Bedwetting at night...9 y/o son

[Erik Jones]

My 9 y/o son still wets the bed every night.  I have him in Pull-Ups, and it just doesnt work.  He is a heavy sleeper at night, but I think this should be over by now.  My son sees a psychiatrist for ADHD, and he mentioned to wake him up every hour for one full night and that it cures 90% of the children from wetting the bed again.  I'm not to sure about that method, knowing he won't go back to sleep very easily.  He was dry for about 8 months at the age of 7 but then started again.  Please offer me some advice as to what my fiance and I should do.  Any suggestions would be very helpful!!!  Thank You!!!

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Ms. Knowles,

Approximately 5% of children are still enuretic at night at your son's age. The pull-ups, of course, are a help in regard to the inconvenience posed by bedwetting, but they offer nothin in relation to helping with the condition.

You have a number of options, including a behavioral contingency system, a wet-stop alarm and medication. Generally, alarms and medication are not useful prior to the age of seven or so, but they are well worth a try at your son's age. Discuss the options with your son's pediatrician.

I'm not as optimistic as your psychiatrist about the option of waking your son every hour, but in the spirit of turning over every stone to help with the problem, you might try it.

[Todd H. Willsie]

This Problem Is actually quite common in many Male children. Almost 3 million children have bedwetting problems. I know this since I was one of those many children. Bedwetting can also be seen in other family mebers, as it is a genetically brought down problem. Your son will have this problem to the maximum to the age of 15 years, no later. Your Son will quickly grow out of this problem, if not, it will go away! Now there are a few things that you can do to stop this type of problem, (1. would be an alarm devices wich goes off when the child is about to go (2. Leting it pass by (3. (not recomended) are medications, which may have side effects to your child.

I hope I help!
Todd H. Willsie
Founder
ENFIX, International Gamerz

[Michael]

thansk

[Sharleen Gatt]

Dear Ms. Knowles

I am a 19 yr old teenager and I still wet the bed at night.  When I was younger, my mother used to take me to a doctor.  He gave me 2 types of pills, but none of them worked.  So we gave up.  Now I have a boyfriend and he is very consious.  He wants me to try again, and this made me want to know more about this disorder.  I cannot imagine myself sleeping with this man when I  marry him someday!  Well, I really want to get some help because I'm fed up with this problem  Help me please.

[Adrian Brown]

My wife died recently in  a car accident. I have 2 children:
Judy,4 years,
Georgina,12 months.
I have my own, established business which is doing well.
I have no extended family, locally.
Judy is grieving for her mother and clings to me. She is not sleeping, wets the bed and has nightmares. Her speech has regressed and she sucks her thumb constantly.
Georgina cries constantly, will not eat and insists on having a bottle.
I am grieving, tired, and feel a sence of helplessness and I need help in the day to day caring of my children.

Can you help me with my children?

[M. Chauvin]

My 8 yr. old dauther is bedwetting once or twice per week. I am worried how this will affect her self confidence as she gets older. We are curently following  the instructions of a Urologist and she is taking a nasal spray called DDAVP spray. I'm not sure if this is helping or not accidents still happen about once a week. I am not sure if I'm on the right track.  If anyone has any information to share it would be helpfull.

[Terri]

My daughter was completely potty trained at 24 months.  She did very well getting up and going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  Around 5 years of age, the bed wetting began.  We got her up three times a night, still it almost seemed to get worse.  She was put on imprimine, completely examined for health problems, the years went by and the bedwetting continued - nightly.  She has two younger siblings who had little or no problems with bed wetting.  She wore goodnights, but eventually got very frustrated.  She worried about staying at friends' houses.  We really wanted to get her over the problem, too.  Recently (last 6 months) my husband and I were separated.  There was an extreme amount of trauma for my children.  We sought counseling, but the bed wetting continued.  My husband and I eventually got back together.  We committed ourselves as a family unit, moved away from relatives who were causing problems and spent a lot of time with supportive friends and relatives.  We continued counseling -- the children got individual counseling.  Finally, I sat down and told my daughter we would pray.  We prayed each night that God would help her get over her bed wetting.  Again, the psychiatrist suggested imprimine.  So, we filled the prescription.  I saw that imprimine doesn't always work on younger children, and perhaps it is helping now that she's older, but I also believe with all my heart that her prayers were answered.  She no longer wets the bed.  It was an overnight change.  She remembers her "pill" each night.  She gets up and goes to the bathroom.  We especially prayed for angels to wake her up and help her to the bathroom.  Our faith lives are strong.  The bed wetting has stopped.  Is it that my husband and I had to figure out our problems and she had to sense stability and family unity?  Is it the imprimine?  Is it truly an answer to a prayer?  I believe God had a lot to do with this, but I also believe the counseling helped.  I'm not sure about the imprimine...but if it makes her feel like it will bring a dry bed, go for it!  She is also very sensitive and reaches emotional highs and lows easily.  I experienced tremendous trauma during my pregnancy and often wonder if that carried over into her emotional well-being.  For what it's worth...I hope this helps someone out there.  I know how painful this has been for my daughter, and we thank God each morning when her bed is dry.

[ray]

try a 10 day session, wakeup each hour on night 1, then every 2 hours on night 2, 3 hours on night 3 and so on, by the time you get up to ten hours he will be dry, monitor for at least a month.
if he reverts back to bed wetting try and asses around what time he may have wet at....revert back to the wake up hours the least the better, you may also have to check him before you go to bed when he is asleep each hour, this will allow you the chance to work out when he became wet.

if you need to use nappies or pull up's you may want to look at the tena range, they do pants in all sizes, and they hold upto 2ltrs. good luck,

ps: I have 34yrs exp as a bed wetter, because of disability,

email me if you wish on, ***@****

[Trena Mashburn]

My daughter is 5 1/2 years old, and she still has occasional "accidents" during daytime hours. She still wears Pull-Ups at night, as she doesn't awaken whenever she urinates while sleeping. The main thing that concerns me is her occasional inability to get to the bathroom before she wets her pants during the daytime.  Do you think that I should take her to a urologist to have this checked out?  Her father had a bedwetting problem until he was about 7 years old, but surgery corrected his problem, which was a muscle clamping around the ureter.  Do you think this problem could be hereditary?  Thank you!

[Tim King]

I can sympithise with you.  I am 30 years old and as I was growing up I had Enuresis until the age of 14.  I am a deep sleeper and that was the problem.  I have done a 10 page report on this topic in my Psychology class and learned alot.  The problem is this:  bedwetters are 9 out of 10 times deep sleepers.  Deep sleepers skip the 3 stages of sleep and fall right into stage 4 which is the deepest.  There is a chemical that is normally released in normal sleeping pattern which triggers the bladder to more less "hold" the urine.  Deep sleeprs do not release this chemical, therefore the bladder doesn't hold the urine.  Research has concluded that the only way to try resolving enuresis in deep sleepers is to break there sleeping pattern.  A bed wetting alarm and LOTS of LOVE & PATIENCE are needed!! I was blessed to have wonderful parents who had these traits, without them...your child could have psychological problems.  Hang in there.

[Reno Lovison]

The comments posted here are very good. I would further suggest you look at the book "Getting to Dry" Harvard Common Press which is available at amazon.com or your local bookstore or library. This book covers everything you need to know to help your child overcome bedwetting. For more information visit http://www.tryfordry.com

[Reno Lovison]

The comments posted here are very good. I would further suggest you look at the book "Getting to Dry" Harvard Common Press which is available at amazon.com or your local bookstore or library. This book covers everything you need to know to help your child overcome bedwetting. For more information visit http://www.tryfordry.com

[Bonnie Allensworth]

Hi, my name is Bonnie Allensworth and I have a 10 year old grand daughter that wets the bed every night.  She wears good nights but they don't help because she pees so much.  I use to wake her up before we got the pants and she would make it through the night, but now with the pants we haven't been waking her up and she still pees excessively.  We still restrict her water  at least three hours before bedtime, however she does consume ice- cream before bedtime.  For example, last night she had some ice- cream 2 hours before bedtime.  She had a friend over and they slept on the sofa and it went through the pants and soaked the cushion.  Do you have any suggestions.
                                           Bonnie

[Patricia Piikkila]

My nine year old son wets the bed as well.  We started him on medication last year and he has been dry apart from a few occasions, usually when he forgets to use the bathroom before bedtime.  He is much happier not having to wear pull-ups because of a friends cruel remark when he happened to see the pull-ups in my sons room.  My husband and I never make an issue of the wetting but do discuss it with him, assuring him it is genetic and he has no control over it.  It is difficult to have him stay away from home as this is a popular age to begin sleepovers, however, with the medication we can be reasonably assured that there will be no accident.  My younger brother wet the bed for many years - I believe until he was 12 or 13.  However, at that time there was no medication for bedwetting, at least not that we were aware of.  It was our carefully guarded family secret and my poor brother did not attend boy scout overnight camps because of this situation.  He is a big source of support for my son now, for which I am very grateful, because the issue definately bothers my husband much more than it bothers me.  He is frustrated and afraid my son will be humiliated by his peers.  Our pediatrician is wonderful though and assures my husband that the genetic factor is at work here.  My son did just begin to question what he should say if any of his friends find out he is on "medication" since he takes it at night at their homes.  I told him to tell them it is for migraines.  Is this appropriate or should I have handled that differently?  I hate to teach him to lie, but obviously I do not want him to have to reveal the reason he takes the medication.  Nor do I want him to feel ashamed of bedwetting, which I try very hard to achieve.  We discuss it openly and he seems to be handling it well.  Please comment if you have any suggestions for me and my family, particularly my son.  Thank-you!      Patricia Piikkila

[Sam]

I have a 5yr old son who wets every night.  We were toileting him before we went to bed but have now stopped doing that because it was not helping.  Someone told me the urine can become concentrated and irritating.  He still wets once per night but can wake himself up to tell us!  Any suggestions?

[Bob Brandon]

My son is 7 years old, and wets the bed every light.  He wears Pull-ups to keep the bedding dry.  
    Background:  His mother and I have never been married and we live approximately 100 miles apart.  He has a stepfather that loves him very much.  He visits with my wife and our two children(ages 4 and 5 months)one weekend every month.  My four year old has been potty trained since before his 3rd birthday.  My sons mother has tried accupuncture and the use of seeds on his ears, I did not see any use for this method nor did I see it work even one night.  She stopped the use of the seeds when she caught him sitting in front of the TV ,after a successful night of staying dry, wetting his pull-up.  When his mother told me this I was very angry.  I attempted to stop the use of the pull-ups and start making him responsible for cleaning his bed and the bedding.  He told his mother that he never wanted to see me again,  so she asked me to stop this approach.  
    HELP!!  I am out of options at this point, and hope that you can reply with some direction for me.  I only have 3 or 4 days each month to do something about this problem, but I may be able to convince his mother to try whatever you recommend.  At this point she has resigned to ignoring the problem, and he is the one who is suffering because he can't go for overnites, or go camping with his buddies, and reading about some of the behavioral signs he is exhibiting many of those also.
    I read some of the other letters that were sent by concerned parents and liked what I read in your responses to several of those letters.
    
                                   Sincerely,
                                  Bob Brandon