Older boy and bed wetting

[Deleted]

Has she tried taking him to the bathroom when she/DH goes to bed? I don't think this is *that* uncommon.

[sparkythelawyer]

For some people, the brain just doesn't get the message from the bladder saying "Hey! You! I'm full! Wake up and pee!" until much later on. There is some thought that it is a hormonal imbalance. All of the watching fluid intake, waking up during the night, etc. really doesn't do much good. They just have to grow out of it. Which they do, but it can take longer than you think. This runs on both sides of my family (OH JOY), and it can take until adolescence to work out. I'd advice patience and plastic sheets.

[beefjerky]

Is it sudden or has it been going on for awhile?

[sparkythelawyer]

Jul 8, 2015 12:50:08 GMT -5 peachy said:

Jul 8, 2015 12:48:06 GMT -5 beefjerky said:

Is it sudden or has it been going on for awhile?

It's been going on off a while. She said it seems to ebb and flow as far as frequency goes.

Any thoughts on whether it's better to wear a pull up or just wash the sheets every time?

They did not make pull ups in my size during the kid years, as pull ups were a new thing then.

In retrospect, I wish they had been around then. 

[sparkythelawyer]

Jul 8, 2015 12:48:55 GMT -5 peachy said:

Jul 8, 2015 12:46:12 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

For some people, the brain just doesn't get the message from the bladder saying "Hey! You! I'm full! Wake up and pee!" until much later on. There is some thought that it is a hormonal imbalance. All of the watching fluid intake, waking up during the night, etc. really doesn't do much good. They just have to grow out of it. Which they do, but it can take longer than you think. This runs on both sides of my family (OH JOY), and it can take until adolescence to work out. I'd advice patience and plastic sheets.

This is what I was thinking. I read that there is a genetic component to it also. I know my brother was really late, and I was too (a couple terribly embarrassing sleep over memories).

There is totally a genetic component to it.

For me, it eased up A LOT once I hit puberty, and faded off even more year by year throughout my teens. 

[beefjerky]

Jul 8, 2015 12:50:08 GMT -5 peachy said:

Jul 8, 2015 12:48:06 GMT -5 beefjerky said:

Is it sudden or has it been going on for awhile?

It's been going on off a while. She said it seems to ebb and flow as far as frequency goes.

Any thoughts on whether it's better to wear a pull up or just wash the sheets every time?

Got it, I was thinking more along the lines of newer onset diabetes if it had just started. I would recommend the pee pads/chux that another poster in the thread mentioned. I wouldn't put a 9 year in pull ups. I have a 9 year old heading into 4th grade and he would be mortified in pull ups. 

[imojoebunny]

If it is sudden, I might keep looking for answers, like medications he may be taking, even weird things, like viruses, untreated juvenile diabetes, allergies, caffeine, not getting enough sleep, or anemia can contribute to bedwetting in older kids (all unlikely, but possible).

My DD is 9 and wets the bed, as I said in the sanctimonious post. For her, there is no cause, she just doesn't wake up. We tried limiting fluids, waking her two or three times a night to use the bathroom, to no avail (and all of our sleep deprivation). We just don't make a big deal about it. We generally only have people spend the night with us, to avoid any embarrassment or teasing. I am pretty open about it, and thus, people tell me about heir kids bed wetting. It is pretty common. She even has one 9 year old friend who has poop accidents on the regular for no explainable reason.

I have not tried alarms, but for my DD, I can't see that working. She would already be wet when it went off. She doesn't even remember waking up when I wake her to take her to the bathroom, and will get mad the next day, thinking I did not take her and that's why she wet.

We fine the diaper route works much better for us.  Ain't nobody want to wash sheets everyday, and then she gets pee all over.  Not fun.  

[beefjerky]

Jul 8, 2015 12:59:28 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Also, constipation Is supposed to be a big contributor to bed wetting.

Yes, this too! My middle son had a problem with constipation that contributed to bed wetting.

[sparkythelawyer]

Jul 8, 2015 13:12:00 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Also, anybody else that was a late bed wetter.

Did you have those dreams that you woke up and were walking to the bathroom and sat down to pee. And then you'd wake up wet?

No? Just me?

I will still have dreams I am walking to the bathroom. But thankfully I wake up before I get to the pee part now, and I always have a super full bladder when I have that dream.

Yes!

And I would wake up SO ANGRY.  Because in my dream I was all proud of myself for making it to the bathroom in time, only to wake up wet.  They crushed me.

Now I'll still have those dreams, but obviously I've outgrown the issue.  But they still make me wake up in a panic. 

[Marmee]

My middle 2 bed wet pretty late...7 & 5. I read about the constipation connection & I'm certain that was a factor for both mine. I got them fairly regular & the bed wetting went away (within a month of ach other). We just did pull ups until it ended. DD2 (who bedwetters until 7) sleeps extremely deeply but she's only had maybe 2 accidents in a year.

[dr.girlfriend]

Does she live near a bigger city that might have a children's hospital? My hospital has a bedwetting clinic that includes behavioral and medical support. Do you know if the urologist just had a look, or if they did any urodynamic studies?

This is not my area, but I think the buzzer systems are usually good for kids who are voiding fully when they pee, are restricted from liquids in the evenings, and are just not waking to pee. I think they usually say to avoid pull-ups when possible because kids adjust to the feeling of being wet.

In the short term, I highly recommend the "lasagna" bed -- a waterproof mattress cover, a fitted sheet, then another waterproof mattress cover and another fitted sheet. That way if there's a nighttime accident you can just pull off the top layer with minimal disruption. 4 - 5 times per week is a lot, though.

[dr.girlfriend]

Jul 8, 2015 12:44:01 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

Has she tried taking him to the bathroom when she/DH goes to bed? I don't think this is *that* uncommon.

Oh, yes, we did this for awhile with DS.  He would go to bed at 8, but then we'd pretty much "sleep-walk" him to the bathroom to pee at 11 or so when we went to bed.