There’s a site I used for research a couple years ago–I’ll try to find it tomorrow. I seem to recall that bedwetting up to the age of about 8 isn’t considered any big deal. (Medically, that is–I don’t suppose it’s much joy in terms of laundry.)
The good news is that most bedwetting will stop by itself in time. The bad news is that that there are people who wet the bed into their teen, their 20s, and some who are never able to stop–regardless of drugs, alarms, etc. My ex-wife, for instance–she’s 34 now, and has had occasional bedwetting accidents all her life.
And…Ayesha, I’m very sorry. There’s nothing quite like inflicting a little pain and humiliation to get someone to stop what they can’t help to begin with.
Parents can be so cruel. I wish I had the authority to apologize on their behalf.
I brought up a medical ‘problem’ of my own in a thread some time back where I admitted to a sudden onset of wetting accidents during the day and night. Maybe not unusual for a child, but I’m going on 19 in less than half a year.
As it turned out, there was no medical cause. But the doctor suggested it could’ve been high anxiety. or a high amount of stress for an extended length of time. Having to hide my little problem from my family the whole time didn’t help much, but eventually, it started to go away.
If nothing else seems to bring about a good diagnosis–keep in mind that it -can- be an effect of mind-trauma. I’m living proof of it.
Do try the alarm that Diane suggested. It does by far seem to be the most successful method around (effective on close to 80% of bedwetters IIRC).
It works by conditioning the bedwetter (via the alarm) to awaken upon the sensation to urinate.
Strangely, when I was young, my parents tried this method on me and it was unsuccessful. I was a bedwetter until I was 10-11 years old; I stopped naturally at that point and haven’t had a problem since. As I recall 2% of bedwetters never outgrow the problem - taking it into their adult life. Anyway, I hope you find something that works for Nicky.
My best advice is to chill. Don’t make a big deal about it, but – instead – deal with it “matter of factly.” I’ve been through it twice. Now that one can buy pull-ups/diapers that FIT older children, just go that route without any fanfare. It often takes an especially long time for boys to make it through the night. I can almost guarantee that he won’t be wetting the bed when he graduates from high school.
does he drink? i’m a deep sleeper and if i have one two many beers, well… the good thing is it doesn’t smell so bad, not like wee at all really and clear.
One of my sons had this problem, and we just put a plastic mattress cover on his bed and got him one of those kid size sleeping bags. On the mornings he woke up wet, he would stuff the sleeping bag into the washer. This wouldn’t work if he’s sleeping with you, though. Good luck, it does pass, mine’s in college now and quite dry.
I don’t like the implication here… I don’t think that I need to “chill” because I’m not un-chilled to begin with. We aren’t freaking out. We aren’t scolding him. We just are tired of the laundry and so on and so I decided to ask if anyone who had more experience had any suggestions.
He doesn’t wear underwear to bed, so I guess he’d have to start if I wanted to get one of those alarms. At this point I’m not worried about him, just wanting to make things easier for all of us. Pullups are an idea, but I’d rather solve the problem than just solve the laundry…
