Answers to Breaking a 6 Year Old from Wetting the Bed

I have a co-worker whose 7 year old was still wetting the bed. She tried everything you've seen mentioned above and finally had a sleep study done when nothing else worked. He had a pediatric sleep apnea. He now wears a custom dentist made mouthpiece and hasn't had a problem since!!

Sodas retain water and are drunk during the day. The water has to be released from the body at some point. If she is drinking sodas, try cutting back on sodas or salt.

I was a bed wetter until 8. It was determined that I had a bladder shaped like a football that would not contain the fluids. I had to have surgery to fix the problem. It took several doctors to find the issue. I am not saying this is your daughters problem and I hope it definitely is not!

I would suggest you teach your daughter kegels now to assist her in training her bladder and pelvic floor. Tell her to stop and start the stream of urine. This helps her gain control of the bladder. It also helps the bladder grow and it strengthens the pelvic floor.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/kegel-exercises/WO00119

I didn't know the importance of Kegels until now! After giving birth to my now 8 month old, my pelvic floor became knotted. I am currently going through therapy for this. :| I'm learning a lot! If we would all do our kegels, we might not ever have a need for Depends. :)

My best to your little one!

Hi P..

Try not giving her any liquids about 2 hours or so before bedtime. It helped with my girls.

I've heard the bed alarms work quite well. Also, I know from experience if my children are over tired they will most likely wet the bed. I learned to stick to a bedtime and strict bedtime routine. Even now that he's 13 year old, routine is very important and seems to prevent minor problems sleep deprivation can cause.Kids require different amount of sleep too. My son does well with 7-8 hours but my 8 year old daughter must have 9-11 hours or it won't be a good day.

P.,

I have a 14 year old that still does on occasion. There is one thing that my mom used to use for my step brother. Honey if they take a tablespoon of honey it is suppose to keep them from wetting the bed. It worked for him but my son will not do it so i just make sure he goes to the bathroom several times before bed and does not have any thing to drink for 2 hours before bed. Alot of the times its because their body is growing faster then their bladder. Good luck

Princess

My son was a bedwetter until he was 7. On the advice of both my pediatrician and a friend, I bought a sleep alarm from Starchild Labs, called SleepDry. I think the literature said to expect results after a month, but my son was cured within a week. The best $60 I've ever spent. Good luck!

P.,

I have posted this response to many others:

I don't really have any help for you other than to let you know that you are not alone. My son has been a bedwetter since day one, and can tell you that with him the only thing anyone wants to do is give him one of those alarms you wear on your underwear. I had one as a child and my problem got worse so I do not reccomend them at all.

Anyway, bedwetting can be caused by numerous things. Not enough of the hormone that "shuts down" urine production at night, too small of a bladder, an over-active bladder, and on and on. Do understand though that typical bedwetting is not considered a problem until children are about 8 years old (and even then, NOT a big deal until AFTER puberty)!

The urologist we saw said to cut way back on caffine, chocolate, carbonation, and citrus...cut out liquids after 4pm and only small amounts with dinner...make sure he uses the bathroom EVERY 2 hours and sits/stands for at least 2 minutes every time (to make sure the bladder is completly empty), and most importantly that the problem would not change if the child did not think it was a problem. My son is also 9 and wets the bed nearly every night. I have a waterproof protector on his bed and I wash sheets daily (as goodnights are WAY TOO expensive to use every night). My son does not feel his bedwetting is a problem so he is not ready to make an effort to change. So as much as I push, he will not use the restroom every 2 hours, he will not stay in there for 2 minutes, he sneaks drinks well into the evening...so I have stopped fighting. I figure as long as nothing is medically wrong (and we have had many tests), and he is OK with it...eventually he will decide that this is not what big boys do. Until then, I have choosen not to fight this battle.

Sorry I'm not much help. Just wanted to let you know what our experiences have been. Hope you get some answers.

I don't know what you've come up against in the past, but I know of two children who have gone through this same thing - apparently, it's a tale-tale sign of ADD. The two children that I know of are brother and sister, and both of their parents did the same thing. There isn't really a cure for it. The oldest, a boy, he's 10 and still wears pull ups to bed. He's very embarrased by it, but it's not his fault.

I'm not familiar with this any further than that... but it seems to be bad for the children.

Yes, definitely try no liquids a couple of hours before bed, and you could try setting your alarm for a mid-night or 1am trip to the restroom. We had to do this for a year or so, but it eventually worked! Some kiddos are just such sound sleepers and they don't wake up to go! GOOD LUCK! :)

P.,
By the number of other requests just like yours on mamasource, you should realize that this is a very common issue.

Bedwetting can happen for many, many years. The med... DDAVP, will work and you might want to try it or at least get the nasal version that she can use for sleepovers.

There are lots of great alarms etc out there.... go to
www.bedwettingstore.com and check out all the products and tips they have for you. (I think they're going to have to start paying me for all the referrals I give them!)

My son was a bed wetter too. He is 19 years old. Back then there was this device called a potty pager. It vibrates and wakes then up when they start to pee. It was a miracle device. You may want to google potty pager and see if it is still around. It was around $50.00. Ofcourse that was 12 years ago. Good luck. I would try this before I gave any meds.

such a common problem. try limiting her intake of liquids a few hours before bed time. most of the time it works there is also a factor of self- esteem. Not saying your daughter doesnt have any but most time if there lacking that lil boost of self esteem they tend to show it this way. I had a daughter also with same problem it went on for years i can say but i didnt know at the time it was lack of self esteem. Most children do better in alot of things with a lil self esteem. Just encourage her that she is doing great give her that lil boost and try to limit intake of liquids before bed time. Gradually it should help. good luck

This is a very frustrating time for you and your daughter. Her asking for help is a great thing. She will be willing to try new things to help. I have delt with this problem as well with my child and myself when I was little. I did what my parents did with me and it became successful. Stop drinks, ALL drinks early. Right after dinner. And only let her have a little with dinner if you eat late. I know with being a working mom and children that you are running here and there and then home for homework, dinner, and family time, and bed. If you can make her last drink as far from bed time as possible, she will most likely be empty when she goes to bed. Have her go before bed and then before you go off to bed, take her one more time. Then in the morning get her up right when you get up to have her go. I found that it was early morning (just before getting up) is when we had the problem.

Hope this helps.

I am now a grandmother and by marriage a great grandmother. When I was little, both me and my younger sister had bet wetting problems. With me, I remember dreaming I was going to the potty, and wake up wetting my bed. I still dream such, but usually wake up in time, sometimes only a little leaked. I think my sister was just a heavy sleeper. I quit wetting when I got my period at 11, for some reason, but I was sharing a bed with my sister and my parents could not tell I had quit. My parents handled the problem very badly, enough said about that.
When I was a parent and faced with the same problem, I think I improved on the negative skills I learned from my parents, and I think if the pull ups were available, I might have been tempted to use them. I was always patient with them, never shamed them, and never punished them. I did not allow liquids after a certain time, woke them in the middle of the night, but with my youngest son, that still was not enough. I think some of the other mothers' suggestions are very good. I now wish I'd had a forum such as this that I could have used to help raise my kids (I had four, but only two were bed wetters). Eventually, they both grew out of it.

Also, when I had my first son, he NEVER wet the bed, I noticed when he was a tiny baby, that he did not wet until he waked. It was extremely easy to potty train him, I just put him on the potty as soon as he got up. And I remember thinking to myself "what was all the fuss about?" Well, when I had my daughter, boy did I find out what potty training was like. Every child is different.

Point is, be patient, don't shame, don't punish, have the child checked out by a good pediatrician, watch liquids, and know that it will pass.

Every child is different. Give her time. Some children wet their bed past 10 years old.The last thing you want her on is medication. The side effects can be worse than wetting the bed. Give her time. As long as she's not wetting herself during the day, it isn't too much of a big deal. Do some research and find a VERY good doctor. Most importantly, reassure her that it is ok and there's nothing to be ashamed about. She is very likely blaming herself.
Make sure too keep her away from fluids at least one hour before bed and no caffeneited drinks three hours before!
Hope this helps!

You are not alone. My daughter is almost 7 and still wears a pull up every night. She isn't wet every morning, but I'd say at least 3-4x/week. We also tried cutting back drinks- it didn't seem to help. I guess I could get her up in the middle of the night. Our dr. said it's normal and that her bladder may not be developed all the way yet. So, hopefully soon...

P. I had the same problem with my son now 12. We would get him up two and three times during his sleep time and still we would have accidents. We tried alarm clocks to help him wake up but he would not wake up to them, like your daughter my son is a VERY sound sleeper. We did have him checked out (of course he was "normal") and we used meds for a little while (they didn't help). We talked to a specialist and he said give it time. Well, he is still a sound sleeper and we monitor his fluid intake at night but I truely believe his bladder has just finally grown big enough to hold his urine all night. We still on very very rare occasions have an accident. I know this was probably not the answer you were hoping for but this is my story.

R.

This is what worked for us with our daughter, though each child is different.

Anyway, we bought two bed covers (twin size):
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_ba/104-###-###-####-###...

It lays over the sheets, so if they have an accident, the only thing that gets wet is the cover. It's easy to pull off and wash and lay the clean one down. We also had a set of new pj's and underwear laid out so they would be easy to put on. We never did use pull-ups (actually think they cause more problems than help!).

We also took her potty chair and sat it next to her bed. We explained everything to her before hand in a very positive way. It was interesting to see that she had no instinct to wake up to pee. It makes sense considering she had always worn diapers and there was no reason to wake up and pee.

About 2-3 hours after she went to bed, we would go in and wake her up, sit her on the potty. She would go and we'd lay her back down. Sometimes it was clear she didn't actually even wake up. We always did it 2-3 hours after she went to bed and then sometimes we would do it again during the night. But that is a decision you'd have to make depending on whether she wets the bed again through out the night. We tried to time it to see what was normal for her body. If she would've wet the bed around 4am as well, we would start getting her up at 3:30-3:45am to have her go. You would only need to do this for as long as it takes to get her body used to waking up on it's own at that time. For our daughter, it seemed to take 2-3 weeks of consistent waking up to get her body to adjust to waking up for it. Once she finally started waking up on her own, we didn't have to do anything else. We still have the potty next to her bed because it's an easy way for her to go.

I highly suggest no pull-ups. Even if she is wetting the bed every night. The bed covers were GREAT. Also, make sure to never respond negatively to her or get upset at her. We would say something like, "Oh yucky. You got pee all over you. Next time if you need to go, we have this potty chair right here for you to use so you don't get wet." So we acknowledged it was gross for her, but we didn't get upset at her.

My niece is 11 years old and wears diapers to bed. Some children are older than others. Also, it is something my sister has a hard time being patient about, so she has done what she needs to do in order to keep the peace. Whatever works for you, you should do.

Hope this helps some! It worked great for us, but each child responds differently.

This comes from a childhood bed wetter (up into my adolescence), and someone who has spoken to many others. She cannot help it. She is probably a sound sleeper without a big enough bladder to hold it all night. She will likely continue wetting the bed until her bladder is large enough to hold it all night (I was almost 14!!!!) or until she hits a phase where she is not such a hard sleeper. I doubt there is much you can do to change the problem. Stopping liquids 2 hours before bed will give her an emptier bladder, so it's a good idea. It won't necessarily stop the wetting, but it could help. Sticking to mostly water (rather than sugary drinks) is always good for her bladder and the rest of her body. It's also good to have her try and hold it a little during the day. Not extended periods, that can cause bladder infections. But sometimes little ones want to hit the potty the second they feel an urge. If they learn to wait just a bit, it gives their bladder a chance to fill up, possibly helping it "stretch" some, but making it more likely that they will empty their bladders completely when they go.

Anyway...I'm not a doc, so my ideas aren't concrete. But, I mostly want to be sure you know that it is not something that requires discipline or repremanding. The more relaxed and accomodating you are about it, the better she will deal with it. It's okay to teach her to help you strip and wash her sheets, as long as it is done in a loving way of teaching her responsibility rather than as punishment. Just make sure she knows she is not abnormal...it happens to LOTS of kids. My 6-yr-old son still wears his pull-up as well, and I am hoping he and his siblings don't inherit my longterm problem. But if they do, we're just going to roll with it and know that it won't last forever (just possibly into the brink of adulthood for my poor kids...hahahaha!!).

Good luck!
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