6-Yr Old Still Needs Pullups at Night

You need to talk with her doctor my little niece at 7 would do the same and it was a kidney problem not to scare you but sometimes it just means more or nothing...hope all is well

N.

Well They only thing I can suggest is take her to her doctor tell them the problem see if they think she has a blader problem .I have a 6 yr old son who wet's the bed they dr told me no problem some kids just sleep hard and they will out grow it so i also went to pull ups i cut my chils drink off at 5 and he still wets the pull up. it will be ok it took me a long time to accept it. but we deal with itnow

My son was almost five when finally stop wearing pull ups, he is also a very heavy sleeper. What we did was to offer to buy him a sleeping bag and have a sleep over whenever he learned to sleep without pull ups and/or learn to go to the bathroom by himself at night. It took less than a week, we marked the calendar every day that he was dry and also it is very important to put the pull ups away and let her wear regular underwear. I told him that we were not going to buy more pull ups and put a plastic cover on the mattress. Make sure you offer something the she really, really wants.
Good luck, J.

Hi L.,

I am 40 years old and I wet the bed until I was 7 or 8. The same for my siblings. This is normal and more kids than you think have the same issue. It is mainly caused by our system to be "immature". However, you need to also check for signs of nervousness, something scaring her or bothering her. Sometimes going to school makes them really anxious or something happening in their lives (family, etc). She will eventually outgrow this phase.

I dont mean to scare you but maby you should take her to the doctor to get her bladder and ureters checked. It may be a good idea just to rule out whether it's medical before you enforce anything at home. I was about 6 when they found out I had a ureter problem and would also wet all through the night without control.
Another thing is if its more in-frequent some kids just wet the bed??? I have heard of some that grow out of it around 8-12. but thats more once a week or every other. hope this helps

I actually didnt stop wetting the bed until I was around this age also, the one thing that seemed to help me was my parents set an alarm that woke me up in the middle of the night to remember to go (with some prodding from mom at times). The consistancy of this routine is what I remember helping me. Good luck!

My nephew is the same age and he still wears pull-ups, so you're definitely not alone (from the looks of these responses, that's pretty evident). I agree with many of the moms here, I would definitely eliminate any medical reasons first and then possibly seek pediatric advice on how to deal with this challenge going forward. You certainly don't want to punish or admonish your daughter if she can't physically help her condition. Good luck and let us know what happens.

My son turned 6 in July and still wears them. He doesn't wake up at night. We tried not wearing them this summer, hoping he would wake up once he started going to the bathroom, but no luck. Just woke up changing his bed for two weeks with cold pee, so we went back to pullups. He NEVER wakes up dry. I have a friend who's son was doing the same at 7 and she got one of those alarms that you attach to their underwear and it goes off at the slightest sign of wetness. She said it was very disturbing for the first two nights, but after a week it worked and he's never done it again.

I also have a 2 year old and she's noticed that he wears them and calls them his diapers and he gets very upset. I'm thinking that may shame him into stop wearing them. But, I'm holding out for another year and then may try the alarm. They are fairly expensive ~80 but I've heard there area ton on EBAy since most people only use them for a week or so.

We got the nasal spray from the doctor, because he didn't produce a hormone needed to quit urine production at night. It cost about 200.00, since we didn't have insurance. He didn't wet the bed after that med was gone. He was 12 at the time.

My 6 year old son has the exact same problem. My pediatrician didn't find any medical reasons for this, and told me that it is still very normal at this age. She told me that there are OTC urine alarms that work extremely well, but they are loud, and will likely wake up the entire house for a few days. Beyond that, she told me that we'll try to get it under control over the summer between first and second grade (more for social reasons than anything else). She wants us to try the urine alarm first, and if that doesn't work, she said there are some options with medications, but doesn't like to use them unless it is absolutely necessary.

Good luck!

As a mom of 2 girls (3 and 12 yrs old) I know your frustration with the wetting the bed thing. I 12 yr old had a condition where her body produced to much urine while she slept. The doctor prescribed this pill (they also have a nasal spray) out there that you use before you go to bed at night. She took it for 3 months and ran out of her pills and for that 3 months never wet the bed. Then after she ran out, wet the bed again. So we called the doctor and they said some times it takes another round of meds. So she is on her second round of meds and hasn't wet the bed since then. You might want to contact your doctor about it because it really isn't her fault that she can't keep from wetting the bed. That condition is typically herditary, did you or your husband wet the bed as a child? Good luck.

This I know a little bit about. I have a 6-yr old son (will be 7 in November). I have spoken to the Ped. re this over the past 2 years since my son has never gone more than 1 or 2 nights dry. I just had yet another conversation with the Ped about this a couple of weeks ago. As long as your daughter does not have a 'medical' reason that she is waking up wet then the Ped will probably just tell you to keep doing what you are doing (limit fluids after 6p and hope for the best). My son sleeps like a rock as well and I haven't been able to help him overcome nighttime wetting either. If you hear anything from anyone else that might help me, please forward.

Hi L.,

My nice went thru the same and the same age. I have a cousing who is a Pedriatric Psychologist and with only 3 visits she was already holding it until morning or going to the bathroom by herself if she needed during the night. Myself I went thru that too, but on my case my blader wasn't develop to my age and I had thi problem almost until I was 10 or 12. The doctor prescribe a medicine an wallaa!, but I remember having to go t the bathroom just before go to sleep, also no liquids after 6pm. and If i was thursty the ice had to do it. I recomend you to talk to the Dr. about to see what they said...

Good luck
M.

My daughter had this problem until she was 7. And although hers was medically linked (she was diagnosed a few months ago with hyperthyroid disease, and once she was on the thyroid med. for three weeks, she suddenly started to stay dry), I did find some good resources you might want to check. The book "Getting to Dry" is excellent--I found it at my Library, and I know you can buy it from Amazon and I did see it at one of the book stores as well. It's part of (I think it's Chicago) a Children's Hospital's "try for dry" program and I liked everything it had to say, and all of their suggestions. I also recall when I searched for it on Amazon a few other book recommendations came up, and one was specifically targeted to the child (for the child to read themselves) which I thought was a good idea.
Be sure you've talked this over a lot with your dr. first....I did, and our first pediatrician said it was something she's eventually grow out of. After hearing this kind of response from him one too many times, we went to another ped. who immediately thought there could be a link between all of my daughters "minor" ailments, struggles, and set backs. Sure enough, Grave's Disease was it. Having an overactive or underactive thyroid can effect so many things, and, in our case, was altering my daughter's ability to stay dry at night.
So, just be sure she's fine medically, and then I widh you luck--I know how hard it is. No one could understand how frustrated--and sad--I was with/for her. And I know soon sleepover requests will begin.
I truly wish you and your child success!

J.

I'm not sure exactly what advice you're looking for since you didn't really ask a question, but I definitely would say it is time she saw her pediatrician and probably a urologist and/or other specialists to rule out a serious medical condition. I know some kids' bladders simply do not work as well as others, and for some kids in the 5-10 range, nighttime accidents occur because of immature bladder. But for many the problem is ureter related, kidney related, or some other organ function failing to do its job properly. Without proper diagnosis, you may be doing her more harm than good in assuming it's simply an immature bladder. Good luck and best wishes.

My daughter had the same problem! The pills from the doctor didn't do anything! It lasted till she was 7 1/2...when we finally got one of those alarms that goes off when they wet. The first night she curled up and plugged her ears when the alarm went off and I had to wake her to take her to the bathroom which of course by then was to late. But each night she woke up more and more and within a week she was waking on her own before the alarm. It was amazing! When she went 2 weeks with no bed wetting (or alarms) we stopped using it. She had a few accidents in the first 6 months (maybe a half dozen) but she is now 10 and hasn't had a problem since. I'd definately recommend the alarm!!! Not sure why I was reluctant to use it but it worked GREAT! BTW we put pullups over the double underwear that is required by the system so while she was learning she wouldn't soak the bed and that worked fine too. Good luck...whatever way you try!

Hi L.,

My son who is 7 was doing the same. He's actually been doing great for several months. No accidents. finally! Anyways, what i find that worked for me was: Have her go potty right before she falls asleep. I'll have him go to the bathroom when we start getting ready to go to bed and then minutes before he starts getting really mellow and ready to fall asleep. Then (here's the big one)We would wake him up about 3 hours later and have him go potty. and then about 5 to 6 a.m. We figured out that he was wetting the bed in that deep sleep about 2-3 hours after going to bed and then right before the morning. If u can figure those times than you can prevent those accidents. Yes, it's a commitment on your part, but you are getting them used to waking up. After a while he started doing it on HIS OWN!!!!! This was the highlight. Then we started taking off the pullup and putting an underwear several nights( not all nights). Now we are accident free for about 3months or so. The other thing was we had to really not make it a big deal to talk about it while siblings or friends were around.They are now at the stage were they know that "ohh, i'm a little big now". Good luck. I know it's alot waking up, but if u put her down around 8 and you get her up at 11 that's not too bad. before u know it she will be pullup FREE! :)

I also have a 6-yr old daughter (will be 7 in December). I have spoken to the Pediatrian, granted its been over a year, and they aren't concerned. My daughter will sometimes wake during the night, to change beds (well join me), change her pull-up, or to go to the bathroom. Some nights she sleeps like a rock as well. We haven't been able to help him overcome nighttime wetting either. If you hear anything from anyone else that might help me, please forward.

The only other thing I would recommend, is for you to get up and bring her to the bathroom at night. I get excited on nights my daughter wakes up with a dry pull up. (found out mine was changing her during the night). Anyway - good luck.

G.

Honestly, I would not be that concerned. I am the mom of six and had the same problemwith my now 12 and 14 year olds. At the time they were 6 and 8. My pediatrician informed me that it is a valid medical condition usually found in highly intelligent children who are simply deep sleepers..however if the child was trained at night then reverts back they become a little concerned of something psychological. I think you are looking at the same situation I had with love and support and a simple dose of medication given before bed that comes in nose spray form we overcame this too. They are on the med for a very short time and gradually wean off of it as the problem cures itself. Good luck hope this was a little helpful.

Before running to the doctor for DDAVP, I would suggest a few more natural solutions.

First of all, bedwetting is very common in children even as old as age 9. It is not your fault, nor is it something that your daughter is or isn't doing. I know it's frustrating and embarassing for you and your daughter.

I would suggest that you take your daughter to a qualified pediatric chirpractor. If you are in the Jacksonville area, I would recommend Dr. Nathans or Dr. Bronson. Often, after just one treatment, you will remarkable improvement in the problem. Birth trauma, injury, and just plain being a kid (and sitting in crummy chairs at school) can cause a misalignment that interferes with the neural signal to wake up and urinate.

In addition, you are doing the right thing by limiting fluids before bedtime and making sure she goes right before she goes to sleep. You may also want to look at herbs that help to soothe bladder contractions, like uva ursi, nettles or marshmallow root. There is also a homeopathic preparation called Hylands Bedwetting Tablets. You would want to consult a naturopath to be sure, but they are available OTC at most health food stores.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

H.