desmopressin for a year now with no side effects-it's brilliant and has given her the confidence to go on sleepovers and cub camps! She has regular appointments at the continence clinic who are fantastic-the fact there was a waiting list at first shows what a common problem this is!!!! Good luck!!

lalamumto3 what is the other medication your son is taking?

Hi, he has Oxybutynin 5mg every morning, this has desensitised his bladder. He was basically going to the toilet for a wee about 12 times a day, his bladder could only hold about 100ml. We started with the Desmopresin which concentrates the wee at night, but he still wet the bed, but less so. The Oxybutynin was like a magic switch as he now drinks more and can hold a larger volume of wee. This has meant that he can hold more at night as well.
He does wake up with a dry mouth in the morning, but he is fine with that.

I was very impressed with our Eurenthis Clinic, they were fantastic, they checked everything, bladder scan, wee flow and volume and they monitor him very well.

We tried the alarm from ERIC but it just meant that he was getting a terrible nights sleep as his bladder was too small to hold all his wee.
It is very important to make sure that he drinks a lot in the day and he also has nothing to drink for an hour before the desmopresin, which should be taken an hour before he goes to bed.

He is far happier, he really did not like wetting the bed, but as his bladder was so small he just could not hold enough wee and as it was irritable, he used to be going all the time.

Hope that helps

Yes, I am in the same boat with my 12 year old ds1. He wars the xl drynites as well and they are soaked every morning. We monitor the amount of caffien he drinks ext and wake him up at midnight to use the toilet (and to change his pull up if its wet) but he still has full pull ups by the morning. He did take Desmopressin but didn't react well with him (heaeakes ext) and was effecting his school work so no longer takes it. His younger sister (9) has been dry since she was 3 and often teases him about warring nappies. Ds2 (6) and Ds3(3) are also not dry and have night nappies.

My son wet the bed virtually every night until he was nearly 12. We tried visiting the specialist nurse who gave us an alarm. He proceeded to sleep through it whilst it woke up everyone else!

I know it's not any consolation to you but he he just suddenly stopped doing it.

Hope the same thing happens with your son.

My DS, 12, still wets the bed every night. We are being seen by a good enuresis clinic in a reputable children's ward. We started with Desmo and other drugs, but these had minimal effects and horrid side effects. So, haveing done all the drug routes we are now using a TENS machine to help develop nerve routes near the kidneys. No success really with this either. The clinic is very supportive of complementary medicines; they say they have had cases where they have made no headway but a complementart medicine has worked -they don't know why or how.

We are currently trying homeopathy, to no avail. DH wet the bed until 15, I guess DS is headed the same way.

We use pull up pants (the DryNites, up to age 15). But Ds is big already, so not sure if he is going to grow out of these.

Clinic says nocturnal enuresis is usually one of three factors: small bladder; deep sleeper; inadequate hormone secretion to prevent urine production at night. Poor DS has all three. Plus there are strong family links on both sides of the family. Clinic also told us that not all NU spontaneously resolves itself.

I read on a link here that a child had been 'cured' by homeopathy after just two pills. I so hoped that would work for us, but it hasn't so far. Homeopath is again highly reputable and rated. But nothing has changed. I am frustrated (and quietly angry, if I am honest, because it's so expensive and has made no effect at all, but I will continue to give it a go). I am very positive about it to DS, saying that it may work, but the homeopath is already suggesting we try acupuncture and osteocraneopathy, as though we are simply made of money.

So it continues.