Bed Wetting. - South Bend,IN

The alarm worked very quickly for my son. I woke up with him, but he could handle the entire process by himself. We never tried any medicine.
J. A.

My son is/was a bedwetter too. He is 14 and still has occassional accidents at night. The alarm works great. The hardest thing is getting up with them in the night every night. He had never notified us in the night when he wet so with the alarm the parent needs to get up too.

Does he have allergies? Seasonal or otherwise. I had the same problem when I was a child and it was due to seasonal allergies. Nothing severe but we found that when I was being treated with allergy meds, the bedwetting stopped. It might be a simple fix! Good luck!

L.,
Have you looked into bringing your son to the chiropractor? My step sons were chronic bed wetters until they were 11 and 12. They only spent the summers with us, but about 3 summers ago I brought them to my chiropractor and they got better. My younger brother, who has some developmental delays, was also a chronic bed wetter until his early teens. My grandmother suggested bringing him to the chiropractor, and he's been better ever since!

Try Enuresiscontrolclinic.com they treat the deep sleep disorder. If you use only an alarm with out the instruction it may not work. My son is about to turn 8 in March. He is now enrolled in the program they offer. It takes a lot of patience but I am seeing improvment in my son. He has had some dry nights and wakes up quicker when he startes to pee at night. Go to this site I highly recommend the program.

The trick to the alarm is that as soon as you hear it go off you need to go and wake up your child w/a cold washrag . . . make sure you get him completely awake, take him to the restroom and clean him up. After a week or two his body will start to wake him up on its own before he wets the bed. The only downside is that some children may find it hard to go back to sleep right away, but it definitely works. A friend of mine went through this and it worked for his family... I don't know anything about the meds on the market but personally I would always try non-meds options first.

I also went through a long period of bed wetting with my son. we did not use an alarm system we used an alarm clock. I got up every 2 hours to wake him up and take him to the bathroom. This was with limited success. We also tried the medicine with good results, but did not like the risks of long term side effects associated with the meds. We did use magnesium which helped but it was not the cure. The end all was talking to my son and telling him that I know he was not wetting the bed on purpose and he was not in trouble for the accidents. I told him he would be responsible for all clean up and washing of the sheets and blankets. I showed him how to operate the washer and dryer and made him responsible. If he did not take care of an accident then he lost a privilege for that but not the bed wetting. This took away the shame and he felt like he was taking control of the situation. He did out grow it, but it was well into his teens. What we know now is that many bed wetters have a sleep disorder. They are sleeping so deeply that they can't wake up in time or at all. D.

hi, i am a mother of 5, 4 of them boys. and now all adults except my youngest.

good luck with anything you try. my brothers all had the problem, along with my boys' dad, his brother, his father, and my own dad. after growing up watching my brothers go thru everything from no drinks at night, to punishments, rewards, ect, nothing worked except to make them feel worse about it. when i had my own boys and was having the same prob with them is when i found out the males in their dad's side of the family had it as well, including cousins.

eventually we had a dr tell us alot of times it is hereditary especially in males, and there is basically nothing you can do. be;lieve me, at that point we had tried almost everything. and the hereditary factor looked like what we were dealing with.

with trial and error, all you may be doing is causing your son to feel even more bad about it than he already does. he doesn't mean to do this, and is probably more frustrated with himself than you could ever imagine. by bringing attention to it, may cause him to feel more negative of himself, though you may not even be meaning to come across to him in a negative way.

with my experience with my own 4, nephews, ect, all i can offer is try to approach it with more patience than you ever thought you had in you, and never stop with those kisses and hugs!. it will eventually end, i promise. good luck!

C.

Hi L.,

I have a daughter who will be turning 8 in about a week. She is still wetting the bed (we use the "Overnights" pullups at night). Our pediatrician has told us that bed wetting in kids is not at all unusual and recommended not worrying about it until age 9. She said most kids quit by 9, and that some kids just sleep so soundly that the bladder pressure doesn't wake them up. I just thought you should know, in case you haven't read or been told, that this is not unusual.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

A.

My son wet the bed until he was 14. That was a long time to wait for him to outgrow, but it finally happened! We did try the alarm, but he was such a deep sleeper that the alarm did more to interrupt our sleep than his. (I've heard it can be used really successfully, though.) What we DID do was try DDAVP and Detrol--real lifesavers. And now it's finally over. Yay!

My son is now 7 years old and he was wetting the bed almost every night up until a year ago. After several Dr appts. with our family dr. and a pediatric urologist, we finally ordered a Malem alarm. The alarm we got attaches to the underwear and then you pin or clip it to the shoulder. It vibrates and sounds an alarm. I was amazed at how well and how quickly it worked! I cannot remember the exact days but I know that within a few short weeks he slept lighter so he woke up when he had to go potty and he has not had an accident since. He loved the alarm because he really wanted help with this problem. He was so proud of himself for not having accidents anymore. Building up his self esteem means the world to me, and no more wet sheets in the middle of the night is pretty great too.
I know this can help you too!

M.

I have a almost 5 year old son that wets his bed still as well. It leaves him feeling frustrated most every morning and like a failure. I have enrolled him in a program that will cure the "deep sleep disorder". That is the only way to "cure" bedwetting. All the alarms and meds do is mask the problem only to occur again shortly after. I have decided to commit to this program because I see his fun-loving strong-willed personality changing slowing into a depression in which he feels like a failure. We constantly explain that it is not his fault, he has no control over it, but it is hard for him to understand that. I don't want to send him off to kindergarten next fall starting off his days feeling like a failure, only to go to school and maybe get something incorrect there, only to feel like a failure again. I suggest that you research a deep sleep disorder. Pediatricians rarely ever go this route. This program has worked for thousands of others and it is guareented. Bed wetting goes hand-in-hand with night terrors and sleep walking. If you notice that your child has either or both of these, you can bet that is all due to a deep sleep disorder---and hereditary. Look into it. It was the best thing I ever did for my sons self-esteem.

Hi L.,

I wanted to respond to your question about the bed alarm for you little guy. We used on for our son when he was around ten. It was horrible!!! The object of the game is to make your son wake up, shut the alarm off by himself, go to the bathroom, change his clothes and his sheets...again by himself...reset the alarm and go back to bed. If you son is a heavy sleeper as mine was, the whole house was awake during this process. The screen they lay on looked uncomfortable as well but again, it was a nightmare for all of us. My son would be standing there looking at the alarm with confusion after being so rudely awakened and not really know what to do with the screaming siren. It cost a small fortune and didn't work in the long run. May I offer a couple of suggestions? Our chiropractor said that often bedwetting is caused because the persons pelvis is out of alignment and the nerves can't receive the impulse to wake up and pee. Adjustments to your son may help. Also, there is a medication called Imeprimine that may help as well. I would use this as a last resort. I hope this helps!

My oldest son is almost 10 and he finally stopped about a year ago. His problem is that he is such a sound sleeper he didn't wake up. We put him in Good Night pull ups till he finally got it. If you or your husband were bed wetters, our doctor said there was a good chance you child will too and they too will just grow out of it. I was anxious about using meds, b/c some of them make them retain water, in order not to wet the bed.....I don't want to be responsible for messing up my childs kidneys! Give them reassurance and love, encourage them to take responsiblity for their bedding and pjs. They won't go to college in pull ups!!

I have not had any experience with the bed wetting alarms, but I have heard they give kids nightmares. Let me know if you have any success with it. I also have an 8 year old boy (Nov 99) that can't seem to tackle bedwetting. Last year it started happening during the day too! I was mortified to have my first grader coming home wet on almost a daily basis. He had out-patient surgery to try to correct this problem but it only helped mildly. I whole heartedly feel it is mental and with A LOT of hard work & patience we got over it. Still working on the bedwetting. Best of luck to you!

I just read an article about the possible side effects of bed wetting medications, including seizures and death. The medications works on the kidneys to reduce urine output - that doesn't sound real healthy to me.

My son is 19 now, but he had bedwetting problems which finally stopped around when he was around 12. I had him checked out by his pediatrician and nothing was wrong with him. Tried the alarm which was a really bad experience for him and he refused to use it. I began limiting his liquids after 7 pm at night and made sure he went to the bathroom before he went to bed at night. I did not want to put him on any medications. By doing this it happened less often and he fortunately did outgrow it.

HI When i was younger i bedwetted too . it was embrasssessing cause my mother would put my mattress outside all day and hung my sheets on the line for the neighbors to look at . Please don't do that to your baby ,,its embrassessing going to school knowning your classmates know and they make fun of u . I never got out of it till i was 14 . and it turns out it wasn't my fault but a medical problem with my kidneys . Check into that ,my parents finally did cause my dad insisted ,,then it was embrassessing to them .

I actually purchased an alarm for my 11 year old bed wetter. I was told by his therapist and psychiatrist that they really do work. My 11 year old is rather rebellious though and when he doesn't feel like getting up to go to the bathroom, he just unplugs the alarm. You have to WANT to quit bed wetting, then it really is effective. It does a great job of detecting wetness early and the alarm can wake up even heavy sleepers (including you! but if it gets the job done....!). It trains your body to wake up when it feels the early sensation of having to go to the bathroom.
Good luck.

i have 4 boys and can relate with the 8yr old bedwetting situation.. We have tried both the medication and alarm.. the medication has never worked! Not even at a sleep over.. I felt so sorry for my son. However the alarm works great..It is set for 11pm every night. When it goes off he jumps up and hit the bathroom without any help from us. he has been dry for a few months now.
Goodluck!

I personally wet the bed for well we will say a long time.. and there where alot of causes and factors but I DID grow out of it ( for a liitle encouragement) I fear i might have to deal with my son having the same problem and i personally am not comfortable with the bed alarm idea (being someone who remembers how aweful you felt after you woke up in your own urine) I jsut wanted to send out a hug to you and your son from osomeone who has been ther e.. good luck!

My 9 yr. old daughter still wets every night. She is a VERY sound sleeper. I have seen a pediatric urologist & a pediatric pychologist. Both think the bed alarm is a bad idea. They said it will interupt her sleep & will probably causer her to be very tired not being able to go through all of her sleep modes. (Same response to me waking her up myself once or twice a night). They are not ready to put her on meds as they can cause heart problems (side effect) in younger children. They said that we will try meds around age 12 if she has not stopped wetting. Long story short, maybe not the best idea. I know it's tough.

I am not sure if this will be helpful but I ran across it online. Hopefully this helps http://www.herbalremedies.com/bedwetting.html

Here are some Beneficial Dietary Supplements:
*Free-form Amino Acid Complex helps strengthen the bladder muscle.
*Calcium and Magnesium helps control bladder spasms.
*Multivitamin and Mineral Complex relieves stress and supplies nutrients.
*Potassium balances sodium in the body.
*Vitamin A normalizes bladder muscle function.
*Zinc improves bladder function and enhances the immune system.
*St. John’s Wort, Plantain, Cornsilk, Arnica Montana and Parsley, when taken before 3 p.m., can help prevent bed-wetting.

My kids are now older (22 and 20) but we went through bedwetting for years. From what I understand, it is often hereditary - I knew that I had been a bedwetter, and then found out that my father was a bedwetter, too! Anyhow - my older two kids both were, but my youngest (now 14) was not. Although we DID try the alarm, it was a waste of money for us.

The doctor explained to us that bedwetting typically has one of two causes: 1)the bedwetting may simply be because the child is a heavy sleeper, in which case the alarm will usually work; and 2)the bedwetting may be because the child's body does not yet develop enough of the hormone that causes the kidneys to shut down at night, thus continuting to empty into the bladder... thus, the bedwetting. In that case, the alarm will not work.

Anyhow - what ended up working for us was a nose spray before bed... basically it was a synthetic form of the hormone my kids' bodies weren't yet producing. They both used the spray (and needed it!) until they were about 10 or 12... we would have a "test night" periodically to see when they no longer needed it... and I am glad to say that eventually, their bodies DID take over and start creating the hormone!!

Good luck to you - there is nothing more frustrating for a mom to have to wash sheets every night, and nothing more embarassing for an 8 year old to not be able to go to a sleepover for fear of getting teased. I wish you both the best!

I wet the bed till I was 17 years old.
My parents tried many things with me... bed alarms, panties that shocked me when they got wet, grounding, yelling, making me sleep on the floor. It got pretty bad.
It started when I was 7 or 8 though too.
So from my own personal experience, I would just suggest getting a plastic covered matrace, and reasuring him that its not his fault. Take advantage of the situation by showing him how to work the washing machine and dryer. Get him in the habbit of washing the sheets and his pj's. Cut back drinks up to 2 hrs before bed, that helps sometimes.
Whatever you do though... dont yell or let him know you are upset when he wets the bed. It really isnt anything he can controll, and he probably already feels bad about it. Let him know that you still love him no matter what, because I garentee he will remember everytime you got upset about it. I know I do.

My 9-yr.-old wets the bed as well. We've been talking to friends in similar situations. One friend said her dr. said to use the medicine after other things had been tried. He is a little older than my son. Another friend told me of a device that goes on the underwear and sets off an alarm when they start to pee. It works about the same way as the bed alarm. I have not looked into these options, but I thought you might want to know what is available. My friend with the underwear alarm said it took less than a month to train her son.

I also wet the bed until I was about 8. From my experience, I eventually grew out of it. My dad was really hard on me, and that did not help. We used the bed alarm and it didn't work for me. My mother would get me up in the middle of the night sometimes, something I don't really want to do:)

My son is a really sound sleeper, he has his baby brother in his room and doesn't wake up when he cries! He usually only goes to the bathroom about once a day, so I know that his bladder is big enough to hold it. I will be interested in seeing what everyone else's advice is.

We are going through this ourselves with our 8 yr old dd. She has been seeing a urologist since just after her 8th birthday and I can count on one hand how many times she's been dry since then. They put her on DDAVP, she's on the maximum dosage but still nothing. Yes, she's slowed down ALOT, she's not soaked every morning..but not dry either. We don't worry about wet PJ's or sheets each day since she wears "GoodNights" (similar to Pullups but for bigger kids) to give us all a sense of comfort. She still won't go to sleepovers since they are noticeable so that's hard for a young girl. We were referred the alarm but it's not covered on our insurance and on one income (I'm a SAHM), that's not something we can afford. Plus after reading some of the other posts here, it probably wouldn't work on her anyway. I used to wake her before I went to bed each night since the early part of the night (right after falling asleep) is when she wets the most. But after getting pregnant and having another baby, that got to hard to do. My dh was a bedwetter but my MIL don't remember when he stopped. I've pretty much resolved to the fact that she'll get over it soon enough. I don't pressure her, I don't make her feel bad (I used to really think she could control this but now know she can't) and we just go with the flow now. She woke up almost dry this morning and was so excited and my dh and I got excited with her.

To sum it up..you could see a pediatric urologist and they can give you options. But if you or your dh was a bedwetter for any period of time, there won't be much that can be done, it will have to run it's course. Keep up with the disposable underpants (GoodNights work great!!) and provide postive reenforcements to your son. It's not his fault and I'm really sure that if he could stop, he would.
Good luck!!

My son is 15, will be 16 in May, and last month had another incident of bed wetting. We, like everyone else, tried the 2 different types of meds, to no avail. The doctor recommended the alarm than he laughed when he said that they tried it for their son, but it never woke him up. So we didn't go that route. We never made it an issue, and he tried to deal with it as best he could. Finally at age 14 we went to a neuro feedback doctor. He explained to us that bedwetting is a sleeping disorder, it usually has little to do with anything else. The brain simply isn't sending the signal to wake up and go to the bathroom. He went to this doctor for about six months. They put electrodes on the skull and work on several areas of the brain. This is done for sports enhancement, ADD, ADHD and other things as well. His incidents cut down to once in a very great while, instead of regularly. Our schedule got too busy to continue going, however, I think it helped. Other than this he is healthy, in football, wrestling, etc. However, I do think he has some anger issues over the whole thing. Never, I repeat, never say negative things about it to him. I never did, but my brother lived with us for a while and he did, this will pass, but the words will live on.

Hi L.,
Our 8 year old was a bedwetter. We did not want to use medications,so we just altered our lives and his. We cut off all liquids to drink after 8:00pm at first, which worked some time not all the time, then we went back to 7:00pm this works much better. Plus our Nurse Practioner suggested having him help to take his bed apart, wash the sheets and put clean ones back on. It's helped!now he knows what we go through when he wet.
Good Luck!!
R.

I would recommend Underjams over all other diapers. But to stop wetting use a bedwetting alarm off amazon, (much less embarrassing). They really work! Somehow all 9 of my kids were bed wetters till their preteens. All except for my 3 youngest! I finally got fed up for buying diapers for kids older than 2. So I tried a bedwetting alarm! Totally works! TRY TRY TRY!

have you son ever seen a chiropractor? They might help him without using medication or alarm.
Good luck

Hi L.. I'm having this same problem with my 10 yr old son, and not nearly as frequently, with my 7 yr old daughter. Right now, we place a large trash bag on the mattress with a half-folded bath towel on top before putting on blankets. It at least keeps the mattresses dry. We have been just waiting it out as they usually just outgrow it. I've heard the meds make the kids cranky (I definitely don't need that added in) and haven't really researched the alarms. I've found that a good number of his classmates are having the same problem, so I'm not too worried yet. Let me know what you find out!

trust me my brother he pees the bed still hes 12 on feb 13.

Yes! Our eldest son was still wetting the bed at 8 years of age. We had considered an alarm, but initially felt it was somewhat barbaric, frankly. We tried medication, which did not work. When he was 8 and hadn't outgrown it yet, we invested in a MALEM alarm that both vibrated and put out an alarm when it got wet. It absolutely did the trick. Within a few weeks he had all but stoppped wetting his bed. He slept with it for awhile (I can't remember exactly how long - but long enough that he went weeks without an accident), before we stopped. I would absolutely recommend it.

My son is 6 and wets the bed every night... we tried the medication and that didn't work... I can tell you that a girlfriend of mine has a 6 yr old son and was going through the same thing until she got a Malem bed wetting alarm.. it took less than 2 weeks for him to be able to wake up on his own and he now goes during the night in a toilet :) that alarm is close to $100 but I've noticed it on ebay for much much cheaper and I think I'm going to buy one myself... I'm tired of washing sheets EVERY day... good luck to you...

I'm not a big fan of alarms (personal experience) so I didn't go that route for my kids. My daughter stopped bed wetting at age 8 and my son stopped at age 12. I know it's a long time to deal with the overnights, but I was afraid they were like the ones when I was little (I'm 42). Ultimately, you know your child best and what works for one child might not work for another. Do your best research and make the best decision for YOU and YOUR kid. BTW, I wet my bed til I was 16 and they didn't have overnights back then.
Best of luck,
C. S.

I had a son also had a bedwetting problem, but the experiement I had with the alarm is with my brother. My parents bought him one and it worked great. Even if a little drop fall it goes off and it is loud. So it will wake him up and he will go to the bathroom. Also it will wake you up as well and you will make sure he will go. Eventually he will put two and two together and the feeling with waking up will come. It just all takes time. With my son I stopped all liquids after a certain time (like an hour before bed) and I made him go to the bathroom before he went to bed. Try that also if you haven't already. Good Faith. Just keep believing he will stop. My brother is now 43 years old so there is hope.