My 7 Yr Old Still Has Accidents at Night

my 6 year old does it too. the doctors have checked there is nothing wrong. its phycological.its the only thing in their life they can control. he said if she needs pull ups give them to her. i use a reward system if she can stay dry in the same pull up for two days i give her a dollar for the dollar store for a toy if she can work up to a week shell get a movie and so on. we also have and ongoing sticker chart. every dry night she gets a sticker in the morning and those nights of accidents we right well try harder.

Hi R.,
I have a six year old who still wears pull-ups. We've tried many of the suggestions you've read from other readers too, but realize this may be something we can't make happen until his body is ready.

Our pediatrician suggested the following: Have your child get ready for bed the usual way, but DON'T have them go to the bathroom. Tuck them in, read a story, kiss them goodnight and turn out the light. Tell them you will be back in 5 minutes to check on them. Have them go to the bathroom at that time.
The pediatrician suggests you use this DELAY to train the mind
to get up out of bed to use the bathroom once already in bed. Extend the time you "check on them" up to an hour. If they use the potty on their own great! This reconditioning has worked for many, so I'm told. We're just starting to implement this ourselves. Good luck!

I guess the concept is to have the body learn to get up when the sensation is felt BEFORE they hit that deep sleep.

I AM IN TOTAL TOTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE RESPONSE FROM SARA P. I myself was a "bed wetter" as they call it. It was horrible! Devistating actually. My mom never got angry or anything, but I was ashamed and embarrassed that I could not control it NO MATTER WHAT I DID. If I spent the night somewhere, I would try to lay awake most of the night, so as not to have an "accident." But it seemed if I fell asleep even for a short time, I still would! We didn't have pull ups. I can't tell you how hard I tried, I even tried what they called "stretching or expanding " your bladder. I would drink and drink and then "hold it" for a painfully long time. It didn't work! They even tried me on some kind of pill--I guess it gave me nightmares--so off that I went.
The Long and Short of it is, I was around 12 or 13 years old before I could stop. One morning I just woke up DRY! And then again, then again and again! Literally, it seemed like overnight something changed. So please be patient and don't let her feel bad about herself. But continue to just encourage her to try, of course and reassure her that it WILL STOP.
Just an extra tidbit. My 5 year old daughter, was soaking pull-ups right through. I would have to change her pull up during the night, as not to have the bed get soaked too. So I figured, unfortunately, she was going to be like me. But I just continued to encourage her (just to keep her interested in trying). But always let her know, I was not upset at her, that sometimes parts of our growing body don't keep up with each other. Well, she went to a birthday party and FELL IN LOVE with this baby chou chou doll. And I mean really took to her. She was devistated and sobbed all the way home about her. So her daddy said, if you stay dry at night for two weeks straight (NO ACCIDENTS), then we will get you that baby. Well, she asked me to wake her at night, so I did (like 2 to 3 times), trying to help her be successful. Amazingly, this worked!! Actually, she had one accident at her grandmas, that she was so upset about that she hid the pull-up, and tried to hide the fact that it happend. And she did get her baby chou chou. She has been sleeping in "undies" every since. Though, she occasionally (once a month, maybee) has an accident.
So just keep believing in her. :)
T. L

Hi R., my daughter is now 6 and she wore pull-ups
to bed till she was 5 and a half years old. At first when we took the pull-ups away she did wet the bed a few times, but now she has been getting up in the middle of the night and
going to the bathroom herself. My advice would be to make sure
your child goes pee before bed, and encourage ur child to get up in the middle of the night if she needs to go to the bathroom.....also to save the mattress u may want to put a plastic mattress cover for future accidents..... Good Luck hope u get past this issue soon......

M.

bedwetting is completely normal - esp if either you or her dad were a bedwetter (40% with 1 parent as a bedwetter, 70% if both were*0. My daughter was doing the same thing and only recently been dry every night (well 2 accidents since september - but compared to 2 or 3 a week it's a big difference!). We did use the Goodnights - not only to protect her mattress - but also her dignity. She would wake up wet and be blaming herself - and it was not her fault. Her dad wet the bed until 11 or 12, and she is a very heavy sleeper (WW3 could be happening and she would sleep through it).

No child i've ever known would voluntarly want to wet the bed. There could be a number of issues as to why she is wetting (bladder has caught up growing with the rest of her body yet, heavy sleeper, genetics, etc).. my best advise is to use the goodnights - wake her up once during the night to go to the bathroom - and maybe "reward" her for not having an accident (but not punish her if she does). Reward meaning - maybe a sticker chart and getting something from a $1 store if she goes a week or after 10 stickers, etc...

if you think something else might be the issue (and sometimes it is) you could take her to the dr for an evulation.

good luck - i promise it doesnt last forever!

Maybe it's worth setting an alarm about 4-6 hours after she goes to bed to make her try to go potty. I know it's a pain, but you would rather praise her for getting up and using the potty, than get frustrated in the morning. Also, she may start recognizing the feeling of "needing to go", and get up and go potty on her own at night. Just a thought!

Don't make a big deal out of it, whatever you do, it will damage her self asteem terribly. It is a normal thing, for some kids to have underdeveloped kidneys. They eventually grow out of it. You need to be supportive and make her as comfortable as possible. You may want to talk it over with your pediatritian. You could use some sort of protector for her to wear at night. You could also get something (like rubber sheets) to cover her bed, so it doesn't get ruined. Make sure she knows its not her fault, and that it is a medical problem that some kids are born with, and that it will go away in time. She probably feels alot of guilt and shame, and that isn't good. Let her know that it's ok. Here is an interesting article you may want to read.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2602/is_0003/ai_##...#
You could also do a search and find out more. Good luck.