Does any one have any hints on helping children with wettting issues?

Question

I have 3 children all of whom have had different issues with having accidents & bed wetting. I have a 6 yr old that if I do not take to the bathroom at night, she has an accident. I also have a 5 yr old boy who wets the bed every night, even if I take him so I have just gone back to pull-ups. I think I am a potty-training failure, HELP!!

Answer 1

You are not a potty-training failure, and neither are your children. Night dryness is a brain maturation thing, and nothing you or they can do will change when that part of the brain that will wake them matures. It is a very common complaint of children and their parents, and the only cure is time and patience. It may not happen until puberty, and it may happen before that. In your particular circumstance, is sounds like a hereditary thing, and if you ask members of the family about it, you will probably discovery this fact. If you ask about what age they were when it stopped, you will have some idea of what age your children will be when it stops for them. It is not an exact predictor, but a fair gauge. In the meantime, the situation can be aggrivated by stress and worrying about it. If you can relax and just do what you can reasonably do, it may disappear even sooner. I'd suggest simply limiting the fluid for the hour prior to bedtime, and going before bed. Get the Goodnight pants for the group, put spare sheets on the dresser, and teach the older one's how to pull sheets and put dry one's on. Have them put the wet sheets in the pillowcase and throw it in the tub until morning. If you make it just a routine thing, and no big deal, they can go to bed calm and relaxed as well. Just tell them night dry will happen when it's time for them, and let the rest go.
There are medications that can help, but they work by slowing the kidney function at night. I'm not sure it's a good idea with young children to mess with their kidney function, for something that is not really a medical problem. If your children were teenagers and it didn't seem to be changing, then I would suggest it, but at their ages I just don't think it's a good idea. I think it's better to just wait for nature to take a hand. My eldest two children, boy and girl, both wet the bed until our daughter was almost 11 and our son until he was just over 10. We just used the Goodnights, and changed sheets as needed. Gradually they woke up more mornings dry than wet, and eventually went dry reliably. I never woke them in the middle of the night to go, as it disturbed their sleep and mine. It wasn't worth having two cranky kids and a cranky mother to avoid having to wash a load of sheets.
Just reassure them and yourself it will happen when it's time. It's really, really common- it's just not something people admit, because we seem to think once they are out of diapers they should be fully trained and it's somehow shameful to not be in full control. That's bologna, and none of you should feel this way. The latest figures suggest that fully half of the elementary aged children are not fully night dry, but you'd never get most of the parents or the kids to admit it out loud. So yours are not abnormal by any means, and none of you are failures of any kind. Just deal with it in ways that make it no big deal, relax, and wait. I have been a nurse and paramedic for 25 years, and have 6 kids. I can empathize with wanting to avoid the extra laundry- but in this case, the extra load of sheets on the rare occasions the Goodnights fail is worth the peace of mind for yourself and your kids. Quit stressing over it, and everyone will sleep better, and possibly even dryer, sooner.

Answer 2

Number one, eliminate any liquids especially soda after 4:30 pm. Soda is gassy and that gas causes pressure on children's bladders. Teach the kids how to strip their beds and take their sheets to the laundry room. You mentioned "going back" to pullups, why do people use these things? They serve no useful purpose other than removing money from your wallet. They are too much like diapers in that they retain the wetness and while the child can "feel" when they are wet they don't always realize what caused them to be wet in the first place. They are nothing like underwear and the sensation when wet is quite different from underwear, more confusion for the kid. So just because a child may have wearing "pullups" down doesn't mean you're not going to have problems when they "graudate" to underwear. I don't know what to tell you other than cut out the liquids after dinner, no soda (in fact elminate ALL soda completely), especially. If that fails you might take them to the doctor, seeing how it is more than one child in the same family there might be a "defect" that you're overlooking. Although it sounds to me as if they were forced potty trained before they were ready and were never fully potty trained before they were in the crappy pullups and then into underwear.

Answer 3

My 13 yo son still wets the bed about 15 nights out of 30. We went to a urologist who suggested medication, but I would also have to get him up every hour, on the hour, to pee. To hell with that, we need our sleep!

He's 13 and he hates it. He's too big for pullups. He wouldn't wear them anyway, so I do alot of laundry. Whenever he spends the night with a friend, he stays awake throughout the night, so he won't wet their bed. It's worse when he drinks alot in the evening.

No, it's not you, it's hereditary. Some kids inherit small bladders.

Answer 4

if you can rule out the possibility of it being a medical problem, then i suggest that you set an alarm clock about 3 hours after they go to sleep. this will wake them up so they can go to the bathroom by themselves. Also, don't let them have any liquid after dinner. hop this helps

Answer 5

If you havent already taken your children to the doctor you should. This could be a problem with their kidneys. My son had a problem with bed wetting and his Doctor put him on a medication called "DDAVP". It is a nasal spray (it also come in pill form) and let me tell you it works wonders!! (no more pull ups!!) Dont punish your child for bed wetting it only makes matters worse!!

Answer 6

Try the pull-ups for awhile. Some children just take longer than others. But never spank them or shame them for doing this.

Answer 7

Try to avoid giving them any liquids close to bedtime.