Chiro for Bedwetting?

I don't know about the Chiropractor, I was just going to suggest layering the bed with multiple layers of sheets/waterproof pads so if he wets you can quickly pull off on set and the next one is ready to go underneath so you can all get back to bed more quickly.

Both of my kids - YES I said BOTH (I was that lucky...) - wet the bed at night until about the age of 11 or 12. (My husband did too - but not me) With my oldest, I addressed it with the doctor at 4 ( I think - maybe 3) and we took him to a urologist and did an ultrasound - his bladder was fine. (I didn't take 2nd child because I figured it was the same issue for her) We would just have to wait it out. My kids wore night pull ups. I know you said yours will not. I gave it a whole hearted try once, to see if they would stop if they didn't wear them. We were washing sheets a few times a week. We tried for a couple of months and then I got tired of the washing. So back to pull ups. I was starting to wonder what would happen if they couldn't fit the XL pull ups any longer. Was I going to have to switch to adults???? I didn't try waking them up (I had a friend who did that with her son, and it didn't really make a difference) I never tried the pill but I researched it. I also saw the under ware with the alarms. Ya - my kids sleep through their alarm clocks for school. Pull ups were what we did. Eventually - they stopped. But like I said - at 11/12. My daughter liked the Goodnights TruFit inserts. Hang in there - it will stop. And you're not alone! You'd be surprised how many kids 9 and older still wear pull ups or plan ole wet the bed! If he won't compromise with pull ups - I know you said he has a mattress protector - so did we, but I also had down a shower curtain, those hospital pads (yes I pinched a few of those back at birthing) towels, all under the sheets. I'm expecting the same care from them when I get old and start wet the bed ! Probably gonna stick me in pullups.

I'm really surprised that the pediatrician thinks it's okay for your child to never have a good night's sleep. What about your child's brain development?

I'd like to know what pills you tried and for how long. They don't work in the first week or so but that doesn't mean they won't.

My son had this problem and we did alarms (totally dumb idea in retrospect - they only wake the child after he's wet). Then we met with a pediatric urologist - have you done that yet? If not, please do - get another opinion from a specialist. We did a medication called DDAVP and it changed my son's life - he got to really sleep, and he got to have friends over and go to overnight camp. He went off the pills at 10, but the problem came back, so he went back on for another couple of years. The urologist said he has kids as old as 18 on meds sometimes, that every kid is different.

This is a developmental issue, not a training issue and I'm glad you see that. Please get another opinion from a specialist. Chiropractic did not work for us, although it might for your son. We did other things to help with allergies. I think the teeth grinding needs to be looked at, but it might be as simple as a night guard. But if your child actually went into a deeper REM sleep, both of these other problems might be alleviated.

I agree with the moms who say not to wake him. Diane B has good advice for you too. I do not believe that a chiropractor could help. And most chiropractors are not really trained to work on children. I wouldn't do it...

When the brain doesn't tell the bladder to stop making urine, which is developmental, the only thing you can do is try medication to help the brain do this. Like Diane, I wonder how long and what medicine you tried. I also wonder if you're working with a pediatric urologist. I don't think that you are. You should be.

If he is not willing to wear pullups, then he should be washing the sheets. Not as punishment by any means, but because he is old enough to be taking responsibility for himself. Whether he likes it or not, there should be a plastic cover on the mattress to protect it. I hope you haven't given in to that.

Instead of lamenting that he can't go to sleepovers, just accept that until his brain is ready, or a medication works, that it's just not in the cards. My niece wet the bed until she was in her mid teens. Her mother wouldn't do the medication. It is what it is.

We did not have any success with a chiro with this issue. Our 3rd daughter did not stay dry at night until she was nearly a teenager and one day it just stopped. Her pediatrician gave us the best advice of every one we talked to - she would grow out of it. Taking a kid to the bathroom in the middle of the night is a waste of time (and a waste of good, restful sleep). It isn't a "training" issue, either. You just need to wait until that thing in his brain "clicks" and tells him to wake up when his bladder is full (or to retain the urine until he can get to the bathroom in the morning). I am totally against the bedwetting pills (I have reasons for this that others may not agree with) for boys. We did try benadryl for sleepovers with decent success, but that was the ONLY time we medicated for it.

I think the bigger issue is that your son is refusing to wear Goodnights. So he is basically sleeping in urine every night? How is the mattress protected? I would think his entire room would smell of urine if the accidents were just about nightly.

I'd focus way more on the fact that your son is allowed to just overrun your decision to wear Goodnights in order to protect his bed and bedding. Forget the bedwetting - that will take care of itself (really, it will).

I haven't had to deal with this, but I think it's worth exploring with a chiro. I follow a functional medicine doctor (Sara Gottfried) who has written quite a few books on women's health. I remember listening to a podcast of hers years ago where she interviewed someone who talked about the sleep quality of women - particularly in menopause - and all of the systems involved in that. Bladder control was a big factor in women of a certain age having interrupted sleep. While most of us can go all night without needing to use the bathroom, people often have nighttime bathroom trips as they age. The guest walked back through all of the body system that lead to this, and one area that she talked quite a bit about was the jaw (clenching and grinding) and sinuses, and how cranial-sacral therapy can help with addressing some of the core systems and how when you get everything functioning as it should, you can see results in unexpected places, like nighttime peeing. I'm not doing a very good job at all of explaining it, but it was the first time that I ever heard of a connection between teeth grinding and needing to use the bathroom at night.

Anyway...I would definitely give it a try. There isn't really a downside to trying it and if it works, great! If not, you're no worse off than you are now.

Waking him up throughout the night does nothing other than ENCOURAGE his body that he should be waking up to pee multiple times a night, and to expect you're going to be there to handle his toileting needs.

Bedwetting medication only treats the symptoms as long as the meds are taking, they are not--and should not be--a 'long term' solution. Is he a particularly deep sleeper? Some people have success with bedwetting alarms, but frankly--I think you should try try and talk with him about maybe just giving the overnight pants a go, he at least then would be able to sleep comfortably be rested in the morning. He wont be going to college still dealing with this.

Please don't take this like I'm being mean. I'm not. If you were sitting right here with me I'd say the same things.

What you're doing isn't working. You're doing things that don't help and only make it worse.

Stop waking him up. It does nothing. Obviously. Or he would never be wet because his bladder would be empty, right? Waking a kid up does nothing except make them clinch those muscles that help hold it in when we're awake. So they don't empty it all out to begin with. Then as soon as they're asleep their body goes right back to producing urine and it just comes out the rest of the time they're asleep.

Here's how it was explained to me.

When we go to sleep our body stops "producing" urine, we aren't supposed to wake up to go to the bathroom all night. None of us are supposed to wake up to pee. So we sleep and our bladder doesn't get much, if anything, in it all night. Then when we wake up our body starts producing urine again and that's why we often get a full bladder a few minutes after waking up.

Medication is one of the things that changes the chemicals in the body. He could take a pill each night, I think he would be a good candidate and then he'd likely stop the accidents.

Other than just putting a pull up on him and keeping his bedding washed each day or getting the medication from the doc there just isn't much you can do to change his bedwetting.

I know some have had good luck with chiropractic adjustments for this. It did not work for my son. You may wont to find one that specializes in pediatric adjustments. Put totally work a shot.
You said you tried the pills. How long did you try them for and did you try different ones? We put our youngest on them at 10. We had to try a few different kinds and different doses. He ended up taking 4 pills a night (three of one and one of another). I am not sure why you are giving him an option of wearing the overnights. You said he refuses to. If that's the case I would not be waking him up and making him clean it up. No he does not have the control and I totally understand but he's got to do his part. If mine would have refused to wear them then I would have spanked his butt and told him he was wearing them. If he wants to go to sleep overs he's got to wear them. There are many ways to help conceal them.

A few people ages 5-12 used the Maylem bed wetting alarm and it worked! They asked a doctor first, but I have only heard success stories with proper use and follow through of it. good luck!

He just has to out grow it in his own time.
It would help if he would wear pullups but you can put absorbent pads on his bed.
What doesn't help at all is getting him up through the night.
It just makes everyone tired.
I really don't know how a chiropractor could help his bladder mature any faster than it already is.

He's 9 yrs old now and should be able to manage changing himself and his bedding and doing his own laundry at least for his bedding.
Maybe he'll be more receptive to wearing pullups if he's dealing with the consequences of not wearing them on a nightly basis.
Wearing a pullup at a sleepover can be done discretely but wetting the bed at a sleep over because he won't wear a pullup would definitely be embarrassing.
You have to tell him (and have his doctor tell him if you think it will help) that bed wetting to 12, 13 sometimes even 14 yrs old is normal for some people and there is no shame in wearing a pullup until he doesn't need it anymore.
It's not a punishment or a shame thing - it's just what has to be done to deal with this practically until he out grows this.

Teeth grinding is a separate issue.
Talk with your dentist about it and your son should probably be wearing a mouth guard at night.