I have an almost 6 year old son who is still wetting the bed. He has been fully potty trained since before he was 3 years old. We have tried the "limiting fluids" after 5 pm, waking him up every 2 hours or so, and speaking with his pediatrician. We are not a big fan of the medications that are out. He will urinate 3-4 times just prior to going to bed and when we go to bed a short time later he has already wet the bed. I tried pull up and goodnights and he soaks through them. I am worn out and tired of changing sheets daily. We have also had him start cleaning up after himself, but that doesn't help. He is genuinely embarrassed by his situation and I want to help him.
Does any one have any other suggestions?
Thank you all for your advice. We have started looking for the alarm. We also know he sleeps very deeply, which as a baby was a great thing. I have kept every piece of advice close to my heart and will try everything while making sure that he knows it is not his fault.
It sound to me that he has a weak bladder control. There is a exercize for that. I would find out from the Doctor how to do it. You will have to some how teach him. I do it myself. I hope that gave you and idea.
Jodee take heart it will get better. My daughter wet her bed until she was 9 years old. Her bladder wasn't fully developed and she couldn't help it. Have you had your son's checked? It seems like you have covered all the bases--good luck!
Hi Jodee. I have a nephew who does the same thing. The doctors said that it could be passed down from family. His father wet the bed until he was 9 yrs old. They haven't tried to push medication at all. I think he will grow out of it. Maybe he can't control his bladder. I think that you should get that checked out. I wish you luck.
my son did this too. Once we had a friend spend the night after some long thinking. But he was so afraid he might wet on his friend it broke him. Not sure if that will work for your son but maybe worth a try. J.
Hi. My name's M.. My son, who is almost ten, just stopped wetting the bed at night - about 6 months ago. He too would often soak through the Goodnites he wore to bed. Our pediatrician said it could be due to an under-developed bladder (sometimes more common with boys) or even hereditary. Regardless of our efforts, the same result every night. He avoided sleepovers because he was embarrassed and knew other kids his age didn't have this problem. We bought several of the crib-size water-proof pads (it was flat, without any straps or elastic) and he would just sleep on top of these. So, when he did have an extreme accident and wet through his Goodnites, I didn't have to change his entire bed every day - just the pad. And if he noticed it during the night, he would get up and change his clothes and just pull the pad off and get back to bed. I know this isn't much help, but know that it's not uncommon and he will eventually grow out of it.
Hey my son was doing that at 3 and a half. So me and my hubby would tell him were putting a diaper on him.he start crying and we say well if you wet the bed again tonight your going to wear them at nite. He did it a few times and so we went and got some size 6 diapers. And made him wear one he did not like it. He kept saying im a big boy not a baby. But it stoprd him from peeing it took about 2 and a half weeks but it worked
I have a daughter now 17 but was the same way when it came to the bathroom not just going in bed but when we where in the store I,d have to take her and at school the teachers told me that she had to go all the time but it is that she has an over active bladder and they said she is a very nerves child so to deal with that she would use the bathroom alottttttt. so maybe the will help. Sometimes you have to point other things out to the doctors so they will check them.
Hello,
I have a friend whom has a son who is the same age with the same issues. His issue was medical. His bladder was having spasims. With a Dr. Visit and some medication for just a few months it was all cleared up and now he does not need anything is doing fine.
M. C
I have had years of experience, been through the meds that typically don't work. He can't help it. If everything you are trying is not working, then he may either have a geniune physical problem, or, what I have found through lots of friends and research, it can be related to a sleeping pattern problem. Take him to a sleep doctor and have them evaluate. I have a friend who did this, and it was a tedious process having to basically retrain them, but it worked and now their child no longer wets the bed. Please take this advice seriously, I promise I have had TONS of experience. Thanks.
Jodee,
I have been where you are. My oldest daughter had the same problem.We tried everything you did, including medication, which didn't work for her.The day we finally said enough, she was about your son's age and came into our bedroom in the morning all excited to tell us she hadn't wet the bed. She had no recollection that she had wet the bed the night before and instead of changing her sheets again, we just put her in dry pj's and at the foot of the bed. She didn't remember us getting her up, changing her, talking to her and putting her at the foot of the bed. We just felt so bad for her, that my husband and I decided not to worry her about it anymore. We decided that she just slept so deep,she apparently never even felt the sensation of needing to go to the bathroom. We continued to limit her drinks somewhat after dinner, and of course checking on her before we went to bed to see if she was wet, but told her that whenever she got up in the morning and had "had an accident", just to take the sheets off the bed and put them in the bathroom and I would take care of them. As she got older, she still had accidents, although not every night. When slumber parties started or a friend wanted her to spend the night, she would tell her friend's mother about her "problem", that if it was okay she would bring something to protect the bed "just in case".(I must confess I would have spoken to the mother first and alerted her that my daughter was going to speak to her). I did monitor which friends homes she would be going to, and did not allow her to accept invitations unless i knew the family well. I did not want to put my daughter in a situation where later on she might be made fun of, etc..Fortunately, we never had that problem. AT 13 she was still having occasional accidents, and I don't know when they finally stopped. I should also tell you that sometimes bed-wetting runs in the family. I was also a bed-wetter, although not to the degree my daughter was.My husband was in the military, so I faced a lot of wet sheets alone, as well as having 4 other children, 1 a year older and 3 younger. My best advice, hang in there, let your son know you love him no matter what, and don't let the other children make fun of him. Good luck!! N.
I am a nurse at a local Urology office, and it seems like you are doing exactly what we tell our patients to do... limit the fluids at night and frequently waking them up during the night to go to the bathroom. I understand your concern with the medications, and while sometimes they work, they don't always do the trick. One thing that we do reccomend to parents in this situation is to use an "enuresis alarm" which the child sleeps with. Once they first start to urinate, the alarm goes off and wakes the child up allowing them to go to the restroom. Again, it is not always 100% effective, but it may be worth a shot. Best of luck to you!
How do I get my son to even say he has to potty? He talks well enough to say, "juice", "milk", etc, but he will not say, "Mommy, potty." He goes to daycare and will not tell his provider either. What do I do?
P. F.
