Need Suggestions - 6 1/2 Yr Old Still Wetting the Bed

When my son was about that age, the Dr perscribed a med that helped his clock get regulated to night time. It slowed down his body, so he could sleep all night and wake up dry. He took it for about 3 months and worked great. It was a great boost for him. He felt better about going to grandparents and friends.
I wish I could remember the name of it. It was abig help for us!

Just wanted you to know we are going through the same thing! My son is 5 1/2, and his pull up is usually soaked the next morning! We have even used bribery to see if he has any control over it, didn't work which makes us believe it is something that he will outgrow with time. His Pedi didn't seem to think it was a problem and worth any testing at this point. I like the idea of the underwear under the pull up, it would be nice to be able to reuse a clean one! We do have more dry mornings when he stops drinks early and goes potty right before bed. I definitely agree that it should not be something they are punished for in any way, but helping clean up may be an incentive to try to be dry if they can, I think I'll try that one! My husband also had trouble with wetting his bed until a later age, so I think we just have to help them along and be patient!
Good luck!

Please take this child to the doctor! This is abnormal and there is likely something medical going on. The doctor can prescribe medicine to help your child at night so he doesen't have to miss campouts. I would recommend though having the situation fully checked out before deciding its a behavior issue. Our daughter had sleep apnea and kidney stones, but there are lots of medical reasons...

You will, no doubt, ger advice about this being a behavioral issue. I would tend to think its not because it interferes with things he wants to. Either way though the less said about it the better. If he cant help then he cant and you dont want to punish him for that. If he can and he's doing it to get you goat, then ignoring it should stop the problem. If you don't react there s no power in behavior and therefore no point to doing it. Regardless of why I would have him be responsible for cleanup-
take soiled sheets to the washer, throw away pullups etc. This gives him some control back if he can't help it and takes lots of the fun away if he can. I have been there and it does get better.

Totally understand your frustration. My daughter is in the same boat. We're patiently waiting until her body is ready (after trying everything else, like you). I try to wake her at night to go and she is such a sound sleeper that I can't get her to wake up. Even pulling on her to get out of bed doesn't help. We don't have any daytime accidents, but we do have the "urge to go right now" issue too. She doesn't seem to know she has to go until it's practically an emergency. I have to insist that she goes before we go out of the house every time, even if she says she doesn't have to go. At age 7 I'll look into other options, like bed alarms. I'm still hopeful that she'll "get it" on her own time, but they do say to talk with the doc at age 7. I wish you luck and patience. Oh, I think sleepovers are fine as long as he is okay with wearing a pull-up for the night. Poor things have to be a little sneeky, because they are at the age where they know they are different, but I'm sure he can make it work.

My son is 7 1/2 and is still wears a pull up at night. He can soak right thru them sometimes. Our pediatrician has told me not to worry until he is 12-13 because it runs in my family and that is the age my brother stopped wetting the bed. My mom told me that she took my brother thru every test imaginable, at that time, and nothing worked. She also advised me not to put my son thru that. My son does go to sleepovers. I inform the mother and he just makes sure to wear something over the pullup so it is not noticeable. He goes to the bathroom to change at night and then gets up and changes first thing the next morning. He sometimes gets a little worried about it, but we try not to make a big deal out of it. You can get a plastic cover to put underneath the sheets so the mattress will not get ruined. He also has to go "right now" all the time. I have taught myself to constantly ask him if he has to go, and periodically tell him he has to prove to me that he doesn't have to go. I don't go with him, but he usually goes when I tell him that. We spend alot of time at the soccer fields and the bathrooms are far away from the parking lot. I can take him there and by the time we get to the car he has to go again.

I hope this helps. Good Luck with everything!
S. G

It's not uncommon, but I understand your frustration. I have a couple of friends whose sons both are still in pull ups at age 7-8. You might want to talk to your ped about this. I don't think they really start worrying until when the child is older.

Mention it to your pedi. They might send you to a urologist.
My son will be 6 years old in January and he still wets the bed sometimes. We wake him up at midnight to go potty and then back to bed but you are right its exhausting.
the other thing you might want to try is to give him a spoonful of honey before he goes to bed. My parents used it on me and I used it on my 7 year old daughter and it has worked. I dont use it on my son cause of his allergies.
Might be worth a try!

First and foremost, seek medical attention to make sure there is nothing physically wrong with him. Secondly, use pull-ups every night to assure he is not humiliated in the morning by a wet bed.

I have had several children in my family that were "bed-wetters". There were no physical reasons for these children to wet the bed. You could do nothing to make them stop, not chastising, taking to the bathroom in the middle of the night, withholding fluids, I really mean nothing worked. However, one night each of these individuals just quit wetting the bed seemingly for no reason and had virtually no "accidents" after that night.

One child even had surgery that did virtually nothing after about 6 weeks. This same child also had the immediate need to urinate, much like your son. No gradual urge, just gotta go now. She was probably 7-8 yrs old before no longer wetting.

I think something in these children is not developed enough to distinguishd a slight urge, therefore by the time it registers they need to go, it is a crisis. I would encourage you to help him by recognizing his immediate needs until his body and brain work together better. I suspect if there are no medical problems this will work itself out. Try to be understanding and patient with him and know he would not do this intentionally.

I can totally understand. My son was the same way - soaked the pull up nightly. When he had a couple daytime "accidents" that he seemed unaware of - at age 8 - we started seeing a pedi urologist.

appx 20% of kids outgrow bedwetting each year - until age 15 - so it is still "normal" until age 15 according to our urologist.

My son did have a problem with his bladder capacity and it caused the urgency you describe - my son took medication to help with the urgency while he underwent some bladder strengthening and waited to "outgrow it"

He also had some issues with chronic constipation - so we had to add additional fiber therapy to his diet.

The thing that finally worked for us was TIME and using the bed alarm - my son chose that at age 10 and within 1 week was DRY for almost a year now!!

See a doctor - but realize a lot of it is just developmental - he has grown faster than his bladder and he might not make enough anti-diuretic hormone at night - most of us make it and don't make as much urine at night - so less need to pee - some kids don't make enough...

Sorry to ramble - feel free to pm me if you want to.

My daughter who is 9 had the same problem. Every time i took her to the Dr, they would always say wait till shes 6, then wait till shes 7, and so on. It was really becoming a terrible emberassing problem for sleepovers. I found a urologist this summer who prescribed her DDAVP (desmopressin). she takes 1 an hour before bedtime. it was an instant fix. The dr she sees is Dr Rittenhouse at tx center for urology. ###-###-####. 1001 12th ave suite 140 ft worth tx. its an hour and a half drive for us, but u only have to go every 6 months, and its so worth it. (unless you can get another dr to prescribe it-i couldnt)

My daughter is the same age - my youngest. She has pull ups (or as she calls them "dipids") at nights and is a very heavy sleeper. There are several adults in my family who have had the same problem as her so I'm not concerned. She sleeps like a rock. She also has night terrors which have gotten less over the years and as long as she is wearing the pullups. Since it is only at night, I'm not too concerned. She only does a couple of sleepovers due to the night terrors - which scare adults more than the children who don't remember them in the morning - with adults who understand what they are.

Give it time...your girl will outgrow it.

Is your son ADHD? I was long before it was called that but I was too busy with life to notice that I needed to go before it was too late and during the night I would sleep so hard the urge would not wake me up. A friend of mine would put panties on her daughter under the pullups and that way if she did wet it would wake her up. After a few weeks of waking in the night wet she learned to wake up before she needed to go. Pull ups are also expensive and if they wear undies and do not wet you can reuse them the next night since the pull up is still clean because it has been over undies and under pj's. The most important thing is to consult your doctor. Good luck, it may help your doctor if you journal what happened during the day and what your son ate or drank that day. You may be surprised to find a pattern.

I understand exactly what you are going through. My son wet the bed up until right before he turned 8 this past August. We did everything you have done. Nothing worked. He eventually just grew out of it. We H.'t had a problem (well, a couple) in several months. I also have a problem (not bed wetting) with when the sensation hits, I have to go right then. I believe it is just a result of having a small bladder. There is also a condition where there may be a small leak in the bladder that causes this too. I have never checked it out for myself or my son, I just deal with it. I would suggest using the Goodnights for your son and then asking him several times a day to go to the bathroom. Even if he says no, tell him to try. That seems to help. Because sometimes my son wouldn't know that he needed to but when I would tell him to, he would need to. I hope that makes sense. Well, good luck to you.

H. V.
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We have this problem along with the not getting the gotta go now feeling with my 5 year old. I just took him to the doctor for it about 3 weeks ago, just to be sure there wasn't anything physical going on. They checked him for a UTI and checked the uretha to make sure that it was not abnormal. The reason that we took him in was b/c he was having more daytime accidents and we were concerned. The dr said that boys often are not developed enough to feel the urge especially when they are otherwise distracted.

The doctor told me that it is not uncommon (about 15%) for children to wet the bed. Often is is heriditary. My niece (on my husband's side) wet the bed until she was 11, so I think that is the the case in our family.

If I were you, I would go to the doctor and have him checked out just to make sure that there are no physical reasons for his accidents and bewetting. I know it is frustrating, but you may just have to wait this one out!

I'm the night nurse for the state 4H camp every summer and I see several kids each summer with the same problem. There is a nasal spray that they can use prior to going to bed and it works very well. We've had but one or two have accidents while at camp in the 6 yrs I've done this job. So you might check with your Dr on this.

Take him to a urologist. Seriously. It could be life changing for him. We didn't take my son (you could have been writing about him) until he was 8 and I really regret waiting so long.

VickiS

Hello L.,

how about taking him to a chiropractor for adjustments? I'd try that route before Rx meds. also check for food allergies. Good luck! ~C.~

My niece who is now 16 had the same problem. She was evaluated by her pediatrician and found to have no physical issues. She was just a heavy sleeper. She did this until she was around 10. She finally just outgrew it and is fine now.