ADHD And Toilet Training

J.,

Often time children grow faster that there bladder. My son is autistic, almost 5 & on no meds & he still wets in his pull up every night. His ped. said it was because he grew faster that his bladder. He will grow out of it. Good luck.

I would not worry about it. My son is very active and when he finally gets to sleep he sleeps so soundly that he doesn't even know when he has wet the bed until he wakes up in the morning.

It used to be an every night thing but as he has gotten older it is just once in a while when he is out of his normal routines or when he has been overly tired.

You can try getting him up two hours after bed time to go to the bathroom. Then if he is still wet in the a.m. try waking him 3 hours after bedtime and so on until you find the best time for him to get up with as few words or lights as possible and go to the bathroom.

I think you would be VERY surprised to know just how many boys have night time problems up until they are as old as 10 years.

I always just explained that it was not their fault and that all we have to do it clean it up by stripping the bed and taking a bath.

Hope this helps.

Ms. J.,
I know what you're going through! My ADHD/RAD son took what seemed like forever to get through the night dry! I can empathize, but, all I can say is have LOTS of patience! I actually put a plastic sheet on my son's bed, and used a gold star chart to chart his progress. After 1 week of dry nights, he was rewarded( small trinket, book,etc.). Then we would "try" the underwear at night. If he made it through a whole month without any "accidents", then he got his choice of sheets for his bed (Spiderman, Cars, Scooby-Doo, etc.). BUT, if he "reverted", then it was back to the pull ups and the plain white sheets. After just two months, there were no more accidents. I know two months may seem like a long time, that's why I said LOTS of patience is needed. It worked for my son, but since each case is individualized, you may have to "tweak" it for your child.

I had a nephew that had problems until he was 7. I know they tried everything but he just had to grow up. From what I understand, it's not uncommon for kids to have problems up until about that age. My advice would be to confirm that with your doctor, and hang in there!

I also have a 7 year old son with ADHD. He was diagnosed at 5. We put him on the Daytrana patch, and he is doing great - no longer getting trouble in school, and is now keeping up with his classmates. Good luck with that - I know it's hard!

Does he sleep very hard still and just doesn't wake up? Is he afraid to get out of bed in the dark? Is he drinking too much before bed? Is he on meds for adhd or Aspergers? Maybe that may contribute to how soundly he sleeps.
Maybe adjust his schedule and like the other mom said, don't give him anything to drink or eat after a certain time of night depending on when dinner is or what his bedtime is.
Hope this helps.

Jenny

Try not to give him anything have 6pm to drink and maybe try waking him every couple of hrs until he gets in the habit of waking on his own to go to the bathroom. If that will work.

Hope that helps

I also have a son with ADHD and he wet the bed up until about a year and a half ago. He's now ten. When his medication changed to what he's on now is when he stoped wetting the bed so I think that had something to do with it. Check with your doctor if your concerns are major.

The medicine may be part of the problem, but I have 2 sons, both of which suffered from nite accidents(up to age 10), neither have adhd/aspergers. If you keep caffeine out of their diet, this helps tremendously(no popw/caffeine, no chocolate, etc). I tried all of the other suggestions, and it is just too much trouble for everyone, to get them up to go pee during the nite. If you are tired of buying pull ups, then just put a plastic cover over their mattress and do laundry every morning. Have your son help with this task.

I have two sons with ADHD, two different children and symptoms, same horrible disability! My youngest son also was wetting the bed, I spoke to my pediatrician about these episodes and we determined after months that his medication was causing problems with urethra and urinal tract. I would set my alarm at 4 hour increments to toliet him because it was easier and cheaper than changing sheets or pullups. Also no fluids after dinner. We are going on two months of no accidents. If your child is taking ADHD medications you may want to check out the side effects on the perscription bottle.