My 5 Year Old Boy Wets His Bed a LOT!!!

Goodnights work pretty good for older kids. Its pretty normal for a kid his age to still wet the bed. If he is still wetting the bed after age 6 you might want to take him to the doc but age 6 is only the average age when most kids stop. Often many many children still wet the bed after that age and there is nothing wrong with them.

My large 4 yr old wears Pull-ups. He outgrew the size 6 diapers a while ago. He was wetting through the Pull-ups every night, until we got the nighttime ones. I haven't found any generics for nighttime, but at Costco, the package of daytime and nighttime Pull-ups is pretty cheap. He seems to go through stages where the daytime ones are fine, then he starts to wet them through, so we put on the nighttime for a while, and we switch back and forth.

But I'm so sick of changing bedding and having his room smell like pee that I would pay extra for the night-time Pull-ups any day.

Hi M.,

Bed wetting is very common in boys. If he does have a very deep sleep pattern - I think it is called either the "4th or 5th stage" of sleep - he won't wake up to use the bathroom because he cannot. It sounds to me that you are already doing just about everything you can to help your son have a dry night. Your routine may just have to be tweaked to find what works best for him. My father was a teenage bed wetter and one of my sons was as well. This just calls for lots of patience and you've got to plan to do a lot of laundry!

When my son was older, I would just ask that he bring all of his wet bedding to the laundry room when he got up if he had had an accident in the night. There was no point in punishing him for wetting the bed because he was unable to do anything about it.

Getting up in the night to make sure he used the bathroom helped a lot, but I had to have another family member do it since I usually can't go back to sleep if I get up! We also found that drinking caffeinated drinks made the bed wetting worse.

Our niece is also bed wetter. She just turned 10 but still wets the bed almost every night. She stays with us a lot and I use the same method with her - she is able to bring her own laundry to the laundry room in the morning and make her own bed at night. One of my best friends keeps her 9 year old grandson very often and has also told me that he wets the bed about every night too. She uses Pull Ups with him. It seems that the Pull Ups leak less when you use a larger size. Hopefully you can find a brand that has a size that helps control the leaking!

God Bless,
A.

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/2147822702549925889

This was just posted before you...maybe you need to talk to his pediatrician, if it could be medical in some way...

Stop liquids 4 hours before bed. 2 hours is not long enough. Talk to him after you have pottied him, and he is tucked in bed, about how he is going to use his "turn off the pee" muscle all night. Tell him to think about his muscle he uses to turn off the pee, and he needs to try hard to think about it last thing every night before he goes to bed. Nightly talks and with holding liquids will work. If 4 hours does not do it, go to 5 hours. Good luck.

We went through this to. Our pediatrician didn't worry about it until age 7 or 8, there really are just a lot of kids who do this (if there weren't, there wouldn't be such a market for big kid nightime pull ups, etc.).

If you really do want to start solving the issue now, I would recommend a bedwetting alarm. I found a bunch on Amazon. I was really skeptical, and it took probably a week and a half, but it worked like a charm.

We got the kind you clip to them (we clipped it to underwear, but wore a pull up over the underwear). It went off as soon as it got wet- I would run in there once I heard it and make sure it woke them up and that they get up.

If you go that route, I will say that there is one alarm that you can record your voice, so instead of an alarm they hear whatever you record, like "wake up honey! you need to get to the bathroom" or whatever. I love the idea, but the recorded sound is quieter than the alarm and never did the trick. Just FYI.

Good luck.

My son wet the bed until he was 10. The doctor didn't even bat an eye until he turned 8. Very common, we used goodnights or the storebrand equivalent. Diapers are not meant to absorb that much liquid. He is too big for them, thats why they are leaking. Try the goodnights, they have 2 sizes and I bet they will work better for him. If after 8 yo. he's still wetting the bed, there are meds that can help. My son was on Ditropan XL to help expand his bladder so that he could hold his pee for longer. It worked. He is 13 now and I have to say that bedwetting didn't prevent him from doing anything. He still went to camp or on sleepovers, he just went in to the bathroom to put on his goodnight and then in the morning put it in the garbage. He learned how to be quite discreet about it. Best of luck!

We switched to Huggies overnight pull ups, they have Buzz Lightyear and Woody on them and the package is dark blue. They are b etween $9,95 for the smaller package and $15.95 for the larger package at Wal-Mart.

J has a very hard time wetting out of these, he wore the same one accidentally one day on a road trip and had little trouble with leaking, after ALL day.

He will eventually grow out of it but you could take him to a Pediatric Urologist, they will probably tell you to make sure he's not constipated though, the packed feces push on the bladder and the urine comes out when he lays down. But there may be a biological issues.

Drinking water and other stuff has nothing to do with a biological signal that wakes someone up to go to the bathroom during the night. If that chemical to wake them up is not being processed then there is little anyone can do to make them stop. Stopping fluids causes the urine to be stronger and then that complicates things even more. If you gotta go you are supposed to feel that urge and wake up, if that signal isn't there then you don't wake up.

I know this won't help your situation much now, but I wanted to let you know that my husband and several of his siblings wet the bed until they were almost in junior high. They have very small bladders. I can assure you that he will eventually grow out of it. We've been married nine years and he's never wet the bed once ;)

I have a a son that wet his bed every single night until his 13 birthday and would have continued , but I found out that a chiropractor can help. 2 days before my son turned 13, I took him to a chiropractor and after the 2nd adjustment, he never wet the bed again. He missed out on a lot of great stuff, because he was too embarrassed to go to like scout camp, and sleep overs with friends. I'm so glad I listened to the wisdom of a friend who told me about chiropractors.

Ok M.,

This one is a toughee, but here goes nothin. Check his routine, monitor what he is drinking and when. You already seem to be doing this as your post is very detailed. The next step is trying to interrupt that routine. Somehow he has gotten into the habit of letting out a lot of water during the night. Try getting him into the habit of going to the bathroom specific and many times during the day to try to shake this. If you have tried this already then the last piece of advice I have for you is......I don't like to use this but it worked for me.....bribery...yes bribery. That is how my mom got me to stop wetting the bed when I was young. If I woke up with a dry bed I got a cookie in the morning (unheard of at our house growing up as no sugary treats were eaten until late in the afternoon). Good luck M.!

**update

One more thing, if all else fails, check with your pediatrition as something else may be amiss. If the wetting is this chronic at his age there may be somehting wrong that he needs to see a doctor for.

This also might be helpful

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/bedwetting-solutions-8/def...

Hi M. - for the immediate problem, switch over to the "Nighttime" diapers that are made for bigger kids with wetting problems. They hold more - the Huggies just arent made for that much fluid.

I also want to recommend that you check out the PEEP clinic.

http://www.peepclinic.com/

Cutting off drinks prior to bedtime is definitely important, but the AMOUNT of liquids he takes in throughout the entire day is a factor. If you significantly reduce the intake from as early as 3 pm, this should help a LOT. Have you ever had a night of drinking and notice you're still peeing a lot through the night and in the morning? Liquids sometimes take hours to go through our system, not just two - let me know how this helps :)

PS: This is a little dramatic, but there are some pants for kids with an electronic sensor that literally buzzes them at the first sign of wetness, (I don't know if this is really what you want to turn to, but you sound a little desperate, you might seek it online)

We used Huggies Nighttime Pull Ups. They were the only ones that worked. She is finally dry! She just turned 5. She does get up to pee once or twice a night though. Good luck. Find a diaper that works and don't worry about it! :). He will grow out of it someday!

I started buying underjams night time pull ups at Target for my 8 year old. They seem to work well. My doctors said to wait it out and he would outgrow it but finally this year my son was ready to stop wetting. We got him an alarm that clips to his underwear and beeps when he gets wet. It has finally worked and now we only have to change sheets once in awhile. He can even sleep most nights without the alarm. My pediatrician gave me a prescription for the alarm so my insuranced covered most of the cost. Otherwise they run about $80.

I know the sheet changing daily can be frustrating I have been there. Look for the bigger pull ups or underjams and see if that helps until he outgrows the bedwetting.

Good Luck

There is sometimes an issue with the kidney and blood sugar with this problem. That is why you see this in diabetics.

Secondly, hypercalcemia, or too much calcium in the blood will cause bedwetting. I've seen it particularly in my son (now 10) who WILL SURELY wet if he has milk 2-3 hours before bed.

I think the issue is the magnesium to calcium ratio. High calcium to low magnesium in the body. It is quite easy to have this ratio with our modern foods. MILK has 8 times more calcium than it does magnesium. But calcium must have an adequate (equal) amount of magnesium for uptake otherwise you end up with hypercalcemia, which means the body pulls calcium out of bones and deposits it in the blood, and other soft tiisues like the KIDNEY, heart, liver, etc.. Those who drink excessive milk and eat high dairy can have what is called milk alkali syndrome which is basically what I described above.

Adding fuel to the fire is vitamin D that is added to milk and other foods. Normal people who have all their organs and who are considered generally well have NO NEED for added vitamin D to foods and supplements. Those who have had their thyroid removed (the thyroid is req'd for vit d uptake) and a few other issues- yes- they should have it, but children and healthy adults get plenty of vit D from the sun with only 5 minutes exposure a day. Further, vit D stores in tissues for those cloudy months of winter.

So let me explain the connection between vit D and calcium: Vitamin D causes the gut to absorb more calcium. So adding vit D to milk means you are ingesting an even HIGHER calcium ratio now! Lets not forget vit D is also added to orange juice, yogurts and other foods, and all the produce and lunch meats are irratiated now, which gives them vit D. Then parents are encouraged to give supplements with vit D added. Whoa! Those who take fish /cod liver oils are adding a whopping amount of vit D on top of all that.

I think there are a few keys here. One, keep blood sugar down and steady. Blood sugar symptoms can manefest without having full blown diabetes.
HIGHER PROTIEN is a must....and fewer carbs and sugars- try to keep sugars in the fruits instead of processed. I was just thinking, one way to get a bit of higher protein is with whey powder- but check that for vit D and calcium levels, since whey does have casien in it- it is derived from whey or milk protien. you can also keep blood sugar more steady by several smaller meals a day.

Two, halt any milk intake past 6pm. Giving magnesium supplements can help negate hypercalcemia. Magnesium citrate is found in a flavored drinkable form, one such that I know of is 'kidcalm' which can be found online. I have not tried this product yet as my kids can take pills. I give them magnesium malate which is a form of MG that the body recognizes as food. Either is fine. Night time is the best time to take it, a half hour before bed.

Three, (you probably can get results from the two above but this will help also) try to wean away from man made oils like canola and vegetable and switch over to olive oil and raw virgin coconut oil. RAW VIRGIN coconut oil has the essensial fatty acids in it to help make hormones, and various hormones are used in mineral uptake. You can cook pancakes in it or spread it on toast,or just take it by the spoonful in the mouth. Butter is ok too. So is using bacon grease- sparingly. No plastic margarines.

Following this protocol , I can pretty much guarantee you will wipe out this problem.
God Bless,
Gail