Bed Wetting - Houston,TX

Let her wear pull-ups, and don't worry about it. Kids don't have control over this, some of them, until they're 8 years old, and it's totally normal. Sometimes it's hereditary, sometimes not. Speak with your pediatrician about it, but generally kids wet the bed because their brains don't produce enough of the enzyme that signals the kidneys to stop making urine at night, and/or the bladder has not grown as quickly as the rest of the child's body - truly nothing the child can do about any of this! Reassure her that she is normal, things will be okay, and just don't worry about it. She won't go off to college in pull-ups, I promise. :)

Hi D., when my daughter was 4 i had to take her to a pediatric urologist (for another issue) and we had a lengthy conversation about this very subject and I will tell you what he said.

Acheiving bladder control at night is a complex issue. The bedwetting child literally sleeps through his or her bladder signals. This is especially true of deep sleepers. They have absolutely no awareness of bladder sensations during the night, let alone how to control it. Also, there are hormonal factors in play as well, and for some children the hormonal control of ADH (anti-diuretic hormone) may act differently. Simply put, bedwetting is a communication problem between brain and bladder.

Withholding fluids or cutting a child off at a certain time will do more harm than good. Children need a great deal of fluid in order for their bodies to function properly. Restricting fluids can cause dehydration and constipation and at the end of the day, it does not "teach" your child anything about waking up in the middle of the night to go potty. They simply stay dry because they don't have enough fluid to actually need to urinate. Therefore, you've done nothing to "teach" the brain how to detect bladder signals simply because there are no signals at all to detect. Restricting fluids is only done really as a convenience for the parents. The same goes for waking them before you go to bed. Again, you don't "teach" their brains to wake on their own since you are waking them up! There are drugs you can give them, but again, the drugs don't cure bedwetting, they just mask the problem by slowing down bladder function at night until your child can outgrow bed-wetting.

The pediatric urologist told us that the biggest "issues" kids seem to have with bedwetting are when they are away from home at sleepovers, grandma's house, etc. It becomes more of an embarressment the older they get.

He then went on to tell us that these issues usually resolve themself by the age of... are you ready for this... TEN!!! I was shocked when he told me that!

I would report it to your pediatrician the next time you are there. Your pediatrician will probably ask you to start keeping a diary. What is different about your child's day on the nights he/she stays wet or dry? Is there a relationship to food, drinks, events, bowel patterns, etc.?

I hope this helps and best wishes to you.

She is just not ready to be dry at night. Be the adult and put a pull up her. If you don't mind the laundry and extra showers every morning I guess you can just let her sleep in underwear but my time and all that extra work and extra laundry cost is just too much for me to ignore.

Pull ups cost about 2/3 of what it costs if we don't use them. All that extra laundry runs up the water, electric bill, natural gas bill, bleach and laundry soap plus even more fabric softener. It also puts extra wear and tear on my washer and dryer.

Make sure she knows it's okay (don't punish her for it in other words) and she'll grow out of it. Use an extra waterproof pad in her bed or a folded towel in the middle. Pull-ups or a Goodnights equivalent is fine, too. Make sure her doctor knows it's a problem so he/she can monitor it, but don't worry about it. My sister and I wet the bed until we were past 11 years old. We simply slept too heavily and did not wake up for that. Don't restrict liquids if she's thirsty, either, since that never helps and just dehydrates kids.

My 9 year-old wet her bed last night. She's only had two wet nights in the last six months, so things are getting much better. The nights she wets are ones where she is very tired.

I have a water-proof pad on her bed, and I just do a load of laundry. Sure, I'll be glad when she completely grows out of this. But in the meantime, there is nothing to do.

Take a deep breath, relax and deal with it. She will grow out of it.

Since it's an occasional issue, I wouldn't stress about it. She will probably grow out of it, of course if you are concerned call your pediatrician. Definitely mention it at her next check up!

A few things you can do, no liquids after PM especially milk (obviously if she is thirsty give her some water. Get a water proof mattress cover, that will make clean up easier. If it becomes more frequent, I would get those good nights (pull ups for bigger kids). Bed wetting is common at age 6 and 7, sometimes it is because their bladders have not caught up to their body as far as growth. Or they could have gone through a growth spurt.

I used to babysit a boy who wet the bed, he grew out of it and had no problems. The no milk at night really seemed to help. I guess milk goes through you a lot faster than water.

I agree that a pull-up at night is probably easiest on both of you. If she wakes up dry, she can use the same pull-up the next night. This will cut down on the cost and waste.

She will be dry at night as soon as her body matures enough. Since she's having some dry nights, it sounds like she's getting there. It probably bothers her, so assure her that she's normal. Lots of children are still bedwetting well into their grade-school years.

My 6-year-old daughter still wets the bed most nights. It has been especially bad this summer; I'm hoping with the return to a normal school routine it may improve. She is incredibly tiny and my thinking is that her bladder is propbably small just like the rest of her and that combined with being a very heavy sleeper just makes it too hard for her to stay dry at night. I do plan to speak with her pediatrician about it at her 7 year well check next month (yes, she's almost 7 and still wetting the bed!), but after doing some research on the subject, I don't think there is much to be done about it other than give it time. I did want to mention that we took my daughter out of pull-ups about 6 months ago (she had been dry for a week and REALLY wanted to be ready) and once she was out of them she did NOT want to go back, even though she was still wetting. So we haven't forced her to wear them because I think she feels bad enough about this bodily function that is out of her control, without us shaming her further by forcing her to wear what she considers to be 'diapers.' Just thought I'd offer that FYI--if your daughter has been out of pull-ups for a little while, it may be tough to go back, and probably not worth the fights and tears (at least that's how I looked at it!). I put a plastic sheet over her mattress cover, then a towel, and then her regular sheet, so I just wash the towel and her sheets and I don't have to worry about the mattress cover. Good luck and I hope she gets it under control soon!