I Have a 5 1/2 Year Old Girl Who Is Wetting Her Bed, 1 or 2 Times a Night

I wet my bed into my teenage years (I guess I was a bit of an extreme case). My last "accident" happened when I was 16!! My parents took me to see all kinds of speciaists but nothing helped. It was something that I had to grow out of ( & gosh, it took FOREVER). The best advice I can give you from personal experience is try not to make too big of a deal about it. My parents were great about it but it was still the most traumatic experience of my life. I know my parents tried to do whats best for me, but all those trips to specialists really made me feel like I was "defected" & really took a toll on my self esteem growing up.

Also, my parents waking me up in the middle of the night really did help.

It's actually not unusual for a child that age to wet the bed. If the child has been dry through the night for a long amount of time and then starts wetting the bed- generally the child is either stressed or getting ready for a developmental spurt. If this has been ongoing, perhaps she is a deep sleeper or has a medical issue as stated in other comments. My son is 6 1/2 and still wets the bed. We have dealt with it by buying the "goodnight" pull ups which are more absorbant and also buying a sheet protector from the First Years (that way the sheets dont get wet, only the protector- makes clean ups easier). We encourage him to use the bathroom before bed, limit liquids and just know that his body will mature and he will outgrow this bed wetting (I wet the bed until I was 6 and had no control over it- my mother tried to "shame me" into stopping and all it did was make me feel awful and I tried to hide the wet sheets- I still remember it and wish she had just shown support and encouragement).

Hi K.,

My daughter is 5 and she also still has accidents. It seems that you have tried the same things I did. What has worked for me the most is putting her on the toilet between 10-11 pm. Even if she is sleeping. I just put her on the toilet, tell her to go potty (and she's still sleeping) then put her to bed. She doesn't wet the bed when I follow this routine. One night I actually thought she was ok since she went to the bathroom right before going to bed and sure enough she wet the bed. I also don't give her anything to drink about 1 hrs before bedtime. I hope this works for you.

M.

K., have you had her checked by a Dr.?
this can be a Health Problem!
My bestfriend of 12 years has a 14 yr old Boy that wets the bed since he was 2 and potty trained and they found out he was ill and needed meds for this.
I would check with the Pediatrician ASAP....before going on your trip!
take care and have a great night.
~M.

K.,
I would do just as the Dr. says. Bed wetting is very normal problem. Many children have it. They out grow it, just be patient and keep up the good work. Eventually she will out grow it. Good luck.

I had this as a child and it was found that I had Bilateral Urethra reflux. I had both my girls checked for it by an urologist when they were younger, it is an easy test and I would recommend getting a pediatric urologist opinion

As was already stated, I have a 13 yr old that used to wet the bed up until about 6 mo. ago. Her body was producing to much urine through the night and her bladder hadn't fully developed at that time, she had to take meds for it to help correct it until her body did what it needed to do. She has since stopped. To ask you a question, did either you or your husband wet the bed as a child? If so, this may be the case with your kids. Check with a doctor again.

ok the first thing- don;t blame yourself for leaving her in pull-ups too long. its a sleeping disorder. i have a child who is much older that still wets at night. if you or your husband or either of your siblings wet the bed it will be more likely to have a child that wets. there are meds that you can have you child take- but the doctor has to have regular blood work done to make sure that the meds aren't hurting them. also the meds don't stop them from wetting before their body is ready, so if they would still be wetting in 2 years and with the meds they are fine or 6 months, you stop- they will still wet. there are also alarms- please don't waste your money- that don't work. just buy some 'good nights', and don't stress about it. remember it is a sleeping disorder. its called enuresis- looked it up.

I would not be concerned. As long as the pediatrician is aware of it. This is a very common problem. The child has no control over this and may begin to feel bad about it if you make a big deal over it. I wet the bed well into my elementary school days. My Mom tried bribing me with rewards, but truley I can remember as a child just waking up and being wet, and not wanting to make anyone upset. I eventually outgrew it as most children do. I remember when we traveled my Mom would bring plastic pants for me to wear at night. (I am sure you could find something more current) I am 32 years old now and I can still remember that time in my life as difficult and emarrassing. As a healthcare provider I can tell you that you are doing the right things by limiting liquids late in the evening and going to the bathroom before bed. As a childhood bedwetter I can tell you the best thing you can do for your daughter mentaly is support her and be empathetic and be sure that she feels like you are not worried and that you are confident she will outgrow it. Good luck and hang in there.
K.

Is there any diabetes in the family?

Some diabetes symptoms include:

Frequent urination
Excessive thirst
Extreme hunger
Unusual weight loss
Increased fatigue
Irritability
Blurry vision
If you have one or more of these

I would check that out as being a problem cause at that age it isn't normal with out there being a health issue.
Have it checked out by the doctor it sounds like you are doing everything on your end to beat the problem, but if it isn't working for you it could just be her body letting you know there is something that needs to be looked at by a doctor. The only other thing it could be which you might not want to hear and I'm sorry if it offends you but isn't at all your fault, it could be laziness not by you but the child.
But maybe not even that if a child has deep sleep disorder that could be a problem for wetting the bed but if it is still happening after using the bathroom before bed and in the middle of the night then I would get my child checked for diabetes.
If you see that your child really is trying but she can't help it then it might be a medical problem.
Good Luck with finding the problem if there is one and good luck if it isn’t.

Maybe you should take her to the doctors. She might be sleeping very hard and her body can't wake up when she needs to use the bathroom. You could also try to make her go to the bathroom before she goes to sleep & then wake her up in the middle of the night & have her go. I know that requires you waking up to take care of it, but you brought her into this world.

I have a 4 year old who just starting wetting the bed. He hasn't been in pull-ups for over a year, but we did recently move, had a baby, then 5 weeks later lost our baby and I quit as a pre-school teacher to stay at home with my boys so I pulled them out of school. SO we've gone through a ton of changes. Think if your family has gone through any major changes or even any suttle ones since all this began. Maybe she feels as though somethings changed and she's loosing control or needs her schedule changed now that she's getting older. Maybe her schedule needs to be different from her sisters, or younger siblings and she doesn't know how to express it. We now put a shower curtain liner down under the sheet so it doesn't mess up the mattress, and we do like you and wake our son to go in the middle of the night. But, withe the grace of God we've been able to re-adjust his schedule and make things more consistant. We've looked at the rules he has versus his 2 year old brother and what things he needs in order to feel in control of his world. H'e s 4 and she's 5 and even though they can speak emotions are still hard to decipher at that age, gosh let alone any age. Some grown-ups can't do that. Hehe. But, then also I had a boy in my 4 year old pre-school class who wet himself consistantly and he had a bladder control problem. He has to take medicine for it, so you have some options, but that's my opinion. Hope it helps. God Bless - KWalters