Wetting the Bed at Night - Greenacres,WA

Cloth waterproof pants for over night or Good Nites makes a pull-up type pant that looks like shorts. Mother of Eden makes something called Trickle-free Trainers. One Step Ahead makes Dri Nights Bedwetter Pants. Google those for more info...

I would just explain to your son gently that every kid's body is different and he will stay dry all night someday, but since he's not there yet, you have some special big-kid pants he can wear at night that will keep his bed clean. Don't call them diapers or pull-ups and it should be fine.:)

If you want to use a pull up but don't want to go back to pull ups have you thought about a cloth training diaper? They have ones that look like real underwear but will absorb up to a cup of liquid. It is worth looking into. I also don't think it would be a big deal to put him back in pull ups. If you are really not sure, I say present the options to him and see what he thinks.

hi,
every kid is different.. but this is our experience.. we limit her liquids an hour and half before bed.. she is 6 years old.. and wears the goodnite pull ups the only ones that really worked for us.. we tried waking her up in the middle of the night.. she is such a heavy sleep.. it was a disaster for us.. so we asked our dr. for advice.. she said in a nut shell.. some kids are heavy sleeper.. don't worry about it now.. it may gentic and my husband was a bed wetter.. she said no alarms for bedwetters at this age.. his bladder may not be capable of this yet.. so if i were you put him back in the pull up.. and since you tried with no pull up it sounds like he isn't ready.. just wanted to let you know you are not alone on this issue.. it is not as easy as some people think... my mother had a whole different idea than our dr. and i am glad i listend to our dr.
Lenc

He is old enough to talk to him about it. Does he feel comfortable going into big boy pull ups, or would he rather wet the bed? Just talk to him.

My nephew (adopted), who is 6 years old still wears pull-ups at night and my "almost" niece is also 6 years old and still unpredictably wets the bed at night. They are not genetically related but both still wet the bed at night.

My mother had to get me up with the help of my sister through the age of 7. I never remembered my Mom getting me up to take me to the bathroom and I don't think the bed wetting ended until I was almost 8 years old. I only knew that my Mom and sister were taking me to the bathroom in the middle of the night because my sister (4 years older) would tell me. I never recall being given a hint that I should have been embarrassed or feel bad about myself. At some point between 7 and 8 years old, my brain kicked in and made the connection.

If your son can accept that he is normal and a big boy whether or not his brain makes the connection and wakes him up, then I'd recommend going back to pull-ups. So, that you can ease your burden. If not, I don't have a good suggestion...pull-ups didn't exist when I was a kid and my Mom had to do alot of laundry and buy a new mattress more frequently. I'm not suggesting that this is the best outcome. But, she did survive somehow and I have no lasting feelings of embarrassement or fears. Until I had my daughter I actually didn't recall that my Mom had to do this for me.

My two year old daughter had the opposite problem. We potty trained my daughter at 23 months. (She was very ready...had been quite interested starting at 18 months...) Within 3 weeks she was waking up at night to pee and then would not relieve herself in the toilet or the diaper for 2 hours. It was scarry and frustrating because we were concerned that this behavoir would migrate to the daytime. I was more than willing to put her back into diapers if that helped to stop the behavior.

We lucked out by simply reducing milk intake 3 hours before sleep. She sips on water and this issue was essentially solved within a week. I learned to relax about it all and take it as it came. As a result, I've modified my expectations and if she has an accident, I just clean-up and we move on regardless of the time of day.

Good Luck!

Your son is a very sound sleeper. First, give him some control. Limit the amount of liquids he consumes after 6 pm. Then wake him up during the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Condition him to wake up enough to get up and to the bathroom and void. My nephew had this problem and his pediatrician had them buy this alarm system. It was essentially a wire mesh that went under the bottom sheet and when my nephew would urinate in the middle of the night an ear piercing alarm went off in his room to wake him up, so he became aware of what his body was doing. Both of my brothers had similar experiences growing up, sound sleepers, but they walked in their sleep... getting up to go to the bathroom, but losing direction in the middle of the trip. It made for some interesting tales (big sister blackmail material). He will outgrow this. It's nerve development in the bladder. So you have to help him until his body catches up. Save your sanity and use pull-ups for bigger kids. He doesn't like this any more than you do. But give him some keys to success. Limit the night time liquids and wake him up during the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. It's work on your part, but no one said that parenthood was going to be easy.

No, you would not be aweful. Just explain his body hasn't caught up with his mind. He is a big smart boy who's body just needs time to catch up with his mind. My friend has two sons that do not wake up at nigh for anything. They are both in there teens & still wear pull ups (adult diapers) at night. Yes she has taken them to many doctors. There is nothing wrong with them they just sleep very deaply. She learned from the doctors that if she made a big deal of it, it would only become a point of shame for them. Boys take longer that is just the simple fact. Hope this helps good luck.

Oh, J. - I NEVER made a mistake when I ---- well-actually I did --- lolololol -. So here's my suggestion - tell him--- " Mom's ears didn't hear you very well--- ''' or '''' I think I need to pay more attention to what your body is saying'''--- take the blame for not listening well enough- - - - - he'll be thrilled that you acknowledge that you can make a mistake-- bet ya'

Grandma, Mom and pre-school teacher -

J.

regardless of whether you put him back in pullups or not, bedwetting can be a very embarrassing thing for even a 5 year old. As far as the laundry goes- explain to him that for laudry and hygeine purposes you will try pullups until you can get to the bottom of the bedwetting. Let him know that a lot of big kids wet the bed and wearing the pullups does not make him not a big boy but then assure him that you will do what you can to help him figure out how to not wet the bed anymore.

As for the bedwetting- I took my daughter to many doctors and they wanted to run tests or put her on medication- most of which I was uncomfortable with. we tried alarms, drinking schedules, waking her in the middle of the night and nothing worked. My friend discovered that when she removed a particular food from her daughters diet, she stopped wetting the bed.
We did food allergy and intolerance testing for my daughter and when we removed the offending foods she no longer wet the bed. I discovered that often when a child wets the bed at night, their body is detoxing.
My daughter is a teenager and has not had a bedwetting problem for a long time but to this day, if she has corn in any form, she will wet the bed.

We do not realize how much is affected by our gut and digestive health. I recommend getting him tested for allergens and intolerances. Put him on some probiotics to help boost his digestive health and until you get to the bottom of the bedwetting, taking enzymes with his meals might help to break down the foods he might be having trouble digesting. These things might not immediately solve the bedwetting problem but they won't hurt and could be a start to getting to the bottom of his betwetting.

It's not unusual at all for a boy to have difficulty waking to go potty. Our pediatric urologist recommended taking our son potty 2-3 hours after we had put him to bed. We do it right before we head off to bed. We continued this until he was 7.5yo and then he was able to make it until morning. We discovered that by testing a few nights. Recently at age 9.5yo he let us know that waking at 6:30am to potty was effecting his sleep. We are back to taking him potty before we go to bed. The urologist said this would like continue until he goes through puberty.

With this strategy, you can avoid going back to pull-ups.

our son is a heavy sleeper too. we take him to the bathroom before we go to bed at night. it usually helps. he goes right back to sleep. good luck!

I would definitely get him something. My son had the same problem about 12 years ago. The underwear they had then were disposable but bulky. Today they have some that nobody knows but him, they keep him and his bed dry at night. It also keeps his friends from knowing so he doesn't get made fun of if he stays over or has friend stay with him....
Cut his drinks back after six or seven at night and wake him up once in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Eventually he'll grow out of it.
In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to speak to your pediatrician about it and see whatelse they have to offer..

I wet the bed until I was 13, and I went through a lot from my parents. I could tell you horror stories of what they did to me because I wet the bed. I wore my sister's diapers that were to small and would cause these creases on my legs and when the urine came into contact it would hurt so bad...just an example.

Your son's bladder is probably not full grown for his age and that is part of the reason why he is wetting the bed. You can't rush the body to grow any faster.

But, I would talk to your son and see if he wants to wear the pull-ups and wake up in a dry bed or wet the bed and part-take in taking care of his sheets and bedding.

Just promise me to be patient and try to stay positive with him and he should out grow this eventually. Being negative makes you feel small and worthless as a child.

This is far fetch - but possible - is there any chance that your son could be abused - sometimes children that are abused - they wet the bed for a defense.

hi mama-

well i have my own bed wetter.....she will be 5 in May. she has to wear pullups or she wets the bed. she has nights where she will stay dry and then most nights she just pees so much! i got tired of changing her bed linens everyday! even had to throw out a few sheets cause the urine was so concentrated!! he just isnt ready and its not good for him to sit in pee till he gets up. i too made a big deal of my daughter needing to be a big girl and get rid of the pullups but that just bit me in the butt! i gave up and she is back in pullups!! do yourself a favor and get the pullups!!

Hi J.-
First, take a deep breath. You can try withholding liquids, waking him up, wearing pull-ups, etc. Have you tried waking him up? If you have (as suggested below) and he responds with no memory of the incident, than he is a deep sleeper. Does he grind his teeth as well? Snore? Does he remember his dreams regularly? If he doesn't remember his dreams, then he is not reaching REM sleep and therefore your son would be suffering a very common sleep disorder. Snoring, grinding teeth, etc are other symptoms of the non REM sleeper. My biggest suggestion would be to put him back in pull-ups explaining to him that it is not a big deal. Making him feel uncomfortable or being showing your frustration with him will not make the situation go away-it will only put a wedge in your relationship as he gets older.
Hang in there J.. I hope my post helps some-A.

Hi J.,

Night time potty training is very difficult and the biggest thing you can do is try to be patient so it will relieve the stress he is already feeling about the bed wetting.

Cloth Night Time Training Pants are an excellent option. They will absorb the urine and keep clothing and bed dry. As he grows and becomes more aware of his body and functions at night, he will wake up and realize he needs to change them or get up and go to the bathroom.

Pull Up work for some children, but with recent research associating a link between male sterility and disposable diapers, I would hesitate to keep in Pull Ups all night long especially if you had him in disposables as a baby. The chemical reaction occurring raises the temperature in the diaper or training pants and keeps the testicals the same temperature as the body.

Of more serious concern are the toxic chemicals present in disposable diapers. Dioxin, which in various forms has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, liver damage, and skin diseases, is a by-product of the paper-bleaching process used in manufacturing disposable diapers, and trace quantities may exist in the diapers themselves.

And what about the material that makes "superabsorbent" diapers so absorbent? If you've ever used disposable diapers, you've probably noticed beads of clear gel on your baby's genitals after a diaper change. Superabsorbent diapers contain sodium polyacrylate, which absorbs up to 100 times its weight in water. Sodium polyacrylate is the same substance that was removed from tampons in 1985 because of its link to toxic shock syndrome. No studies have been done on the long-term effects of this chemical being in contact with a baby's reproductive organs 24 hours a day for upwards of two years.

My point being, if this is going to be an on-going issue, you may want to use cloth training pants vs Pull Ups to protect him from the embarassment of bedwetting as well as his health.

He will grow out if it. If he tries to talk about it, just listen and wait for him to get everything out that he needs to say. A small revelation could make a huge difference!

I had two children with the same issue. They both grew out of it, but my daughter took longer (probably until she was just 7). I would NOT put the pull ups on them. They need to understand that this is normal for a lot of children their age and they should not feel bad about themselves. I would be careful not to give them dairy products prior to going to bed, that tends to make them pee at night. I would make sure they go to the bathroom right before going to sleep (even after reading the books).

Try waking him up before you go down for the night and/or during the night to have him go to the bathroom. I was the same way when I was a kid and my mom did this with me for about a week. I have done the same with my own daughter, 5, and she no longer wets the bed. This took about a month for her but she is an extremely heavy sleeper. I also recommend limiting liquids to help curb this. Talk to you son about the big-boy pull-ups and in all honesty let him know there is nothing wrong with him or wearing them if he's comfortable doing so. Best of luck

Put the poor kid back in pull ups, it doesn't sound like being in underwear at night is helping you or him. My son was potty trained during the day by 20 months, but wasn't potty trained at night until he was 7. It just takes some kids longer than others. Limit liquids and sugars - even natural ones - after dinner. Sugar keeps their bodies from super concentrating their urine at night which means there is more urine and it is less likely they will be able to hold it all night. Don't stress, it will happen, but in the meantime I think pull ups are a life saver.

Get the underwear. Why weight? It will help his self esteem and your laundry loads. I can't imagine why you wait. Go now.

There is no shame in wearing disposable underwear at night. My daughter wet the bed until she was 8 years old and wore Goodnights. Finally, her bladder caught up with her age. Other members of my family had issues until they were 10 and wished there was something like Goodnights to wear. Pampers also makes disposable underwear called Underjams that she didn't use, but might be another alternative if your son likes the design better.

Put him back in Pull-Ups! He's obviously not ready to be wearing underpants to bed yet. My 5 year old has also always been a heavy night wetter - he's nowhere near ready to go without Pull-ups at night.

I don't think he'll be too traumatized by going back to them. He is probably embarrassed that he is waking up wet and senses your frustration in having to do so much laundry. You can talk about the physical side of it - his muscles just aren't ready yet. And this is really normal. My son got a Human Anatomy book by Usborne for Christmas that he just loves. It shows the muscle involved - we've talked about how that is why he is not able to stay dry yet at night.

Good luck!
C.

Put him back in the pull ups. You will do less wash. Get a rubber sheet for under the sheet as it will keep the mattress clean most of the time. Also wake him up before you go to bed even if he is wet and sit him on the toilet. If is all right to change the pull up and let him sleep dry.

It is not his fault boys have a more difficult time recognizing the signal to urinate at night. He will stop when he has hormones (male) in a few years.

I just this past month put one of my 5 year-olds back into pull-ups at night. I opted for the "big boy" pull-ups that are like boxer shorts. I did this not because of laundry but because he was developing bad rashes from laying in urine all night. Just one night with an underwear accident, and he's got a rash, so I said pull-ups are back and simply told him it wasn't a bad thing. I explained that I just didn't want him to have rashes, and he could sleep in underwear again when he was able to wake up to pee at night. He doesn't seem to mind too much or think badly of himself for having to use a pull-up even though his twin brother doesn't.

Hi J.,

I have the same thing, only he has his diaper on, and I still have to change all the bedding at least 3 times a week. (and he's in a bunk bed). I'm incredibly frustrated with the amount of time spent on just this task alone -- because I also sanitize the sheets --extra long load of laundry.

However, I talked to his pediatrician. My son is a very deep sleeper (and yeah, he pees right before bed, and we don't let him drink much before). so it is hard for him to realize at night when he needs to go. The doc said to not worry about it and don't try to push much (I did, actually try to wake him in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, but it was a lost cause -- it's like waking a hibernating bear) since he is a deep sleeper. She said he should grow out of it by the time he is 7, and if not, she had steps we could take from there.

By chance have you talked to your pediatrician? best of luck, I know your frustration...

Put him back in pull-ups. Actaully they have something called Good Nights which are essentially pull ups for night time. My oldest, now 13 never needed them, but my middle now 10 used them until she was almost 8 and my youngest,6 still desperatley needs them. The last two were/are such heavy sleepers they never woke up even when they would be soaked!

Why make extra work for you and feelings of disappointment for him when as you said," It's not his fault." Save your time, talents, and skills for something else you can control; he will grow out of needing them eventually.

We had to put our younger son back into good-nights after 6 months of doing laundry. We tried holding liquids, changing diet, waking him and nothing has worked. We explained that until his body makes the adjustment to stay dry at night he needs to wear them. That was at age 5 and at age 7.5 years we're still waiting. Now we're having a problem that he is in the largest size and is almost out of those. Don't know what we're going to do next! He will feel better waking in a dry bed even if his good-night is wet. Also, don't call them pull-ups anymore as he is too old for those. We specifically call them nighttime underwear or simply good-nights.

Good luck.

Hi J.,

I'm happy to say to you that you need to be waking him up and bringing him to the bathroom until he goes. Yep! Wake him out of his sleep. He'll be half asleep, and most likely he won't remember a thing in the morning, but if you want an odor free mattress and pajama's that's what you need to do. I've done it! There's no other way around it.

Since you are the parent, you should communicate to your son that the pull ups are a must and are only used at night and will be used for a short time. You have to use your instincts too. You will feel comfortable with your child's sleeping through the night with no accidents.

What I would do is make sure that he goes to the bathroom just before he goes to bed, then get him up to go to the bathroom 1 - 2 hours AFTER he's been alseep...then do it again about 2 hours later, keep in mind that you will have to physically hold him up and help him onto the toilet(he'll be sleepy).

Set your alarm clock, I'm sure you'll be needing that. It will all work out. Before you know it, he'll be sleeping with no accidents at all. Also, there could be a possibility of a small bladder too, but I hope that you will take him to the bathroom at least a couple times during the night.

Good Luck! \''/

I think pull ups will prolong the problem. I know it's frustrating but pullups just mask the problem. My son wet the bed until he was older than that. My daughter also. We used pullups for awhile, but changed to just reg. underwear and a plastic bed covering. I know its tons of laundry. With my son we spent the money on one of those programs where as soon as it gets a drop of water, pea, etc. on it then it went off. We then got him up, he splashed water on his face to wake up enough to finish going potty. It worked quickly in our case. My daugher, well, we didn't spend the money on her case but she stopped wetting about 6 mo. after going back into reg. underwear at night.