Pulling My Hair Out!

my aunt son was a bed wetter until he was nine also, I told her to stop giving him something to drink after 8 and it help and i told him when he feel like he have to use the bathroom jump up and go. Or if not i told him a scare tatic, if he keep wetting the bed no lil girl like pissy boys and bed bugs do bite.hahah and that straighten him right up

I just keep waking my 6-year old son every night. My husband wakes him around 11:30 pm and takes him. Then I wake him up at 3 am and take him. That's the only way I have been able to control it.

hi L.,
first rule out any underlying conditions with your pedi. please keep in mind that he's not doing this on purpose. bedwetting is actually hereditary.i used to sleepwalk as a child when i had to go. i have a 9yr. old and 6 yr. old and they both wet the bed. my 9yr. old is considered a secondary wetter because he used to be dry thru the night(he would climb down from his top bunk to go). my 6yr. old is a primary wetter because he never went a length of time being dry. i have plastic sheets on their bed(walmart has them for approx$4)and i have a laundry basket in their room. when they wake up wet they are responsible to put all wet launry into the basket and change p.j.sand sheets. my 9yr. old also knows how to wash his clothes. i know how frustrating this is my 9yr.old has been doing this for 4 yrs. his pedi said it could continue until preteens.i've done everthing possible and it has not worked for me. i just have them share in the responsibility to make it more tollerable and celebrate the dry nights when they have one. good luck!also fyi adding vinegar to the laundry gets rid of the urine smell.

This could be a medical problem. You should take him to see his doctor.

Honey it may jsut be that your child blatter isnt growing as fast as the rest of him and that he cant control his urine in at night. I would call his doctor and see what he says because they may be able to prescribe him something for it. If he dont think that it is a problem than you are going to have to start waking him up every hour or going and buying one of the bed wetting that pad sends out an alarm when u wet the bed. These pads can be purchased at the brewer hannaford in the baby aisle. I hope this helps.

Hi L., I too have a bed-wetter. She's 8. We've been through everything trying to figure out what is causing it. Unfortunately, there is no answer. She's just a very heavy sleeper and doesn't wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. I don't let her drink after 7pm and she uses the bathroom before her bedtime, but it still happens. I know that it's frustrating, but you have to try to keep your chin up and a smile on your face for his sake. Complaining about it in front of him or continuously talking to him about it can cause him more stress and make the problem worse. You said that he is your sister's son. Maybe the core of his problem is not having his mom around. Try a counseling session (together). If nothing else, maybe the counselor can recommend a new tactic for you. My daughter wears Goodnights, but sometimes she really wants to try to make it through the night without one. I never discourage her, so I bought wee-wee pads (what you would use for an animal) and put them under her sheets. It helps to protect the mattress. My pediatrician just recommeded that I wake my daughter up at 1am everyday and have her use the bathroom. We're hoping that her body will eventually get used to waking at that time and she's start to do it on her own. It's tiring for me to have to set the alarm and get up, but I'm sure you know that as a mom we all go to the ends of the earth for our children. Good luck to you and remember that one day he will grow out of it.

I got a great book, Dry All Night, you can find easily on Amazon. It is a great book that you read WITH your child and that helps teach him the tools and confidence he needs to work through this. Be patient, and loving, he will do it!

Have you spoke to your his doctor? My son wet the bed til I spoke to his Ped. he put him on a medicine that worked VERY well til he finally grew out of it at 10 1/2

Hi! My son and many childen have the same problem. Bedwetting is familiar and frustrating; but its most embarassing to your child. I bought a gadget from Walgreens. The pharmacist can find it in their order book and special order it for you. I think its called a bed alarm. You place it under the child when they sleep. If it gets wet, an alarm sounds. The child must get up, change clothes, clean the device, reset it and then go back to sleep. If they don't go through all of these steps (making it a real pain in the neck for THE child when he pees in bed), he will keep doing it. I thought (really I actually believed) that bedwetting was involuntary. I was wrong! My ex husband gave him a stern, man-to-man talk (which I was sure would harm his young ego) and that was the end of the peeing in bed. But, you should first check with the doctor to rule out a medical condition. I think using pullups really set my son back so that he was comfortable peeing in bed. He was also 9 years old! There are similar bed alarms being sold by companies for almost $1000 (for the alarm and program), but Walgreens sells them for $40 aprox and the steps I gave you above are the steps the $1000 program uses. Good luck!!!!!

L.,
Try setting your alarm for 1 or 2 AM-wake him up and have him go pee. He may be a heavy sleeper, like my son, and sleep right through the urge to go pee. It took me about a month of waking Pat up every night, but now he does it on his own and has not wet the bed in over a year:)

Have you spoken with the child's doctor? There could be a medical reason. My daughter is 12 and still has problems. She uses goodnite pants and now the doctor has started her on a nasel spray. My pediatricion believes she will out grow this, not to make a big deal about it. The overnite pants keeps the bed dry so I do not have to do laundry every day and I have a water proof mattress cover that is cloth not plastic and it keeps the matress safe.
J.

Before you start punishing the child for wetting. I would bring him/her to the DR. and get checked out first. It may very well not be his/her fault. they may just have a UTI Urinary Tract Infection cause the young ones to loose control of that area sometimes. Also my daughter who is now 9 yrs old had a reflux disorder. We were trying every thing we could think of to get her to stop wetting and she would even wet her self in the store! so we punished and lectured till blue in the face! nothing worked. We brought her to her Family DR. and the DR kept saying she was not wiping properly or...she was doing it for attention. so, we finaly gave up un the yelling and punishing and brought her to a Urologist to see what he had to say about her. they did some tests and found her kidneys were twice the size of a normal 6 yr olds! she needs surgery! she is fine now! very healthy! And ever sience her surgery no more bed wetting! so, I would definatly take the steps to make sure there is not a medical reason first. even if it comes to be nothing...at least you know that you coverd it! good luck and god bless!

I completely understand how you feel. Please know that this is not your fault or his fault. I have a child with this problem. We also have tried everything. Talked to everyone and what we have come up with is this. She has enuresis. Which is actually a sleep problem. Other symptoms of this sleep problem are teeth grinding and difficulty getting out of bed and seem to need several minutes actually wake up. Most children who bedwet do not have any known medical condition, nothing wrong with them to cause it. Bedwetters tend to spend too much of the night in what is called deep sleep. Most of us go in and out of deep sleep several times a night. In that deep sleep stage their brain is unable to connect with the bladder properly. So they actually have no control over the wetting. Therefore rewards will not work either. AND LIMITING YOUR CHILDS FLUIDS WILL NOT WORK, your child will wet whether they have a full bladder or a bladder that is a quater full. We contacted a company called Pacific International. They came to our home and explained their program to us. It was $2,300.00 for the program. Which is way out of my budget with four kids one already in braces we could afford it. But they gave us enough information to be dangerous. THey suggest putting an alarm in the childs bed to detect wettness. Their is a sight that sells this on line for about $75 - $100. When the alarm goes off the parent must go in and wake the child to the point of actually being fully awake and aware, then bring the child to the bathroom and finish in their. They also recommend having the child change the sheet so you know that they are awake. The key is to reprogram the child to awake before urination. But it also takes a strong 3 - 6 month committment on the parents part to be up whenever the child wets. We have not tried it yet, I am sorry to say. We have 4 children and two are still under 2. So we are still sleep deprived, we are planning on giving it a shot if nothing has changed shortly after her next birthday. I hope this helps, I can honestly tell you I know your frustration. Just please know that it isn't your fault or his. Please let me know if you want to discuss further. It is hard to put it all in this message.

If a 9-yr old is bed wetting, he should be seen by his doctor. Pronto.

A 9 yr wetting the bed is not normal. But because of the situation the children are in, maybe this is his way of acting out (but he is not aware he is doing it). I would suggest taking him to his Ped. and having some tests done. He could have a weak bladder. I don't know why you have custody, but he could be having emotional problems too and this is the cause of the bedwetting.

Good luck and hugs

micki

Well, i live with my mom-in-law, and she had a child, my bro-in-law Ben, with that problem due to illness. They had an alarm system installed (expensive, so probably not a good route for you) that made sure he was AWAKE before doing anything. He then had to go wash his face to really wake up, change the bed himself, help only if needed, and then go to the bathroom. I don't know if this helps!

Without knowing what the other mom's have already suggested, I thought I'd mention what happens to have worked for me. That's not to say it works for everybody. Try not giving any drinks after dinnertime. Thus the bladder is more empty during the night. Then have that be part of the routine everyday along with attempts to try a last minute bathroom trip before bed. Maybe it's not mind over matter but really just too much in the bladder for the evening. Hey it's worth a try.