Bed Wetting - Sleep Alarms?

Updated on April 15, 2008
A.A. asks from Chicago, IL
11 answers

My 6 year old still is wet every night. I have been reading that it's not the bladder but a sleep problem, she sleeps too heavily which isn't good and she's not able to wake up. So we are looking into different options and the one that seems the most effective is a sleep alarm. Has anyone tried this and what one worked? There are tons out there and even a few companies that work with you like Pacific International, but it's very expensive. So I want to find something that will work, but doesn't break the bank. Any feedback would be great.
thanks in advance!

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So What Happened?

Thank you everyone for your responses. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Malem Sleep Alarm. My daughter is ready and I think this is the best option for us right now. Thanks again for all the input.

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J.

answers from Chicago on

My daughter has the same condition, it is sleep related. My other daughter doe not. We did the whole alarm, kegels, sleep training thing and it was really stressful for her and the family. We wasted thousands of $$$. She is just in a pull up now it seems to be the best thing for us. She will out grow it when he sleep changes preteen. Good luck

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M.F.

answers from Chicago on

Hi A.,

We went through the same thing with my son when he was age 5 and 6. The doctor suggested the alarm if we wanted to use it, or he said we could just wait and see. We used GoodNites and tried waking him in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. He is a very heavy sleeper, which I'm sure was the issue. Anyway, after a few weeks of getting him up during the night, he started to have dry nights on his own (or getting up on his own), and he has now been dry for several months and we are done with the GoodNites. So, of course only you can decide what is best for you and your daughter, but we did not go with the alarm and it worked itself out.

Just my 2 cents,
M.

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J.W.

answers from Chicago on

My daughter who is 7 yrs old was wetting the bed. I would get up in the middle of the night to wake her up and she wouldnt move at all. So I figured she was just a deep sleeper. Used pulls for a long time. I took her to the doctors and talked to him about it. He said that there are meds out there that can help, but they have a lot of side effects, he does not recommend them. So he gave me a this number to call and get the alarm. I went home and talked with hubby about getting the alarm. I really didnt think this would work. But OMG it did. With in a month she was completely trained. I could not believe it. I highly recommed you getting one. You do need to be patient with the first week or so. What the alarm is doing is training your child to wake up and stopping peeing in the bed and then go to the bathroom to finish. It is training there bladder. I paid $59.90 that is with the shipping. Here is the info if you are interested
Starchild/Labs
1-###-###-####

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C.O.

answers from Chicago on

My son had the same problem - He slept so soundly, he never woke up to to use the bathroom. I also read that children with this problem also make more urine at night instead of shutting down. More urine plus deep sleep make very wet nights. We used a Wet Stop-2 sleep alarm and were amazed at how well it worked. It's a small unit that just clips to the underwear. It's easy to clean, so you may want to check E-bay for used deals.

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B.S.

answers from Chicago on

I had experience with a 6 year old girl who had a similar problem and it was discovered that when she wnt to the bathroom her bladder didn't completely empty and she would wet because of this. She got better after seeing a urologist with some medication. Also limit drinks after dinner (no liquids after 6-7 pm) and Milk has hormones in it which leads to bedwetting.

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D.S.

answers from Chicago on

A.,
Been there and tried that and it did not work for us. We took my son to specialists and spent so much money it was nit even funny until finally one specialist told us the truth. My son was very thin and not because he did not eat he was a very healthy eater with a big appetitie. But he siad that children that tend to be thin like him boy and girls alike tend to have this bed wetting problem and there is no physical reason behind it, He called it an immature bladder and told us to use the goodnights on him and he would eventually outgrow it and he did. Bedwetting is very common.
So don't waste your money on alarms just use the goodnghts and ride it out.

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J.E.

answers from Chicago on

I have three friends taht use thepotty pager and it has worked for ALL three kids! one was 8 and th other 6 and the other 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
J.

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B.S.

answers from Rockford on

Well, My son will be 8 in August & he had this very problem. So much so that he was not able to use pull ups anymore due to his size & the amount that he would pee everynight. My ped recommended the Malem bedwetting alarm & let me tell you, I would recommend it to anyone. After the brain becomes conditioned to the alarm the child wakes up to go to the bathroom before the alarm even goes off. The idea of the alarm is to teach the brain to know what the body feels at night when it has to urinate. At first we woke with the alarm as well as my son, we would get him up to go potty, then tuck him back into bed. The alarm sounds when the dampness hits the alarm, which in turn after time, causes the body to stop urinating to get up to go. Also, the alarm cannot be just shut off for the child to go back to sleep. It has to be shut off & dried. After a week or so, he was able to do it on his own without us waking. When we first started with it we did keep the pull ups just to cover up the outside of his underwear. He can now be confident to sleep over with a friend instead of just being able to be at Grandmas house.
It was well worth the $100 investment to us.

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S.O.

answers from Champaign on

My memory of sleep alarms: waking up in the middle of the night to an alarm from across the house. Walking across the house into my brother's room to find him fast asleep. LOTS. I am very anti-sleep alarm because it did not work and it woke me up frequently (I was around the age of 10).

I wish I could offer you more options, my understanding is that children eventually grow out of it although I know of an 11 year old that still has problems which isn't encouraging.

I recommend discussing other options with doctors.

Good luck.

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T.A.

answers from Chicago on

My girlfriend starting using one of these with her son b/c he is such a heavy sleeper and it is working like a charm! He really wanted to use is as he is in 2nd grade and little embarassed about it. She got the one that one step ahead carries which I think was about $80-90. I was thinking ebay may carry them however for sanitary reasons you may want to get new. Good luck. I hope you have as much luck as she is!

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L.M.

answers from Chicago on

We used Pacific International with my then 7yo, and they were fabulous! In just three months, she "graduated". Every once in a blue moon she might have an accident- like once every 9 months. Otherwise, she is either makes it through the night dry or gets up to go to the bathroom.

It IS expensive, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. And, I may have to- with my now four year old. He seems to have the same issues. They do have financing, though.

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