I know a lot of parents have problems with bedwetting. My son, now 7, has not really ever been dry at nights. We're setting up an appointment with the family doctor because we've tried no drinks before bedtime, alarm systems (don't wake him), waking him every 2 hours to take him to the potty (and he's still wet most nights). He's very hard to wake from sleep, we've tried turning on the lights, a cool washcloth on his face, lifting him and putting his feet on the ground all with varying results. He doesn't have any problems during the day. Any advice?
Not what you are going to want to hear--but my 11 year old son is finally dry most nights--still has issues if he is overtired. He is a very hard sleeper also. It is also hereditary (sp?) His cousin has the same issue as did his aunt growing up.
Try Chiropractic! I have worked for a chiropractor for about 4 years now and have seen many children with this issue. Since starting chiropractic their nighttime wetting has stopped...or become very very less frequent. It's a very non-invasive and drug free option!
I used to work for The Simon Foundation for Continence, a nonprofit that helps adults and children with incontinence, including enuresis (bedwetting). I'm not a health professional, but I know a bit from working in the field. Our bodies make a chemical/hormone that helps condense our urine at night so that we can go through the night (that's why urine is a brighter color yellow in the morning - from being condensed down all night). Often when children are delayed in nighttime dryness, the physical fact is simply that their body is not yet making enough of the hormone. Some kids are also very deep sleepers, which it sounds like is the case with your child. I personally believe there's almost always a problem with the hormone, because whether or not children are deep sleepers, those who don't wet the bed almost never get up at night to urinate, so it stands to reason that even if a child is a deep sleeper, he should be able to hold his urine through the night if his body is working correctly.
My son has this issue, though not every night. He also was a very heavy sleeper. We could throw him onto the top bunk and he would not wake up. Heavy sleepers do tend to sleep right through the signals that they need to go to the bathroom. And of course their bladders cannot hold any more so it comes out. One thing that might help is having him take a nap after school. This was suggested for our son. It helped a little bit as he was not as tired so did not sleep as deeply.
You will just have to let it take its course. It will be very hard to do. I've experience it with my sister until she was 16 yrs old and my husband's brother at the same age. I now have a 14 yr. old who has been wetting the bed most of her life. Now that she is in High School and all through Jr. High, I've made her responsible for cleaning the sheets and wiping down the bed. There is a cover for the mattress that you can buy at a bed store to keep from purchasing a mattress every couple of months. I just let it go and eventually it will go away. She too is a heavy sleeper and i've tried everything. Nothing works. It is up to them. When she does sleepovers, she doesn't have this problem. It will work itself out. Don't fuss or complain about it to him, just talk to him and show him how to keep it clean. Good Luck!
Some interesting facts:
72percent of bedwetters are between the ages of 5 and 9
one in 20 children wets the bed at age 10
70percent of bedwetters are boys
Every year 15% of children who wet the bed become dry without any intervention
Some children just have delayed baldder devlopment, it tends to run in families, no consitent relationship to bedwetting and a sleep disorder, very unlkikely that its a behaviour disorder
I personally, have a four year old who still doesn't get through the night most nights....I prefer sleep over worrying about this. Use underjams and get a good night sleep would be my opinion.
Hi E. you're doing the best by taking him to see his peditrican. Although some of us may have had a similar problems with our children, it may not be the same. So his doctor's advice is the best.
In the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book by Dr. Weisbluth, the author suggests that sometimes this happens when the child has a sleep disorder. Such heavy sleeping can be a sign of breathing problems at night. You might want to go to an ENT for an eval of the tonsils. I remember that the book said that sometimes having the tonsils come out makes the problem dissapear right away. I'm not usually a fan of such dramatic intervention, but I wanted you to have this info. My daughter, now 8, is a very heavy sleeper and had a big problem w/ bedwetting. We just kept her in a big kid night time pullup for years. Then last year, we went to a urologist. We tried the "try for dry" program (with a few modifications for us) and it worked great. The basic components are 1) an alarm, 2) a fiber supplement like Miralax, 3) a prescription muscle relaxant, and 4) dietary changes. The alarm worked for us, we used a Malem brand. It didn't wake her all by herself for the first week, but it was so loud that it woke me up and I went and woke her up. The theory behind the miralax is that if you aren't regular, fecal matter in the colon can put pressure on the bladder, reducing bladder capacity and making you need to urinate more frequently. This really helped for us, even though I was super skeptical at first. In fact, after she was completely trained, I stopped giving her the Miralax and noticed that she had a few accidents when she didn't have it. We skipped the prescription muscle relaxant -- this seemed a bit over the top for us -- but the theory was the same. Basically, the bladder is tiny and if it is relaxed a bit capacity can be increased. I'm not a big believer in drugs for kids, and I didn't feel that getting dry was this important, so we didn't do it. Also, I felt that if we made many big changes at once, and saw some improvement, I wouldn't really know what was causing the improvement. I don't remember all of the dietary changes that were suggested because very few of them applied to us. One thing I remember was that they said there is a big connection between ice cream for dessert and night time wetting. My daughter doesn't care for ice cream, so she doesn't ever have it for dessert.
We did have her evaluated by an ENT, who said that her tonsils were large, but not gigantic. He was on the fence about taking them out, so we did not do it. My daughter has learned to be dry at night, but she has also become a sleepwalker. I feel that the two are related, so we may have to revisit the ENT or have some sort of sleep eval in the future. Good luck!
Same with all my kids so far! Especailly my oldest son. But all outgrew it. My Ped. told me, "I will bet that you or your husband was a bedwetter too, and whatever age you grew out of it, will likely be the same age your son does." There does seem to be a link, and I know my boys were very active during the day, and slept hard at night... my oldest did grow out of it before Jr. High, and my younger ones even earlier. (p.s. My husband was the bedwetter!!! ha, ha)
E. - please pass on what info you get. We're in the same boat. Truman will turn 7 on 1-30 w/the same issues. My pedi said to wait til he's 10 (just use a Goodnights diaper) because many boys brains don't mature until then - especially in heavy sleepers. It's HUGELY frustrating to all of us - especially since my 4 yr old has been wearing undies at night for a whole year. Anyway - just letting you know you're not the only one out there. - J.
Try chiropractic! It works!
My son was the same a very heavy sleeper. He would get so angry too when we would try to get him up. We took him to the urologist just to make sure nothing was wrong physically. And we never made a big deal of the wet bed in the a.m. He would help me take the sheets off to wash. Th Dr gave us a perscription for ddvp. Alot of diabetics take this because they urinate so often. He was 7 also when we started this. WOW what a difference. He went to sleep overs at the neighbors house. He was so proud of himself. And once again we cheered him on for being dry the first day or two, but never made a great deal of it. We explained to him that this happens to boys. It happened with my husband and is passed down too. The bladder does not develop as eary on some, making them have to get up and urinate. Only our boys sleep through this. We had him on till about ten. We went 6 months then tried to stop , but accidents started again. It's a trial and error process. BTW my older boy had no problem training or staying dry from age 3,and he always woke up when he needed to pee, only once it was in his hamper and another in his dresser..... go figure ahhaha. Anyway good luck. You sound like a good mom . Another thing my son hated meds of any kind, but would remind me that he needed his bedtime pill, yeah he was proud of himself.
It was running in my husbands family,including him.
I remember my niece sleeping over many years ago,and her mom told me this could happen, she was about that age.
My son 5 is doing it,I do believe he is spooked at night to go and doesn't want to wake us up.
My daughter years ago was doing it,she was also sleepwalking.
All I can say,they all grew out of it eventually.
I am so with you- I have two boys, 9 and 7, that are the same way!!!! Let me know what your doctor says as that is my next step as we did the same things you mentioned and nothing. Very frustrating.
I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but he will grow out of it. Both of my boys (now 15 and 10) were bedwetters. Older one until 6th grade, and younger one until 4th grade. I was a bedwetter, as was my husband and my father. We tried the medicine for a bit with my older son, didn't work. Have him wear goodnights, so that he is comfortable, and you won't have to wash sheets everyday. Don't make a big deal out of it. He sounds like a very deep sleeper, like both of my boys. His bladder has to mature a bit. My older son would bring a goodnight in his sleeping bag if he went to a sleep over, but he really found that he didn't wet when he slept over. Be patient, this too shall pass.
I had the same problem with our son. He was potty trained since 18 months but never at night. I spoke to the doc and she recommended stopping food and drink after dinner. She said there is something in the brain that food triggers to have to urinate. We had tried the limiting of liquids before that and it had not worked. Once we did the food and liquid it took about a month and that worked great. We made sure there was no intake of anything after 6 pm. He was old enough that he wanted to make it work also so we worked hard, it was tough not to have any after dinner snacks/drinks but we did it as a family. He is now 11, it had been 3 years and only one accident since then. Good luck!
sounds odd but i have heard that a chiropractor has helped with this type of situation more than one time, so may be worth a try. if you are in the NW suburbs I can give you 2 different people that work on kids so email me! good luck!
