Bed Wetting - Las Vegas, NV

I have 4 children - my 2nd one had this problem until she was just about 4 - now my son who is 5 - same thing!!! It is frustrating - their bladders just aren't as developed... Only way to cut down on the laundry - (my son gets in my be all the time arghhh)....

The last person to go to sleep at night - gets her up and takes her to the bathroom - you can do it while she is sleeping. The first person up in the morning does the same thing - - - you can even get up once a night and take her - keep in mind you can let her sleep - - - eventually she will outgrow it - my 2nd daughter now a teenager never wets the bed anymore - - -

Rest assured this is a very common problem especially in toddlers under the age of 6. It is called Nocturnal Enuresis. That being said; Take her to a DR, I wet the bed until adulthood. It is a very embarrassing thing to live with. My parents were not understanding. They tried everything that was thrown at them and nothing worked including medication. There are several reasons why a child may wet the bed. One is very deep sleep, One is emotional, the other a small bladder. My case was a combination of things. A Dr. in either case is ALWAYS your best remedy. You do not want to try a bunch of old wives tales in this situation. First rule out all physical and medical reasons then if not solved seek a professional in this field. My 10 yo step daughter also still wets the bed. This is one place we checked out for my step-daughter. (Her mother has custody and refuses to acknowledge it, we cannot get her treatment without her mother's consent) http://www.stopwetting.com/Facts&Causes.htm What they had to say made a lot of sense to me (someone who endured it and tried to hide it for years). I finally stopped when I became pregnant for the first time and no longer slept like a log. If I had known of this place when I was going through it I would have employed their methods in a heartbeat. They even came to the house (for free) to interview us to see if we fit the criteria. Lastly whatever you decide (you know your child best, you know your routines) use your instinct and best judgement and do your best not to get angry. If it was on purpose the child would do it during the day when they would get an immediate reaction.

Dear M.,
I know how your feeling! My oldest daughter, who is now 23, wet her bed for years after she was "potty-trained". We put plastic sheets on her bed, tried an alarm and used the nose spray prescribed by a doctor, and STILL nothing worked! She finally just outgrew it when she was about 8 or 9. I know that's not what you want to hear...but I now have 3 year old twins, a boy and a girl, and I'm not rushing them...it's called "the maturation theory". I may have rushed my first daughter and that resulted in her body (and mind) not being ready. Back then, there were no "pull-ups"! Now, my baby girl is almost trained day and night, while her brother is taking a little longer to get the hang of it. I let her wear pull-ups but she just used them like a diaper and the wetness irritated her so she insisted on undies! She "matured" into using the potty! Something else you may not want to know...bed-wetting is also inherited. My oldest's father wet his bed when he was a child...that's something you don't find out when you're dating!!! Your daughter could also be having sibling anxiety...they get more of your attention at diaper changing time so she's figured out a way to get your undivided attention! Sounds devious in a way but kids are master manipulaters! But don't we love them! I hope my thoughts on your dilemma will help figure out what's going on.
Good luck, L. S.

I am in the same boat. My daughter still wears a pull up to bed. Each morning it is soaked.
My advice..DO NOT get mad, angry, upset or punish her. This accomplishes nothing except making her feel bad about herself. She will become afraid of having night accidents which will cause MORE to happen. I have talked to pediatricians and looked up info online. Everything I have read said that a lot of kids are not fully potty trained until between aged 5 and 6. If it goes beyond that age, then doctors start looking into other medical reasons.
As hard as it is, just be patient. Put a bed pad under her while she sleeps. This way if she had an accident, your sheets will be dry.
When her body is ready, she will stay dry all night. Forcing the issue will only do more damage.
Good luck.

Dear M.,

With all of that done - it now seems like your daughter cannot control the peeing. It must be a muscular problem, or maybe she as a bladder infection. You need professional advice, and do not let them tell you that it is normal. Just keep on until you find some medical person that will help you. You have done a great job, an now it is their turn to help you.
Sincerely, C. N.

Hi M.,

My 6-year-old daughter still wets the bed, even though we restrict liquids and get her up before we go to bed to go to the bathroom. It's because she sleeps so heavily that she doesn't wake up. It's a portion of the brain that's not quite developed yet. We put her in pull-ups and when she got bigger, Overnights. My brother wet the bed until he was 10 for the same reasons. It sounds like your daughter is bothered by wearing pull-ups though. My daughter asks why she has to wear them and other kids don't, and I just explain to her that everyone's body is different. There are a lot of kids her age who can't ride bikes or read yet, but she can. Other kids don't wet at night, but can't do some of the things she does. It helps her see that we all develop differently at different times. We've just decided that she'll stop wetting when her brain and bladder are on the same page. Until then, it's pull-ups!

Hi,

Just try to be patient and please do not punish her as it will make it worse. It took my son a long time too. To save my sanity I bought a plastic mattress cover at walmart and tried restricting some of the liquid intake before bedtime, got them up to pee befoer we went to sleep and kept a potty by the bed with a night light on. I have heard of some wet alarms people have used in the bed but am not personally familiar with them. You might also want to check with the doctor she has no bladder infection as that causes them to go a lot. Best of Luck! R.

My son had the same problem for a little while. I just made sure that there were no drinks after 6pm, except for the little drink when he brushed his teeth. I also told him that if he could go the whole night without wetting the bed we would give him a sticker in the morning. After he had 10 stickers I would give him a surprise. It seemed to work for him, and after the first suprise he didn't need to have stickers anymore because he was a "Big Boy". Hope it works for you. Good Luck!! J.

I agree with the PPs (no pun intended!). My 7 YO does not wake up. She will get up to go, but she doesn't make it. She gets lost in the house. I go in every night about an hour after she goes to sleep and bodily haul her out of bed, walk her down to the potty, and then back to bed. She always goes when we do that and she never gets up after [knocks on wood]. She does not remember in the morning that I've gotten her out of bed. I can't believe she doesn't wake up. I shake her, pull her out of bed, nothing. Unfortunately, she shares a room with her stepsister. What I want to do is set an alarm to go off at 9:30 or so, and perhaps create a Pavlovian response that will cause her brain to wake up at that time without the alarm after a while and she will go to the bathroom. But I can't do that with her sister in the room. Good luck!

Hi M.. I wet the bed until I was about 10 or 11. My parents were very understanding about it, and thankfully never got angry with me. Still there were times, as I got older, that I would get very embarrassed about it. I would wake up at some point and change myself. Sometimes I would change my sheets and sometimes I would put a blanket over it until the morning. A lot of times I wouldn't tell anyone, and since I washed my own things from a young age, no one would know. Believe me, this is as hard, or harder, for your daughter as it is for you!

You should probably talk to a doctor so that you have a better understanding for what's going on with your daughter. She could be sleeping very deeply and not waking up in time to make it to the bathroom. I remember there were times that I would wake up in the midst of wetting the bed, it was too late! Doctor's told my parents that some children's bodies develop slower than others. The bladder may be too small to hold the pee in through the night, or the muscles may be too weak. A medical professional may be able to provide more insight into your daughters situation.

One suggestion is to get the hospital pads, like the ones they use when you are giving birth to soak up fluids, and put them under the bottom sheet. Yes the pee will get on the sheet, but it can be washed, and used again. You should specify sheets for your daughters bed, as they will probably get stained. Yes, eventually you will have to throw them away, and probably the mattress too. But oh well, this is more common than you may think, no big deal. The worst thing that you could do is get angry with your daughter, and make a big deal about it. You could do more damage psychologically than you know. I'm sure she doesn't understand why she can't be normal, or like the other kids, especially if she has sisters and/or brothers (I am the youngest of three and neither my sister nor my brother had this problem). As I got older I was afraid to spend the night at my friends houses because of this problem. It was a very hard thing to deal with for a long time! PLEASE be understanding of your daughters situation, it's not intentional and she needs your support and love. Good Luck!

J.

Have you tried cutiing off her drinking supply 2-3 hrs before bed and having her go to the bathroom at least 2-3 times before bed? That helped with our son.

I was there too! My son is now 7 and just now stopped wetting the bed at night. At first we did just as you are, patiently reassuring him and changing the sheets, jammies and undies, but honestly I just got tired of it and said no more! No matter how much he baulked at the idea he had to wear a pull-up, b/c I didn't want to wash sheets every day! Every kids blatter develops at different stages, we had to realize he was just one of those kids. Also, he was a sound sleeper that even when we would get him up to go to the bathroom, he'd stay asleep. Is your daughter a sound sleeper? My guess is that she's probably so sound asleep that she only wakes once she's wet. I would encourage you to do pull-ups again and maybe panties over??? At least for your own sanity. Then maybe once she's dry for say 2 weeks you could try it again without the pull-ups. Best of luck!!!

A friend of mine is hving the same problem with her son. I'll tell you what worked for me we put a little potty right by my son's bed and told him he couldn't come out of his room until there was peepee in the potty in the morning and he started staying dry all night. I've heard and read that waking your daughter up at around the same time you go to bed or some time in the middle of the night works well. Also restricting their liquid intake. When my son has a rather intensive juice drinking day he peepees the bed anyway. I don't know about your daughter but if she is still useing a sippy cup try switching to a regular cup and telling her she can only drink in the kitchen that usualy keeps kids from over drinking. Let us know how it goes. Oh and if that doesn't work try talking to her pediatrician. As for night time pants try these http://www.fuzzibunzstore.com/Overnight-Undies-by-Mother-... everyone says they are the best for night time use.