Bedwetting - Cincinnati,OH

Does she drink a lot of fluids at night? I work for a Urologist and we always tell our patients to stop drinking fluids about 2 hours prior to bedtime, and to make sure they urinate before going to bed....It seems to help. As far as her leaving them on the floor, that could just be a behavior issue. My 5 year old daughter had an issue with wiping after bowel movements and she would get "itchy butt" (as she called it) so I let her use my other daughters baby wipes and that makes a WORLD of difference!! I hope this helps!

I can sympathize on many levels. Some of the things my child has grown out of with time (the wiping, disposing of pull-up, etc.). We finally gave up on the pull-ups and just put the plastic on the mattress, old sheets and an old blanket and now just have him throw it in the wash, dryer, and have him make his bed every day. The amount he wets has cut down, but not enough to not wash and shower every day. Obviously the issue has not gone away for us, but the pressure and stress has. I know my son does not want to wet, but he can't control it or he would have quit long ago. By not being stressed, we are not adding to this already difficult situation.
Good luck--J.

hi A....9yrs old and still wetting the bed?an occasionally accident, yes..but regularly?maybe a medical problem or trouble/stress at home or school.please look into it. leaving the soiled 'goodnites' just on the ground, she is 9 yrs old, and you shouldn't be putting up with that. She is going to have major issues if you and her don't find out the problem. Becuz from what lil you wrote, your daughter doesn't seem to care about this issue. if you want to start easy..what does she drink before bed? how much and at what time? tea/soda/caffiene tends to make us need to go alot. have her drink only water 1-2 hrs before bed. But it really sounds more like a discapline/medical/stress related issue. Good luck and god bless

Hi A.,
talk to your doctor!!
I'm sure there are meds available for this problem. Your doctor my have other suggestions for this problem too!
good luck to you

L.

This is a serious issue in many regards. I am sure this could be a very emotional issue for her and humiliation is not the answer. I would treat this very matter of factly. I think 9 is old enough to know how to dispose of her pullups properly. Show her what she is supposed to do and tell her the consequence if she doesn't take that few moments to do things properly. You will need to check in the mornings for several weeks to ensure she has picked up the good habit, and praise her when she does this properly or follow through on the consequence if she does not. It does not have to be severe, but it should be losing a privilege of some kind and be consistent.

I would also show her the proper way to tend to herself. I would require that she call you into the room when she has finished for an "inspection" to make sure she is clean. My girls will sometimes still ask me to check on the odd occasion if they don't feel they have cleaned themselves properly. She doesn't need to announce to the world that she requires the inspection, a simple call to you with a request that you come would be all it takes, but you need to do your part in checking and advising.

My nephew has had this problem, and he also was successful with the meds; however, he was not permitted to have any drinks 2 hours before bed or any time during the night. This would be difficult for me, because I drink a lot during the night, but I also have to get up a lot which really interrupts my sleep. Better for your child to be limited on liquids than to be forced to get up and/or have an accident.

If your children go to bed before you do, then before you go to bed, you need to physically wake your child up and take her to the bathroom. She will be tired, not wanting to get up, but make sure she does use the bathroom before you let her go back to bed/sleep. For several weeks, you might want to set the alarm for you (not her), and then get her up to use the bathroom. I believe if you can train her to start getting up, she will do this on her own, and you won't have to do this forever, but better to lose your sleep then have the mess every day.

I really do not think you can humiliate her out of doing this, but you can certainly begin to train her into doing the right things. Best of luck to you.

Your daughter does not have controll of her bedwetting period. Not all children's bladder developes at the same rate of speed. My mother tried the medication and it did not work, she tried the alarm system and it did not work. It took me until I was 19 before I quit wetting the bed and you know I would not have done that if it was up to me. I still find a little mess in my hubbys shorts at times and mine as well. Take a step back and don't of all things put to much pressure on her. Good Luck but it might just take awhile but she will come around. Do not brag on your youngest daughter in front of your nine year old.

Talk to your doctor without embarrassing your child. She may have an underdeveloped bladder. There is a medicine that is giving at bedtime to help with it. She should not be having any liquids after 6 or 7 depending on her bedtime. I also have heard of certain food allergies contributing to this type of problem (ie. Ice cream).

One of my daughters had problems with bed-wetting. She would be responsible for making her bed, and putting the sheets in the laundry room if her pullups leaked and she go the bed wet. She didn't stop wetting the bed until she was almost 12. She just slept sooooo soundly. I know she didn't like it, she couldn't spend the night anywhere because she might wet the bed. We tried to keep it matter of fact at our house, and I think that helped her tremendously because it didn't affect her SE or make her feel bad about it. WE did go the medical route of using DDAVP when she was going to be gone overnight. It helped most of the times, so that with a pull up did the trick. If she had an accident, it was usually lessened, so she didn't have to worry. The DDAVP was titrated, the dose increased until there wasn't wetting. This was about 7 years ago, so I don't know if the medicine has changed.
Good luck! Just know your daughter isn't doing this on purpose. She is not lazy, although she may not be taking care of her pullups. But does she always put her dirty clothes in the hamper? PUll ups are no different for her.
R.

She will outgrow this at some point (I did), so I would suggest that you get a plastic cover for her mattress, insist that she dispose of her pullups properly (with loss of privileges for lack of compliance), and supervise her wiping her butt until she gets the hang of it (or she can pay for new underpants with her own money).
Also it wouldn't hurt her to have to scrub out her own underpants at the sink.
Also there are plastic lined disposable pads available that she could sleep on.
And, she can put her own sheets in the washer and dryer each morning that they are wet.
Taking such responsibility should give her a reason to gain control at night.
Surely she wouldn't want to have anyone in her room to play if it is stinky.

One of my children had the wetting problem. At the time they didn't have the good nights, so we tried the medication route. It worked wonderfully. Never a night accident. The doctor said her bladder muscles just weren't maturing fast enough. We did this for a few months, trying a day every 3 weeks to see if thing could work on their own. After about 3 months, never a wet night again. I know people don't like to use medication but I think the emotional strain on her as well as the frustration from me wasn't doing her any favors either. She even did a few sleepovers while taking the meds, I just gave them to her a bit before she left for the night. Hope this helps. She is now in college.

My son also had trouble waking up at night. He's a heavy sleeper. We ended up buying a bed alarm that he would wear and that seemed to help. It took several months of retraining but he's gotten to the point where he will only wet the bed about once a week. You also may talk to your doctor and make sure there is not a medical issue. I know they make some meds that help with bedwetting that your doctor may feel is in order considering her age. Good luck. I know it's very frustrating!