How to save Money - 8 Yr Old Son Wears Tena Pull Ups at Night - Too Expensive

I work for an adult foster care provider, and a lot of our adults use Tena products. If your son has an incontinent diagnosis from a doctor, the Tena products would likely be covered by insurance. Medical supply companies that sell Tena would be happy to assist you in this process (they want your business so they can get paid by insurance).

Medical supply companies also carry reusable bed pads that soak up the leaks (so your not changing all the bedding every night). The pads can be thrown in the washer and dryer for easy clean up. I purchased a couple out-of-pocket to use for potty training and they work great.

I would recommend limiting fluids in the evenings as well, to prevent massive leaks throughout the night. Other than brushing teeth, you may want to make a rule of no liquids after 6pm.

I can "REALLY help with this one. My youngest son was a bed wetter for longer than I thought he should be. I was talking to my older sister one day (we did not grow up together) and was talking about this. She was a bed wetter until she was 12! She informed me it is a hormonal imbalance in the pituitary gland, when you need to go it secretes a hormone that wakes you up. Yes you will eventually grow out of it as the gland develops and starts secreting this hormone normally. However, try telling that to a little boy who cry's in the morning cause he wet the bed, or is afraid to stay the night at friend's houses (either because he is afraid he'll wet the bed or doesn't want to get made fun of for pull ups). Anyway she told me to talk to the Dr. about a nasal spray that helps with this. I did and Dr. prescribed the spray. You do one squirt in each nostril every night. HOLY COW does this work! We only had to use it for about a year. It was such a relief to all of us especially our son! Talk to your Dr. about this. I have told everyone who brings this issue up the facts and many were so thankful and relieved!
Good Luck!

Is he urinating more in general? I only ask because it could be a symptom of different types of diabetes or other health problems. Have you noticed him going to the bathroom more during the day too, or is he just wetting more at night? I'm sorry I don't have any advice as to what type of pull ups you should buy, just wanted to alert you to the fact that increased urination (if that's what he has) is something you might want to mention to the pedi.

My son did this until age 11. At around age 7, when it showed no signs of improving, we consulted a pediatric urologist. After much discussion and assurances, we chose medication. I don't normally like to go that route and I think we're a pretty drugged-up society BUT it made a lot of sense. There are no side effects, we were told, and many kids, especially boys, stay on it thru their teen years. If you have healthy insurance, it will probably cost $10 a month. One pill at night, and he was dry every morning. It also allowed him to go to sleepovers and overnight camp - social experiences we wanted him to have. If he went to a friend's house, we sent ONE pill in a plain empty pill bottle with just his name on it. I sometimes told the other parents that he needed an allergy pill at night - they just gave it to him, no questions asked. Simple simple. Later, he was old enough to remember it himself. At camp, the staff handled it with all the other kids on meds.

Waking him up does nothing to help "train" the bladder-brain connection, and he needs his sleep. We learned a lot from talking to our pediatrician and the specialist as well as a neighbor who is a pediatrician. This is a developmental issue, not something that can be taught or trained, no matter what you hear. The condition is called nocturnal enuresis and most kids outgrow it at some point, but you won't know when. Our son took himself off the meds at age 11, but the condition returned about 2 weeks later. So he went back on the meds for a few years, and tried it again.

The only way we managed the bed situation was to put down a waterproof pad on top of the sheet (we used his old crib liner - it was big enough to cover the prime area - and then put another fitted sheet on top of that. If he wet, we stripped him down and wiped him off with wipes, pulled the sheet and the crib liner, and there was a clean dry sheet underneath. Not perfect, but better than making the whole bed at 2 a.m.

What you're paying in water and laundry detergent could be spent on inexpensive meds that will give him the peace of mind and the deep sleep his growing body needs.

Meantime, please let him know that this is not his fault, it's not in his control, and that thousands of kids have it but just don't talk about it. He's normal.

Good luck.

Why is he still wetting at night? Has he seen the doctor? A lot of children are heavy sleepers and do not wet the bed at this age. Are you cutting fluids hours before bedtime? Are you having him clean up the mess? There is no way I would be buying pull-ups for an 8 year old unless there was a medical reason. There has to be a way to get him night trained. When you potty trained during the day--did you go straight to underwear or use pull-ups at night from the get go? I think by using the pull-ups you are not making it so that he has no choice but to become potty trained. You are giving him the option of just going in the "diaper" at night. Accidents happen, but every night is crazy at this age. In the least, you should have plastic or rubber sheets on the mattress.

I'm not sure if they're less expensive or not but we buy Underjams. Our local store also makes a generic brand of Underjams. I would invest in some waterproof pads to lay underneath him and above the sheets (maybe lay a towel down too?).

I've heard also about bedwetting alarms but I haven't tried. If it goes much longer though, I think I might have to!

I don't have a practical answer for replacing the pull-ups, but you can certainly cut down on the laundry by using waterproof pads.Take a flat sheet, (Walmart-$4.00) and make 2-3 strips that fit across the bed, and put a pad underneath. Trashcan liners work great. You can make more than one layer if you want,, so your son can take care of it himself. He can remove a wet layer quickly in the morning, and you can do laundry when you want. Good luck.

It sounds to me like your sons condition is pretty serious and could be diagnosed as an incontenience (sp) issue. If that were the case I imagine insurance would cover some sort of protective underware for him. I would talk to his dr.

As far as the sheets go. My MIL got me 4 reusable pads for my daughters bed. You can get them at a medical supply store. They are soft on the side he lays on and plastic on the side that lays on the bed. The ones we use cost $10 a sheet. You just throw them in the washer and dryer. They last for a very long time.

Good luck.

Hi,
My 7 year old daughter wets the bed too.. same situation.. I used to use good nite pullups they were expensive.. anyways since the econmy is down as well as my husband job... I use walgreens brand size large XL watch for sales they go as low as 6 dollars a bag!!! if they are out of his size ask for a rain check... they work for us :) I wish I would of tried them along time ago and saved money. also we bought at target a waterproof matress bad.

Remeber there is nothing wrong with your child and do not take it out on him! Everyone is different and some kids have to deal with this and it is no fun for them and they don't like it.

My 7 year old son wet the bed every night. I spoke to his pediatrician, and after making sure there was nothing physically wrong, she gave us a prescription. It only works on 90% of bedwetters. But it worked for him. He was on it for about 6 weeks and now he doesn't need the pills anymore. It worked for us.

Good Luck!
Sam
Mother of 3
Devin 8, Donovan 7, Mya 5

hi -
have you tried the following for bed wetting? (see http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/info/urinary/di... for more info):

Several simple measures exist in order to help a child overcome bed-wetting. These include:

* Encouraging intake of the majority of liquids during the early part of the day
* Avoiding dietary bladder irritants such as citrus products (oranges, lemons, pineapples, grapefruits, limes, tomatoes), carbonation, caffeine and chocolate
* Complete, unhurried bladder emptying at bedtime
* Awakening and taking the child to the bathroom when the parents go to bed (about 2-3 hours after the child's bedtime) ** you say he is a heavy sleeper - have you tried sitting him up completely and turning the light on?
* Making sure the child is not overtired. If a child is overtired, bed-wetting is more likely to occur. If a child is not well rested in the morning, an earlier bedtime may be worth a try
* For children in whom the above steps have not worked, other treatments may be useful. These include bladder exercises, alarm devices and medications.

as for the cost - don't mean to pry, but does your child have any disability? or is he on Medicaid? I know Ohio has a program that will help pay for pull ups at night (as long as you have Medicaid).

for the mattress: do you have a waterproof mattress cover?

good luck!

What if you cut back on something else so that you could afford the Tena pads?