Dry Through the Night

You said, "some children necessarily "grow out of", it's a muscle that has to be built up."
That is totally right and I learned that the muscles can be built up with a trampoline. Both my boy and girl were trained by 2 1/2 and didn't wet the bed again ever and I totally attribute it to the jumping on the trampoline. Some doctors will even put older women on the rebounder/trampoline to strengthen "those muscles" that need to be strengthened again. Good Luck!

This is a pretty common issue with children really...twins or no twins. Don't use the pager! NO NO! research it. It's a bad thing. It can cause irregular muscle spasms and inability to control the bladder!
The best way to handle this is to let it "play out". He won't stay in pull-ups forever. Children develop at their own rates. When his body is mature enough to control the bladder muscle in his sleep...the bladder muscle will be controlled. Once that happens, he will begin waking in the night to go to the bathroom. Anything that is used to punish a child or "shock" a child can cause major tramatic stress. Future bed wetting is very common in those that were punished or items used to prevent the bed wetting. Just go with nature...be patient and soon, his body will be able to communicate with his brain to WAKE UP!! I GOTTA PEE!! lol

Good luck.
Mother of two
pediatric psychology student
U.O.P

I have one 10-yr old son & one 7-yr old son. The 10-yr old still wears a pull-up at night, while the 7 year old has been dry all night since he was about 2 1/2. We've tried waking him up at night, didn't work. We've tried medications, which helped a bit in the beginning, but as his body got used to them, they didn't work either. I've talked to his doctor extensively about it and done a lot of research, and the bottom line is that he just sleeps so heavily that his mind doesn't register the fact that he has peed until he's fully awake in the morning. Our doctor tried to talk us out of the medications and just leave it be to sort itself out, but my son really wanted to try it, so we did. We're going to try another medication this month, because he has a week long school field trip coming up in January and is really concerned about it. Our doctor's advice is to realize that it's really common in boys, particularly, and not to stress it too much early on, because you don't want the child to feel that there's something wrong with him that needs to be fixed, when it's a matter of the body growing. Those that say it's a personality thing or that kids should just be able to make a mental choice to stop are uninformed. As far as using the pager, our doctor's advice was to evaluate whether a dry bed and no pull-ups was worth the entire family getting no sleep.

I remember my brother having this issue until he was 11 or 12, and my parents woke him up 2 times a night every night until that age (no pull-ups back then). He still frequently had accidents both in his bed and various places throughout the house when he would make an effort to wake up to use the bathroom, but he was just such a sound sleeper that he would end up peeing in the closet if no one was guiding him in the middle of the night. He also would have a hard time at school because he wasn't sleeping soundly. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you go down that road, it might work out great for you, but it might also be unsuccessful, leave your child feeling like a failure, and guarantee that no one gets any sleep...

Hi M.,
I have read all your other responds to your son's bed wetting. I have a 5 1/2 year old son who has only wet the bed once sence he became potty trained and out of pull ups. At first we kept him in pull up's at night, he also had a rubber mattress pad under his sheets, We decided that the pull ups were inableing him to wet at night, so when we ran out we started a new system that has worked.
From 5pm on if he wanted something to drink, we gave him just 1 or 2 sips. For dinner he had his reg. glass of milk and that was it till bedtime. At bed time he got a sip of water and went pee. then before my husband came to bed, he always stayed up to watch the news, he would get our son up and have him pee, during the night if either one of us got up to go to the bathroom, we went in and took him to the bathroom to. There was really no need to fully wake him up and we only used night lights, never truned on the overhead lights, took him back to bed and in the morning he was dry. It took about 2 to 3 weeks and we kept the same way for drinks, and sometimes getting him up again before we went to bed, but there really was no need. When he was almost 5 we had a get rid of the plastic sheet party and I got him a nice mattress pad for his bed, it was water proof, but he didn't know the differnce.
My husband was a bed wetter till he was 9 or 10 I asked him why he did it, his true responds was, He was to lazy to get up most of the time and it felt good because it was so warm.
His step father beat it out of him, is how he stopped.
I had a cousin who would always wet the bed, clear up into his late teens, when he was home or at our house, but if he had a friend stay over or if he stayed at a friends house, he never wet.
I wish you alot of luck and before your son goes away for the week, maybe you could talk to some family members or his friends parents to see if you can start giving him some dry runs first. also talk to the adults who will be in charge and they may be able to help him out with his overnight underware so he will not be made fun of.
R.

Hi Mary. Does your little guy have any other physical manifestations? Achy legs at night, chews nails, picky eater...anything a bit different?

hi,
i have a 6 year old girls and every night wet pull up.. but i do not want to loose sleep over the issue and when i tried to wake her up to use the restroom it was a night mare. my husband was a terble bed wetter and grew out of it around age 7.5 years old.. although i just had my daughters 6 year old well check and the dr.. this is her opinion.. they are still young.. and don't stress.. just keep using the pull ups and we will talk about the issue when she is 7.. since they do have bed alarms ect.. but that causes stress ect.. and they even have medication but she is not a fan of that at this age.
Best of luck and i am in the same situation,
Lenc

Hi Mary,
I did post here about the same question last week. You should check the answers I got too. My son was potty trained since 2.5 yo and we never used pull ups at night and it worked until recently, when he started to wet the bed. He is almost 5. I tried the waking method and it worked - if I wake him up, he will go and the sheets will stay dry, but than he won't fell back to sleep, I won't fell back to sleep, we both will be tired and cranky during the day. He usually sleeps until 8-8.30 am but if he needs to go around 6-7, he won't go back to sleep and we will just start the day earlier - another tiring and unpleasant experience. Well, it looks like sometimes some of theirs body parts need to catch up with the grow with the others. I decided to wait until he is ready again. Now I buy under jams and yes, he pees in them, not every night, but more often than before and yes, putting them is like a green light that he can go. My advice to you is to decide what you want. For my self I decided that our sleep is more important and I will let him wear the underjams until he is ready again to stay dry the whole night. Good luck!

I used a homopathic that was available at the Ashland co-op and it was effective after a few doses.

Makee sure you are not giving the child stimulants - coke, chocolate, these can irritate the system and can desensitize us to our bodies. As can of course msg and refined sugar.

Good luck, enjoy your sons.

Not and aging issue a personality issue. My son who was dry through the night from 12 months but refused to be potty trained until 41/2 years is brilliant! but I could not, until he was out in the adult world tell him anything. I still have to suggest things.

Look at their learning style. All this is related. Fun!

My sister had trouble with her son wetting until he was about 9. I also was about that old, as well as my sister in law. My oldest daughter has never had an accident since she trained at 2, and my next daughter just got out of pull ups last month at 4. You're right to tell them that everyone is different!

My sister's doctor told her that it is a physical milestone. Some kids physically can't hold it, and if they don't wake up, well - you've got a bedwetter! This is contrary to what the Potty Pager folks say, so I guess you'd have to do some research if you really want to know what's true.

If you don't want to wake up during the night to take him (which might not work anyway - my mom set alarms for me and I would shut it off in my sleep, dream that I was in the bathroom and pee the bed anyway!) get some of the absorbent pads that they use under you at the hospital during delivery, or if Underjams or GoodNights work, stick with them. Sometimes getting to this age they will go to school and find out that they want to have a sleepover at a friend's house and they'll make a personal decision to try really hard to stay dry.

Anyway, I hope it isn't too much of a problem for you. It's normal, and hopefully passes sooner than later!!

I had my son potty trained by the time he was 4, but it came with lots of wet/dirty/tears/frustration...etc. What I did was rid myself and my son of the pull ups. I felt that they were like condoning the behavior. It allows the body to feel as though it's a diaper. So, we bought a fitted plastic sheet and...*drum roll* made a routine out of it. The routine helped his body get used to getting up at certain times to go to bathroom. We would have him go before he went to bed, I would wake him up and have him go before I went to bed, and then I would wake him up two or three time in the middle of the night. This is tedious and will remind you of when they were infants, but this works. It's reminding their body to go. After about 3 weeks, my son was doing this on his own. Now, he's 5 and sleeps through the night unless he's got to go. He'll wake up and make it to the bathroom. I haven't had an accident in almost a year. Hope this helps. *hug*