Potty Training at Night - Williston, ND

Hi! My oldest will be 6 next month and he too wets the bed every night. I have my son wear pull ups at night. I did speak to his pediatrician about it back in March and she told me not to worry about it, especially because it's often hereditary and my husband had the problem as a child. Believe me, I know how frustrating it can be especially since my newly potty trained 3-yr old stays dry at night. Good luck.

C.,
I am a graduate student in psychology and recently took a class that discussed the ins and outs of this behavior. There is an alarm that is designed to wake even deep sleepers at the onset of wetting with a very high sucess rate of habit elimination over a set time of use. You could call Munroe Myer Institue at UNMC and ask to talk with a psychologist that would explain the use of the alarm. To my knowledge, these alarms are much more effective in long term success than any drugs. I would highly recommend talking with a psycholgist before use as there are ways to make this type of training most beneficial. Hope that helps!

You might think of trying Chiropractic evaluation and care. I have heard (and it was my experience) that when certain vertebrae are out of alignment, the nerves that affect the bladder are involved and many (most?) children with bedwetting problems can be helped by a simple 2-3 adjustments.

K. Collier

Hi C.,
My son is 5 years old, and he still wets on himself. We use Goodnights pullups, they seem to work the best and hold the most. In our situation, we realized it will take a long time to cure this. he too is a heavy sleeper. However, we do make him clean up his accident. He sleeps on a nursing bed mattress, which is easy to just wipe off. (all my kids sleep on one for this reason!) and make his bed again. That is after he takes a shower to wash up. This will probably go on for a few more years. However, if you have insurance, you doctor could help you with this. We dont have ins. I also seen something on ebay, it is an alarm that beeps when he gets ready to tinkle, and you would need to get him up to go. I just havent purchased it yet. Please let me know if you would like info on that, and Ill send it. Good luck on your adventure, you can email me if you like.

C.,
I went through the same thing with my daughther. Don't worry about it. My daughther was 7 1/2 before she was able to go through the night without wetting the bed. Let your child stay in pull ups until he is ready. This is perfectly normal, he will not be graduating high school and still be wetting the bed! Everyone developes at a different rate - My other child was completely potty trained by 2.
Hope this helps,
tam

I guess the question is why does this concern you? Why not continue using pull-ups until HE is ready for night training? Children mature at different rates and it is perfectly fine and natural for a child his age to still be wetting the bed. Many children continue to wet the bed until 9 or 10. I truly believe that he will have stopped before college and the less pressure from parents regarding an issue a child has *no control* over, the better. Our three year old still wets the bed about half the time. Sometimes she wears pull-ups and sometimes she wears underwear - we let it be her choice. She has been potty-trained since 2 and I simply, for myself, haven't seen the need to be concerned. When her body/mind is ready to stay dry at night, she will. She's dry about 1/2 the time now and the rest of the time we either change the sheets or she's in pull-ups. Again, we leave it up to her.

Here is a good site that I found for further information regarding bed-wetting:
http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/enuresis.html

Good luck and my best to you all.

D.

C.,

Have you taken your son to your pediatrician? If he is still wetting the bed at 6 y.o., you definitely want to rule out any medical reasons. It could simply be that his bladder is underdeveloped for his age. You might want to try limiting fluids for a couple of hours before bedtime, and keep waking him up at night.

Hang in there, this too shall pass.

T.

Please, whatever you do, do not get mad at him. I would take him to your family doctor and see if he has a problem. My brother and I wet the bed for years. I finally outgrew it by the time I was 8 or 9 but my brother wet until he was about 20. The doctor was able to give my brother some medicine that helped him. It is so embarrassing and we lost a lot of self confidence over it. I hope your husband will be supportive and understanding. My father thought it was all in my brother's head, which made it even worse. Please write me back if you want to know more.

I'm not to this stage yet, but my co-worker has a nine year old boy that still struggles every night. She is about ready to take him to a Dr. just to make sure there isn't anything more she can be doing. It makes it hard for the little guy to stay the night at someone else's house because he has to sleep in Night Time pull ups... From what I've heard, it can be hereditary. Many grow out of it, but some require extra help. I don't think it is a matter of potty training, but more of a bet wetting tendency... Good luck.

Relevant letter to Dear Abby last week with really good website.
Sat Jul 22, 8:25 PM ET

DEAR ABBY: I want to thank you for an article you wrote that my mother kept for my nephew. Because of it, my 13-year-old son is now cured from bed-wetting. You had mentioned Hargitt House Foundation for helping children who wet the bed. Well, after only nine weeks, my son is dry! He can now enjoy going to sleep-overs when he was too embarrassed to go anywhere overnight. ADVERTISEMENT

My sanity has returned. You don't know how angry I felt to wake up to all those urine-soaked sheets every morning. I know I should not have gotten angry with him, but when you are frustrated every day, it wears on you. I know it wasn't his fault or anything that he did wrong. I feel so guilty for treating him as if it were.

My son is truly a different child now. They changed his diet, he is more rested, and he is joyful and pleasant to be around. Thanks so much to you and to Hargitt House for allowing my son to have his self-esteem back. -- TRACEY IN TEXAS

DEAR TRACEY: Thank you for your complimentary letter, but the letter to which you are referring appeared in my late aunt Ann Landers' column in 1994 or 1995. I am pleased, however, to offer the Hargitt House Foundation as a resource to my readers.

Bed-wetting is a problem that is shared by children and adults worldwide, and members of both sexes. Its sufferers come from all races and socioeconomic classes, and yet it is something that is rarely discussed -- a deep, dark "family secret" kept behind closed doors. Bed-wetters often suffer from low self-esteem and an overwhelming sense of shame. And tragically, some children are abused because of it.

The Hargitt House Foundation has helped many children and their parents overcome the problem of bed-wetting. For more information about its program, write: The Hargitt House Foundation, P.O. Box 130342, The Woodlands, TX 77393; on the Web, visit www.hargitthousefoundation.com, or e-mail ____@____.com.

Hi C.:

My 5 1/5 year-old-daughter is also not potty trained at night. Like your son, she is a very deep sleeper We've tried a few things like getting her up before we go to bed, etc., but not much works. You can talk to your pediatrician about it, but bedwetting is a result of the brain not waking up the body at night (often due to deep sleep). I wouldn't worry about your son. I'd just keep using the pull-ups and reassuring him that everybody develops differently (some children walk/talk sooner than others, for example) and that he'll not be a bedwetter forever. My brother wet the bed until he was about nine, and he graduated from the Naval Academy and is now a Marine pilot. Bedwetting didn't hurt him!

Also, I tried one of those alarms. It cost $80 and didn't do anything except scare my daughter to death with a very loud alarm in the middle of the night!

Have you taken your child to a physician? I ask because it is possible that it is a physical problem. My oldest brother slept so hard that (if my memory is accurate) was still having occasional bed wetting in junior high. I can't recall the digenesis but it had something to do with the development of the part of the brain that communicates the non-thought about things, breathing, hunger etc. (I can�t think of what part of the brain that is, Rrrr) If not that, another idea would be an attention thing. I have another brother who�s son was very similar in that he would wet the bed not matter what they did to avoid the accident. Once they worked on how the two of them would deal with the problem and worked with their son the bed wetting stopped.

Hello there! My experience is actually my own, as I wet the bed when I was about seven for a while. My parents actually had me wearing this doctor-recommended underwear contraption that sounded an alarm when I started to pee while I was asleep. It involved a foam belt and electronic strips, but it definitely worked. About a month ago, we had a problem with my son not making it to the bathroom in time, and although it turned out to be something entirely different (that is now resolved, thank goodness), his doctor said that almost all kids grow out of bedwetting.

Since you are still potty training, I think you should continue the night-lifting, but try it two or three times a night. And you're doing it right if he stays asleep.

Good luck!

Hi,
My son is 5and 1/2 and still wears pull-ups at night. I asked my pediatrician and he said to challenge him once in a while with "big boy pants" at night but not to push it. I think that at this age pushing any thing to do with potty training does more harm than good. Also keep in mind that the blatter matures at diffrent ages for everyone and if your son is deep sleeper and small for his age he may not be ready to stay dry. I would not worry your son and his body will know when they are ready. Also dads are usually more concerned about this than moms. Reasure you husband that this all normal. I would just be really patient and supportive of your son.
Best of luck.
L. Habbershaw

HI I stop my 5 year olds drinks 1 hour before bedtime and it helps with him. I remember when I was little I was wetting the bed at night to and my mother would wake me up also in the middle of the night but I would go so much durning the day also. She took me to an urinoligist and they said my bladder needed to be streched that it was to small so maybe its a medical thing.

Hi Potty train mom, i have three girls and i older boy! i live in Rexburg and i am a Mary Kay Sales Director! The suggestion I would have for you is to limit the amount of liquid he has by about 6:00 ! That should help with it! Also A reward helped with my girls! Maybe take your chold to the store and let him pick them out!!!Good Luck A.

Hi C., My son just turned 5 and also needs a night time diaper. I have heard of people waking their kids to use the bathroom however I think that can disturb our kids especially if they are in a deep sleep. We all have cycles of sleep and I have read it can be disturbing to our total rest to be woken from that deep sleep. Anyway, I personally wet the bed till I was 9. My folks were quite mean about it back then, but when I reached my 20's my mom finally apologized & commented I was a deep sleeper (I also have kidney issues so she also admitted that was probably part of it to) I mention this because I have also heard that my son will now have a high percentage of having bed wetting problems because I did - genetics. I put no pressure on him to be dry through the night. I have stopped his liquid as early as 5 pm and he still wets at night. I am the same way, I can skip any liquids at dinner and still have to wake in the middle of the night and go a ton in the morning when I first wake up. I don't know why my body stores it like that. I figure my son's bladder just has to mature and who knows what time that takes. I think there is less of a stigma with it now that it used to be if you were a bed wetter. I have told my son that if he's dreaming about going to the bathroom (which I do) he can try to wake himself up, but he sleeps hard till morning. I figure when my son is older and having sleep overs we can cross that bridge when it comes. My girlfriend's 8 yr old is just now having dry nights. I don't know if any of my rambling helps. I personally am not going to be too worried about it. Have you talked with your pediatrician? Maybe they know of some resources about bed wetting or ways to help him stay dry. Good luck
K.

Like everyone else said, if you are doing all the right things and it's still not working then it's probably a medical issue. I had a guy friend who wet the bed 'till he was 11. It took that long for his bladder to catch up to his size. Making a big deal about it will only make your child feel bad about something he has no control over. He'll grow out of it, but save yourself and him a wet bed and go back to pull ups at night! Good luck!

Ah, yes. I have four children and my two youngest have this problem. In fact, they both just had a dry night and I was so excited! My 8-year-old still wets the bed from time to time because he is a very deep sleeper. In fact, I have tried waking him up to go and it usually just ends up all over the bathroom wall! There have been a few times when he "woke up" in the middle of the night because he had to go, but he actually was half asleep and went into the kitchen to use the trash can! My 6-year-old wets from time to time, but it is getting better. I kept them up last night and cut the drinks early and kept them up late. I made them go to the bathroom about 3 times and then sent them to bed. I then woke them up at 6:30 and they were dry, so I got all excited and said, "Wake up! Wake up! You're dry! Now, go to the bathroom before you wet the bed!" LOL If nothing else, it will give you good stories.

I was watching this on a tv show the other day, there is moisture alarms... I would suggest looking online. They are suppose to be very effective. Also you should look online about the statistics on older kids wetting the bed, it suprised me. They suggest also talking with your doctor.

Not to scare you but does he have any other symptoms of juvenile diabetes? This is how it started out with my son but he had a few other symptoms too, it's worth mentioning to your pediatrician.

Hello I am a mom in of 5 children in El Dorado Hills. My son who is now 17 used to wet the bed every night and he was five. I took him to our family physician read books and did everything I knew to help him stop wetting the bed. Dad was a lot more concerned and worried than I. He was a very deep sleeper that was the issue and he needed to be conditioned to wake upon the need to use the restroom. The solution that worked for my son was a bed wetting device that has an alarm. You need to purchase the one that has the loudest alarm because he is a deep sleeper. The device goes in the underpants and as soon as one drop hits the pad the alarm sounds. The alsrm hooks to a t-shirt which I put near his chest so he would hear it. Now my son was such a deep sleeper he would sleep through the alarm so I would gently move him and not let him know I was there and he would hear the alarm and wake up more over time. I had to do that a few times but I can tell you after 1 month the problem was solved. The cost 12 years ago was about $60-$100 and I found it at Longs Drugs Store or try the internet for bedwetting devices. I know how hard it can be on the family and especially for your son, I wish you the best with this info.

okay to everyone the alarm does not alays work --it is more of a cost than a help adn to Toni -please let me help you get insurance if you read this -- put out a request so I can respond and help you !!!! okay now first there a few things you should know that I learned unforunatley for my son the hard way --- bed wetting is more common in boys than girls -- my son wet teh bed until he was 14 --there was some family history on dads side and it has been linked to some families genetically.

I put my son through heck trying to force him to control something tha the physically couldnt and it took 9 years fo rme to learn why and what to do before -- I understood --please do not put your child through the same shaming and trauma I did.

I thought it was his fault and he could control it --I tried everything for underwear that buzzed when he wet to nasal sray that gave him nightmare (side effect) to night time pills to everything that included several alarm clocks in his room to waking him several times a night interrupting my sleep and my ability to function the next day.

here is what I learned --also my son was not small for his age--but his baldder was and it was genenctically so. It took time longer than usually for his bladder to grow (perfectly normal) than it did in other kids and thus he could not hold much liquid --decreasing fluids did not help because he was a heavy sleeper (still is)

your son is only 6 -- trust me he will out grow it and screw society ideas of when it should happen --sorry for teh mean thought on society I am christian but society made me push my child when nature just wasnt ready --

this is what I did --rked removed teh stress and allowed him to understand he was normal--I took him to a pediatricain who also wet teh bed -growing up - a female in this case -this obviously is hard to find but if you find one tha tis younger he or she may very well know that this is biological and not mental, every night when I got up to go to teh bathroom I woke him and took him --if I didnt he didnt -- I noticed if I caught him before 4 am he was good the rest of the night -I did not get up extra- I had him go to bed a little later and get up a little earlier that worked better to --also at 8 years old I taught him (it took a few weeks ) how to wash his own sheets and underwear -- everymorning if he was wet he put them in the washer and turned it on --I bought clorox wipes that stayed in his room to wipe down teh plastic cover I put over his mattress -- and i let him know I was sorry for all of the forcing and yelling and that I knew better and that he was normal but just growing and developing at his bodies pace --I wish you the best -- your son is precious and I am sure you and dad know that -- just get the medical info --you can google it too andgice it to dad --even that bible says everything in it own time !!!!

Hi
I too have a six year old that is in pull ups at night. I don't bother getting him up in the middle of the night because like your son, he still will be wet.
My pediatrition says no big deal. It is a brain/bladder connection thing, and boys take longer than girls.
I found a washable bed pad through therightstart.com that goes over the sheets to save all of the washing!! If you have 2 you can just change them out. hope this helps!!
R. S.

I had a child that was almost 13 and still wetting the bed at night. I would suggest maybe an urologist might be of help or waiting it out some more. Try bed pads from a medical supply place or keep the diapers. Sorry I don't have more but nothing ever worked on my son but I never took him to a urologist.
A. W.

C., I read somewhere that it is most likely resulting from an allergy. Try eliminating eggs, for instance. Some "allergic" foods cause bladderspasms. Vicky in Leafburg

well actually I was that kid, I used to live in MExico when I was little so I was never taken to a doctor but the reason why I did that was because I used to sleep very deeply and didn't feel when I was peeing or I was dreaming i was in the bathroom, and that stoped as I was growing up it stoped when I was 10 yrs old when I didn't sleep that deep