I posted a question over a year ago when my 3 year old began wetting the bed at night while I was pregnant with our second child. While I understood/understand the emotional side to it, I am beginning to worry once again about my daughter's bedwetting.
She is wetting the bed at night about 5 out of 7 nights a week, but sometimes 7 nights a week. She "got better" for a month or two when we began waking her before we went to bed and would sit her on the toilet and put her right back to sleep. We were even able to stop this for awhile. We do all of the things we're supposed to: no liquids late, not a lot of sugary things, useing the potty 2 times before bed, etc.
She does not get upset by the accidents, except for the occasional waking up crabby because she is cold and wet. Some mornings she is soaked, while others it is as if she just started going as she was waking.
Any suggestions?
I have heard that some children go through this until they are 8 or 9 years old. I am not interested in medicating her but really want her to have dry nights again.
A.,
Using flower remedies might make a difference with this situaion.
Also a chiropractor who treats children is also helpful with this issue.
I'm happy to give you referrals for practioners in both these areas if you contact me directly.
L.
Hi,A.,
Do a search through past Mamasource listings for the bedwetting topic. It's so, so common here and there are tons of past postings on it. And the truth is that yes, some kids are not fully dry at night until eight or nine or even older, and there's not always a lot you can do about it. You're already doing a lot of great things. I'd definitely go back to waking her late at night (after she's been asleep a few hours but you're just going to bed yourself) and taking her to the toilet one last time then. I wasn't clear whether you were still doing that or not. That has hugely helped eliminate nighttime wetting for my daughter.
Also, if you don't already do this, layer waterproof mattress covers alternately with clean sheets a few times (cover, sheet, another cover on top of both, another sheet, etc.) so when she wets you can quickly strip off a sheet and cover and have a dry set beneath for a quick return to bed. Most of all, remember that her bladder simply may not be mature enough yet for full continence all night; kids' bladders don't always keep up with the rest of their bodies, it seems!
And finally, if she has excessive, constant urination day and night and is also thirsty a lot, get her blood sugar checked ASAP as urination and thirst are signs of Type 1 diabetes. Doesn't sound likely here but it runs in our family so I want people to be aware of those indicators. Good luck.
I had the same problem with my then 7 yo son. What I found out is that he sleeps sooo soundly that he was not able to wake himself when he felt the urge, or dreamt that he was at the toilet. I went with a company called Pacific International that has a great program. It took a few months, but he no longer has the problem. I also talked to his Doctor who suggested different methods to adjust his sleep patterns. Also, limiting food, drink and waking him up in the middle of the night only made him grumpy, it didn't have anything to do with the problem. Hope this helps
My daughter is 4 and still wears a pull up at night, and out of frustration I have talked to several other moms, many of whom have 4-5 year olds in pull ups as well at night. We have been fine during the day since 2 1/2.
I spoke with my pediatrician and she said that it could be that she sleeps to heavily at night still, or that her body is not yet producing some chemical that does something to the bladder at night to reduce the need to pee. She said to be honest, not to worry until she is 6-7.
So having a 4 year old doing doesn't sound like a crisis - just a pain in the rump!
My doctor said some children just need a little bit more time, and it wasn't unusual for it to take until 5 or so at night.
After you, of course, check out all medical problems and clear her, I suggest the alarm. Our daughter was 8 1/2....maybe even 9...when we finally resorted to the alarm. It took a total of 1 month to completely clear it up but we could definitely see the effects of the alarm within a week. I was just like you, asking every single year at her pediatrician visit "what's wrong?" and they checked her for everything. They started voicing concern around 6/7 but still said don't stress about it. I was concerned about our daughter and sleepovers, didn't want her to be embarrassed. Finally, she and I both decided to REALLY buckle down and use the alarm and it was done! My biggest piece of advice is to never, never make her feel bad about the inconvenience or the embarrassment of wetting the bed. I know that sounds cliche but just give her support, tell her you love her, she'll get better and it won't happen forever while you help her change her bed. One little ounce of frustration from you will be with her for a very long time. Our son, who came along 6 years after her, was dry at night immediately at 3 when he potty-trained for daytime. He has wet the bed maybe twice and wears underwear to bed. She initially compared herself to him and felt bad about herself until I constantly reassured her that it's no big deal, it's done, she's fine.
Best of luck to you!
It may be me but a bed wetting alarm sounds harsh. I know it is hard for you and i had a problem with my little girl she turned 3 in may. This is what i tried and now if she has an accident it is so rare i cant even remember the last time she had one. My liltle girl loves dora we got her dora pull ups and told her at night if she wet them then dora would be sad. She didnt want to make dora sad so for the first 3 days she didnt sleep to well because she was waking her self up not wanting to wet the dora pull up. Then we took her to walmart and got her new dora sheets, i told her it was time to stop the pull ups but dora is now on your sheets and we cant make dora sad and pee on her, for about a week she woke up 10 times a night saying she had to pee sometimes she did sometimes she didnt, but what i think it did was train her to know the pee feeling at nightnow she wakes up maby once a night if that, i leave the light on in the bathroom sometimes i wake up when she has to go and sometimes she goes by herself, she tells me dora is not sad cause she knows when it is time to pee and she cant pee on dora. This seemed so simple and it worked. We went 5 days with a small pack of pull ups and have not gone back even with some left in the pack we have not had to go back to them. Maby this could work for you kids love to please and relly think the cartoons are real people and aim to please them also so i think this was a good first try on stopping the problem and it worked.
My almost 5-year-old still wets the bed. Usually in spurts...he'll do it everyday for a week, and then not for awhile. I usually notice it when he's in a growth spurt. I figure he'll grow out of it sometime.
I remember when my brother was little...he wet the bed for a long time. To the point where my mom taught him how to strip his own bed and put everything in the wash for her to run later. Heh. The doctor ended up giving him a medication (some kind of nasal spray if I remember right) which I think was meant to make him not sleep so soundly...
Another vote for the bedwetting alarm. I resorted to it last fall for my then 6½-year-old.
My daughter wet the bed three times a night getting her up did no good at all, it just made her miserable the next day. We tried everything she also got wet during the day. She had a bed alarm and a day alarm that attached to her clothing. We had her checked out thoroughly and she went on a special programme for bed wetting and that didn't help. The doctors could find nothing wrong. I spent a week sleeping on the floor in her room getting her up every hour, and she would still be wet in the morning. We put a water-proof cover on her mattress and if one of her friends asked why I told them she had allergies.
She is 32 now and still has a problem. She is a very deep sleeper and the trigger mechanism in her brain doesn't seem to work. Even now is she say she has to go she means at this second, not in five minutes. I hope our daughter gets over her problem. In the meantime perhaps she should wear the incontinence pads they can be discreet and allow her to go on sleep overs. They weren't around when our daughter was young and diapers were too small and too obvious. Our daughter had a horrid time at things like Girl Scout camp. We couldn't let her go for more than a night. If there had been more products available she may well have had a normal childhood instead of the agony she suffered. If your daughter is dry during the day her bladder may not have caught up with her age, and she will be fine soon. I really hope so I know how we suffered with our child and how she is still suffering.
My sister-in-law has the same problem with her two oldest kids, who are 6 and 7 and were still wearing pull-ups until recently. She said she started putting them in cloth diapers, which has allowed them to feel the wetness without ruining the bed each night, and she said it has really been helping (both them and her!). Not sure if it is good advice or not, but thought I would throw it out there.
I have heard of little belts that the kids can wear and as soon as they get wet an alarm sounds that can only be turned off with a little key that's placed near the toilet (or wherever you choose). Sometimes the issue is that the child dreams it sits on the toilet, and thus feels it's safe to go. So the device would wake them up, make them realize what's going on and eventually she is supposed to wake up automatically.
You could try a bedwetting alarm. No guarantees, but I've had many friends who were successful. Or she'll likely outgrow it.
