Question on Bedwetting Alarms

I would say that 5 is the minimum age in a child development standpoint view - night time wetness is NOT a learned thing, it is a hormone that they develop and if that hormone has not kicked in by age 8 then the doctors will intervene. For that reason I think that a 5 yr old is the youngest I would ever consider even trying to use a bedwetting alarm, until then just keep them in pull ups till they stay dry for a week straight.

ETA: for those who used the alarm and it worked, great. I'm happy for you. For those who slept in wed beds and sleeping bags, I feel your pain. But please don't say that others are "talking out of our asses" when we DID use the alarm, as directed, for months, to no avail. My kid wasn't dry until he was 12 - without medication that is. And he was exhausted from being wet or awakened by alarms at night. So I know what it's like. It had nothing to do with his motivation, or ours. It had to do with his biology. We found success with another path - explained below. So everyone should consider their own situation and choices.

Original post: We used it - and it was absolutely pointless. It only goes after AFTER the kid is wet, so what's the benefit? Yes, it wakes everyone up so you can run in and start stripping off pajamas and changing sheets, but it's closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. What exactly is it "training" him to do? He was asleep when he peed, so there's nothing to train him in, no "advance warning" to cue him in to. Do you see where I'm at with this?

My kid was late to figure out using the potty during the day, and even later at night. We had good conversations with the pediatrician and a pediatric urologist to whom she referred us. Believe me, I understand how much you want this problem to stop, but there's more to it.

There is something called nocturnal enuresis - which is nighttime bedwetting. Now, depending on what you think the right (or average) age is for waking up when the bladder is full, a child may not have N.E. but may not "be there yet" developmentally. So whether a 5 or 6 year old is just "not there yet", or whether N.E. is present and likely to be so for years to come, you can't know right now. According to the urologist, N.E. is present in a lot of kids, more often boys but there are plenty of girls, and that can go on up until the age of 18 or so.

Looking back on all we went through, I would skip the alarm entirely. I don't know anyone for whom it has worked. I don't think nighttime dryness is "trainable" - I think it's developmental because the full bladder has to signal the brain to wake up before the sphincter muscle lets go.

By the age of 7, we weren't seeing any changes at all. We opted, after discussion with the urologist, for a nighttime dose of a medication called DDAVP. He indicated he had middle and high school kids on it. I'm not thrilled with medication and I avoid it as much as possible. But our kid wasn't going to sleepovers, and he wasn't getting a full night's sleep. After 7 years of never going all night dry, we chose meds. I wouldn't do it at 5 if a child could sleep through the night with a pull up or a Good Night product, but by 7 or 8, yes, it's worth it.

So, wait it out, or do anything else. But the alarm is nothing but frustrating, expensive, and useless.

L.,

I have seen many responses to this type of question from Moms that are VERY against the bedwetting alarms, my guess is that those Moms were not bedwetters as children. I was a bedwetter and it is horrible as a child to go spend the night with a friend or relative or heck just to admit to your Mom every morning, "yeah, I wet again".

My son was a bedwetter, pretty much every night. When he was about 8 my husband did a lot of research on the internet on different alarm products, I was VERY skeptical about using one but went along with it. We bought the alarm (I was in no way cheap) and threw ourselves into the process wholeheartedly. The web-site for the product we used had a huge list of suggestions, hints and tricks from other parents that had successfully used the alarm. I stitched a little pocket on the inside of about 3 pair of underwear, just large enough to hold the sensor. The sensor goes off the instant liquid touches it, the idea is to train the brain to wake up for that sensation. We practiced with my son what we would do when the alarm went off by having him lay in bed and me setting off the alarm with water. It was like having a newborn in the house for about 4 or 5 days, both my husband and I got up the instant the alarm went off to help him to the bathroom and to see if his sheets needed changing. After that 4 or 5 days he was getting up on his own, no alarm. We had him wear the alarm for an additional week and he was dry. The bedwetting alarms WORK. It was the best money spent to help our sons' self esteem. He is very active in Boy Scouts (if I may brag, he's an Eagle Scout) and he would have never been able to go on campouts with a bedwetting problem.

Bedwetting Alarms Work!!

M.

I would never use an alarm. It's just going to wake your son up AFTER he's already peed. How is that supposed to teach him to wake up if he has to pee? The only thing it's going to do is wake everyone up and cause everyone to lose sleep.

Bed-wetting has nothing to do with potty training. This is not something a child can "learn." A child will stop peeing at night when his/her body is developmentally ready.

If it does come to the point of being concerned, talk to the pediatrician. If the pediatrician is at all concerned, he/she can run tests or suggest medicine that might help.

Give it time. Kids grow out of this.

My experience? They don't work.

He's five. His body isn't ready for night time dryness. I'm sorry.

My girlfriend has a 14 year old boy who JUST this past year could go all night. We tried the alarm with him (I take care of her kids while she is out of town working). All it did was make him groggy and he still had "accidents".

Since he was older? We used the adult XS Depends. With your son? I would recommend the Overnights. he's only 5. Don't rush and don't push it. Each kid is different.

Maylem worked perfectly for a boy 5 and 12! Would 100%recommend it. The pediayrician daid to wait until a child is 5, but it worked for hoth derp sleepers!

We used one, it ABSOLUTELY worked - and was recommended by our pedi urologist. Son was 9, hated wetting the bed, and wanted to try. That is key, child has to be old enough (over 8) and really want it to work. Without that, and true commitment from the parents, it won't work. I slept with DS for over 6 weeks. The first 3 weeks I was the one who woke to the alarm and got him up (although he got to restroom by himself and changed his own clothes). Weeks 4-6 was a mix, sometimes he woke up, sometimes I shoved him out of bed. He backslid a bit when I went back to my bed, but was dry full time by 8-10 weeks. It takes commitment and consistency, but they can be effective - just keep in mind they are a LOT of work for a couple of months. He didn't soak the bed after the first week. The alarm sensed the smallest amount of moisture and he was up and headed to the bathroom before he wet too much, typically only required a change of underwear.

ETA prior posts are right, it won't work with if you are in the next room, you have to be in bed with kiddo so you can shove them out of bed the moment you hear the alarm and then you build from there. I'm not surprised it didn't work for them, they got in there too late because they were too far away.

How old is the child in question?
Many kids have bed wetting issues till they are 11 or 12 yrs old.
Our son was day trained at 3 1/2 but he was 7 before he could stay dry through the night (so he used pullups until he woke up dry for 2 whole weeks in a row).
It's a development thing - you can't mature their bladders any faster - alarms don't help, waking them in the middle of the night for a bathroom trip doesn't help (and just makes everyone tired), cutting back on fluids close to bedtime doesn't really help much.
Our son was such a deep sleeper he just couldn't wake up to go to the bathroom when his bladder was full.
If you ask your parents and/or in-laws, you often find you and/or Hubby had bed wetting issues - these things (rate of bladder maturation) tend to run in families.
Try to relax.
They won't be going off to college and still be wetting the bed.

We used an alarm with DD and it did work- she was 9 (almost 10) when we finally tried it. I wouldn't for a 5 year old, but would consider it by 8.

It was a lot of work- for ME! When it went off I would run in there to make sure it was waking her up (HEAVY sleeper) and rush her to the bathroom. But it did the trick. Maybe two weeks and she was dry from then on.

We did have her wear underwear to clip the alarm to and a pull up over, not exactly hygienic or fun to clean, but necessary.

Good luck for whichever kiddo ends up trying it- if any!

It wasn't too helpful for our 7 year old - it freaked everybody out in the middle of the night and by the time it alarmed it was always too late anyway. However, it worked wonders for my niece. Maybe it depends on how motivated the child is...