Need Advice About Bed Wetting for My 5 Year Old. Please Help!

I had same problem with my daughter several years ago. I found out she was having an allergic reation in her sleep. I took her off of chocolate, corn peanuts, and peanut butter completely and I didn't give her any milk before bed and she never wet the bed again. So it might be worth a try.

Chances are he is seeking for attention after his brother was born. Try to talk to him about his feelings about this issue and his new brother. After a talk, compromise with him on some special time only for him. This will give him the attention he needs and want's. Also rule out any medical issues if there is pain, discomfort, etc.

S.

I had the same thing happen and I have three children. Its not unusual for some children to wet the bed until they are 8 or 9 even though they are potty trained because their bladders are smaller. Just use those overnight "diapers" such as Goodnites sleep shorts rather than having to change the sheets every night. Its not his fault. Two of my kids used them until they were 8 years old, and my pediatrician said its not unusual.

Make sure there are no medical issues. Then if he has no medical issues, make HIM clean the bed, put the sheets in the washer, and take a shower at night. Stop the pull ups that only says you approve of him peeing in the bed. Once he sees how much of a hassle it is he will wake and start going to the bathroom and he will start caring. It will be a pain for a couple of weeks, but it will solve the issue!

Some kids' bladders just don't grow as quickly as the rest of them. Let him wear Goodnites (like a pull-up) at night. Please don't let him go to school smelling of urine!!

My daughtere had similar issues at about 4 yrs of age. First of all, don't worry, it's VERY normal for some children. My pediatrician said that it's as simple as some children having a deeper sleep and not being able to wake up when they need to go to the bathroom. I started waking her up when I woke up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. That worked wonerfully and soon she was going through the night without having an accident. Don't make a big deal of it or punish him for it. He can't help it. If you aren't able to wake up in the middle of the night to get him to go, use the pull-ups and show him how to wash himself in the morning before he gets dressed. Like I said, it's VERY normal, especially for boys, and it may last into grade school. Hope that helps.

I had the exact situation with my son who is now almost 7. It stopped completely by the time he turned 6, but I had talked to his pediatrician who told me some boys are deficient in some kind of hormone I think (?) and need to be put on medication. Not sure about all the details, but I would suggest talking to his doctor.

We have had some of the same issues with my 5 year old. They have stopped, but when they do come about it is usally around things that have changed in his life, like a move or something. What really worked for us is a couple of things, first i make him go to the bathroom every 30 min starting at 5 then he isn't allowed anything to drink past 6. the other thing that really helped was having a insintive to not pee his bed. He really wanted a spiderman couch so we said if he went 30 days without peeing his bed we would buy it for him. It took two tries but he did do it. You could even try a shorter goal like 1 or two weeks make a up a potty chart to help. i hope this helps you.

My biggest advice is to take him to the doctors. My Nephew went through the same thing, and it ended up being something out of his control....so don't be so quick to blame him in anyway. A friend of mine had issues with her son until he was 12. It is something that can be dealt with with medication if neccessary. Good luck to you.

I agree with Tonya. He may need the consequences of his actions. Best withes!

It sounds like there may be some jealousy issues going on over the attention the 7 month old is getting just by virtue that a baby does require more attention than a 5 year old. Try giving your son some extra time in the evenings. Incorporate Dad for some floor play time, and maybe you can sit beside him in bed, and read him a story - just him - no baby. Also, start a reward system - for every night that he stays dry, he gets a sticker on the calendar. Set up different rewards (i.e: 2 nights dry=candy bar or extra cookie, 3 nights=gets to stay up late on Fri. or Sat night, etc....) After an entire week of staying dry, make the reward big - whatever he loves to do (special celebration at his favorite restaurant like Chukie Cheese or Bounce U/Jump-N-Fun). Good luck!

J.,
If you are dedicated to getting him dry, and don't want to him to "grow it out" until age 10 or 11 (maybe later than that even) give Pacific International a call. They are cheaper than Overnights for the next 5+ years! Their program helped my 7 y/o get dry in only 5 months! I never would have dreamed that in only 2 months of doing the program she would have dry nights, but dry nights were more common than wet nights. I highly recommend the program as they dispel many of the myths of bed wetting (too much liquid, waking them up at night to pee...) Please call them yesterday, you will not regret it, I promise! 1-800-Nite-Dry

When my daughter was younger she also wet the bed. We tried everything..same as you. We went to a dr. and he suggested a few things..first cutting all drinking after 6pm except maybe a very small glass of milk before bed. (we were told milk was heavier than water and stayed with the body longer) Next was to take he to the bathroom before we went to bed. She went to bed at 7 we went at 10 or 11...and if we got up in the night to potty to take her. Many a night she would be still sleeping but she would go in the bathroom. The dr said it would train her to get up when the feeling cam she was sleeping so soundly she just didn't know she had wet the bed. It's more work for you but it worked. Take your time and it may take more than a few nights actually we did this for almost 6 months and we started finding her in the bathroom going herself and that is when we stopped. We also made her responsible for cleaning up her bed and changing it if she had a bad night. (They didn't have pull ups when she was little she is now 27)
Good luck and know there maybe other suggestions out there if one doesn't work maybe something else will. Just keep trying. It maybe just because you have a 7 month old and gets more attention. And it will faze out as the 7 month old gets older.

You may want to take him to the pediatrician to look at other medical reasons for this problems. Some bed wetters have a problem with the end of their spinal cord, where it gets tethered. It is called "tethered cord". A neurologist can do an MRI to rule this out. I would maybe start with the pediatrician first....

To J. J
I am a 53 yr old grandmother former childhood bedwetter myself. I wet the bed until I was about 9 yrs old. I simply just didn't wake up. I have a 5 year old grandson that wets the bed also. Try and not let your son have much to drink past 6p.m. especially any beverage with caffeine. Make sure he goes to the bathroom before going to bed.If you get up in the middle of the night try and get him up to go to the bathroom too. Just be patient, he will outgrow it but it may be a few years and be thankful for pullups!

Hi J.,

My daughter wet the bed every night until she was 5 and I took her to a urologist. He checked her and she had a bladder infection that was so bad it had backed up almost to her kidneys. That wasn't the cause of her bed wetting though.

He told me that when a child is growing, sometimes their pituitary gland isn't developing as fast as some kids. It isn't telling her kidneys not to produce urine at night while she is asleep. So he gave her some nose spray called DDAVP nose spray. We sprayed it into her nose on each side, at bedtime and she no longer wet the bed. I swear, no longer did she wet the bed. If we missed the nose spray one night, she would automatically wet the bed in her sleep.

She stayed on the spray until she was 11, during which time she started going through puberty. And we never had any more wet beds. She came off the spay and is now 25 years old and doing great.

Hope this helps you.

K. A.

I think that you should have his urine checked for glucose. The same thing happened with my daughter and she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, not to scare you, because that is probably the worst case scenario, but you should rule out diabetes before restricting fluids. We felt so guilty for restricting fluids prior to learning that Lily was diabetic. Hyperglycemia makes you extremely thirsty.

Good luck.

Since he just started after being potty trained, I would suggest you have his sugar checked because sometimes that is a side effect of diabetes

My nephew has had the same problem and he's now 7 years old and still sleeps in pull-ups. My sister in law talked to his doctor and apparently, he's such a hard sleeper that he doesn't wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. The doctor told her this was normal for most boys and they will stop on their own in time because of sleepovers with friends, etc. Most of the time, he doesn't wet the bed. Good luck.

My best friends daughter did the same thing and they finally got her urine cultured instead of a quick test and found out she had urinary reflux. She saw Dr Noi a specialized pediatrics urologist in Memphis that is world renowned.
It maybe nothing but I know my friend was going crazy with all the bed wetting and they had tried everything and her regular doctor kept saying her urine was fine but they were just doing a quick test not a culture.
Hope that helps.
Angie

Hey J.,

I have two boys myself and potty training was a long process. My younger son who is 6 now would wet himself in the night quite a bit. My husband would go to bed later than me so I would have him wake him up to take him to the bathroom. Don't let him drink any thing an hour and a half before bed and make sure he goes potty before he gets into bed. We still have accidents once and a while, but he's getting better the older he gets. Be patient and persistant and he'll get it. Have you thought about giving him rewards when he doesn't go potty in bed? Good luck!!

My son is 6 and also has the same problem. To help him, we get him up about an hour after he goes to bed and make him go to the bathroom, as well as have an established cut off time from liquids. That seems to have stopped the accidents. Hope this helps!

I have noticed that my children tend to wet the bed when they are either getting sick or something is bothering them emotionally. I know it seems like your child doesn't "care" that he is wetting the bed, but I'm sure this is very unpleasant for him. I would take him to the doctor and explain what is happening. It may be something simple like bad dreams that he doesn't remember in the morning.

Allergies? Dairy products? Stress? A family member had same challenge age 10. Milk was his issue. He drank his milk before 3pm and limited liquids after 6pm. Could stress be involved? Boys often mature later than girls. My son at age 8 had to visit Clinical Psychologist for Bowel "seepage" due to school stress & a learning challenge. Talk with your Pediatrician, ask for advice, books(library), Professional guidance. Remember to ask for help! Your child's self-image & confidence is at stake.

Most bedwetting problems that aren't due to a phyiscal problem have something to do with the sleep pattern of the person.
I have a couple of friends who had a child with the problem, and they had to take them to a sleep specialist and it worked. They have to basically have to have their sleeping pattern retrained. I have also had experience in this area as well.
Check into taking him to a sleep doctor. As long as its not a physical problem, that will 99% likely be what the problem is. He just doesn't wake up, its like he sleeps so deep, his brain doesn't respond to the signals that are being sent to it. It's weird sounding, I know, but I promise it will be worth your while to check into it.

Dear J.,
My name is D. G. My Daughter Tabitha is 17 now and she wet the bed till she was almost 14. I took her to specialists and had all her urinary track and bladder checked but they found nothing wrong with her, they said that she would quit on her own. When it started she had already been potty trained and then at 4 years old she started wetting the bed. I got her pull ups and things so that it would not mess up the sheets and i put a matress cover over her matress that was wet resistent so as not to ruin the matress. Finally at 14 she finally stopped. She woke up one morning and aid hey mom I didnt wet the bed through the night. She told me that she had woken up and went to the bathroom herself. Her doctors told me that sometimes children sleep so heavy that they can't wake themselves up to go to the bathroom. You could have him checked by a doctor and see what they say, but i think he will just stop maybe when he starts school.

Look for a bedwetting alarm. It used to be you could find them at Sears (before the internet). We used one 25 years ago with our six year old daughter, it only took two nights. After that her 8 year old sister turned it into a burglar alarm for her bedroom. good luck. L., now a grandams.

Hi J.,
I have had this problem with both of my older girls. I talked to our peditrician and she put them on a drug. It's called DAVVP (I believe that's right). I found out that our bodies produce a hormone when we sleep that makes us produce less urine. That's why we can hold our bladder all night. My girls did not produce enough of this hormone. I put them on the medicine for about 6 months each and it worked. Hope this helps.
S.

hello, I have a 9 year old who has has alot of emotional upsets in his life and the person who he use to live with put him in pull-up's or overnight diapers, this just enabled him and he too said "who cares..it's no big deal" he really didn't care. I started making him get up in the night and going to the bathroom also no drinks late and using it before bedtime.This does work for us because he doesn't like getting up in the night. So nights I simply don't wake up and he hasn't wet the bed. We threatened to take him to the Dr's but decided not to go because they either tell you they will grow out of it, or they want to medicate. with time and effort it will stop..I think that a child just needs attention, they will get it either negitive or positive as long as they get the attention. I do have other children and of course the baby mine is 11mts and 3 yrs gets more attention....The 9 yearold even ask for help with simple things like button his pants and to tie his shoes. mine is more for attention. Hope this helps I know everyone has there own theory, so do what works best for you, just don't be too quick to accept medications for an alternative. blessing :)

I had the SAME exact problem with my son until he was 9! Finally, after seeing a urologist, we got a bedwetting alarm. This clips to his underware and buzzes / flashes light when the attached sensor gets wet. It took awhile, maybe 2 months, but now his brain has been "retrained" to wake up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Order this NOW and I promise it WILL WORK!! http://www.bedwettingstore.com/index.htm

My son wet the bed until he was 7. He is a sound sleeper and we tried many things like stopping drinking after dinner and waking him 2-3 times a night and he would still wake up wet. We used the Malem alarm system that recommends double voiding(urinating 2X before bedtime, 30minutes prior then immediately before) The Alarm really helped him to feel and stop the urge to urinate. It only took 2 weeks! He has been dry almost every night for 2 years. He has only had a hand full of accidents, mostly occurring when he is really tired. I would highly recommend this method especially if you have already exhausted other means. Also, It is great that your son doesn't seem to care because it can have a really negative impact on the child's self esteem.

I need help with the same thing so I just want to read your responses!!!!

My daughter just turned 4 and started wetting the bed shortly after being fully potty trained (almost 3), but my husband and I both wet the bed as well. Now this same daughter also had night terrors for a very short time as an infant (6-9 months) and when I took her to the Ped., she told me that there is a sleep disorder that includes night terrors, talking in sleep, sleep walking, and bed wetting; and it's hereditary.

I am trying to teach my little girl to take off the wet PullUp, get a wash cloth from the closet and get it wet (squeeze it out) and wipe herself, to eliminate the urine odor, and/or getting itchy.

Has anything traumatic happened. Well now I finished reading your info and it coud be because the little one. alot of the time kids will revert when a new baby is born or starts to get big enough to play. Anyway, no advice on how to stop it. My 4 1/2 year old does it oo. Only he has always done it. He has a small bader. Only real advie I have it to get him up in the middle of the night to pee. My nephew had a real bed wetting problem and that is what my mom did with him. Good luck. If you find something that works let me know.