I’m not sure if this is an IMHO type question, but I am looking for factual answers.
From talking to our peditrician (who mostly gave us a pamphlet) and my own reading…here is what I know about childhood bedwetting:
It’s related to deep sleep. Kids who sleep very “deeply”/soundly are more likely to have bedwetting problems
It has nothing to do with sleep issues.
It’s related to bladder size. The smaller the bladder, the more likely bedwetting is.
It’s not related to bladder size, but to a hormone that concentrates urine. Kids with a smaller amount of that hormone are more likely to be bedwetters.
It can be helped with “bladder stretching” exercises…encourage the child to “hold it” a little bit longer during the day to stretch the bladder and develop bladder control.
Bladder stretching is a bunch of hooey…doesn’t work.
“Good Nites” pullups for kids who are already potty trained are probably a bad idea…they reduce any motivation to deal with the bedwetting.
There is nothing wrong with using “Good Nites” for an extended period (years) of time. The kid will “eventually” grow out of the bedwetting phases…you’re just giving biology a chance to develop.
Bedwetting isn’t even an issue at all until age 6.
10 Bedwetting isn’t even an issue at all until age 8 or 10.
Of course if you believe #7 and #9/#10…you’re basically saying that you’ll just wash the sheets most nights from when they are potty trained until age 6-10.
This was several years ago, but when my son was about 7 or 8 he was still wetting the bed on occasion. The doctor prescribed some kind of medication in the form of a nasal spray, which he used once or twice and never had a problem again.
The explanation he gave to us was that there is a hormone that is normally secreted at a certain age which triggers the brain to respond to full bladder stimuli by waking up. If this process is delayed, it can be kick-started by using the spray.
Sorry, it’s been a while so I don’t remember a lot of specifics as far as the name of the medication, etc. As I recall, he said that this works with some and not others, and is usually more effective with boys.
A… . um. . . FRIEND OF MINE wet the bed to a fairly late age (old enough to be very embarassed by it) and, while my. . I mean, her parents didn’t do a whole lot about it, the only thing I. . . SHE found to work and that was very simple was just not drinking any liquids after about 5 PM. Worked like a charm.
Well, sheesh, while I’m here testifying. . .
Hello. My name is Capybara, and I was a bedwetter.
Well, what would happen would be I would need to pee and I would vividly dream that I was in fact getting up and out of bed and heading to the bathroom and doing my thing, and when things got damp and warm I’d wake up going “oh, fuck, I’m in bed!” It wasn’t until I was 11 or so and was having one of the then-rare occasions where this would happen (see simple solution above) that I basically this once had a lucid-dream moment. . . dreaming of geting up and out of bed as usual, and then thinking in my dream, like I was self-narrating, “Oh, bullshit, I am still in bed, aren’t I? Not this time, damn it” (foulmouthed kid, I). And I woke up and sure enough, I was in bed and needed to pee and was able to do it in the waking world-- I think I never peed the bed again, and instead would wake up (that hormone kicking in at a certain age theory?). I think it’s the only time I recall having something like a lucid dream moment.
I don’t think the Good Nites are a bad idea at all, if you can get him/ her to stand to use them. As for motivation #7? Pshaw, the kid has PLENTY of motivation, especially when he/she gets of sleepover/ class camping trips-age. Then it will be his/her #1 concern in all the world.
Yeah, another former-bedwetter here. I, too, have vivid memories of dreaming that I got out of bed, walked downstairs to the bathroom, lifted the seat, and peed to my heart’s (or bladder’s) content. And it felt so good. And warm. *WARM??? It shouldn’t feel warm! Damn, I’m still in bed!
*Anyway, no “cure” worked, until it just stopped happening when I reached puberty. So I tend to agree with the “small bladder” explanation. At puberty everything, including my bladder, started to grow.
One thing that definitely did not help was my father’s constant ridiculing (which I reminded him of (only once), decades later, when he developed an incontinence problem.
You can buy a pad that has an alarm that goes off when it gets wet. Although it doesn’t sound like something that would change behavior, sure enough, it does.
Former bedwetter. Had surgery for it (something about my urethra) in Elementary school but that didn’t help, and it’s probably best for the pyschological health of your child that you don’t do any surgery in the genital area that you don’t really really have to. Wore diapers til Junior High School. Stopping diapers didn’t help. Took some pills in High School and that seemed to help, but it could just as well have been puberty, or psychological, or a change in my sleep patterns. Still wet the bed once every year or so if I’m really really tired or (in college) when I drank way too much.
It’s probably related to deep sleep, because I used to dream about going to the bathroom and wake up wet. Now I still dream about going to the bathroom, but in the dream no matter how much I piss the bladder fullness feeling doesn’t go away and I eventually wake up and take care of it.
I would try waking the kid up when you go to the bathroom to get them used to getting up to pee. If that doesn’t work you can try one of those wet pad alarms that make a noise if it senses wetness, to get the brain to associate bladder fullness with waking up. After that, try the pill or the spray. Whatever you do, don’t make a big deal out of it. Kids sense emotions and will pick up any stigma you may feel towards it. It’s a normal thing, and fixing it will just mean there’s less laundry to do, and more opportunities for socializing.
I was a bedwetter too, until about the age of 12. Funny thing was, I was fine away from home, but would wet regularly (2/3 times a week) at home.
My best advice would be to make sure there is no stigma attached in the home. No kid likes to wet, so extra embarrassment isn’t going to help. The spray sounds like a good idea too.
I’m sure you don’t do this - I’m just relating to my own experiences!
I know someone who used to wet their bed: some boys simply don’t become sufficiently developed in that area until puberty. Find out when they normally wet their bed, and wake them an hour or two beforehand to go to the bathroom.
We actually bought Dweezil a small alarm that clipped onto his underwear - reacts faster than a pad placed on the bed, but otherwise same concept. It actually worked, the two nights he wore it. Unfortunately, the unit we got was defective - it was battery powered but it discharged the batteries after a single night, ditto the second night after we replaced them. So we decided it was cheaper to just wash the sheets!
In his case, it was definitely a deep sleep issue combined with his sensory issues. We would try to wake him up to go to the bathroom and he’d basically be comatose (once he laid down on the bathroom floor and fell back sound asleep). He’s also likelier to wet if he’s had dairy (he’s autistic, and that affects a number of his issues).
I had one of those bedwetting alarms when I was a kid, about 8 years of age (early 80’s). It was called the Wee Alert. A small sheet of thin metal was placed under my bedsheet, and a couple of ‘roach clip’ looking thingies attached to that, which in turn were hooked to an alarm. When I peed, it sounded. And boy was it fucking loud. It worked in a couple of months—it eventually conditioned me to wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.
One night during this training I was in a deep deep sleep. The alarm had gone on for several minutes and I didn’t wake up, but it woke up everybody else in the house. I remember dreaming of a horribly loud noise though.
I don’t think I’ve ever slept that deeply again <sigh>
My step-brother had one of those bedsheet alarms as well, and all it ever did was wake the rest of us up. My parents, woken by the alarm, would then walk down the hallway and practially carry the comatose brother to the bathroom (a little too late, I thought!)
Didn’t do a damn thing. He had it for over a year - and this was right around or post puberty. I don’t know if he still wets or not.
My son is a wetter at 13. Every night. Occasionally, he’ll have a dry spell which might last up to a few weeks. Tthe longest was after he had spinal surgery and was just in too much pain to sleep very deeply. I’m going to talk to his doctor about the nasal spray this month - he’s well into puberty, and it’s not getting any better. He does wear Depends at night (too big for Good Nights).