Bedwetting EVERY night at 7 years old

[DesertRat]

I know bedwetting is "normal" and that it's not even considered a problem by doctors until age 8 or so. I have not really worried about DS. He wears underjams every night and pees every single night, often still soaking sheets. We don't make a big deal out of it at all, though he sometimes says he wishes he could stay dry at night.

However, I'm not sure DS is even a "normal" bedwetter. Even now, at age 7, if he falls asleep for ANY length of time, he pees. For example, if we're on a car trip and he falls sleep he WILL pee within an hour. If we think he's going to fall asleep, we stop and put underjams on him. He wasn't feeling well tonight and fell asleep early. An hour later I went to wake him up to put an underjams on and he'd already peed in his bed.

About a year or so ago I bought a bedwetting alarm. We only tried it a couple times, but he was IMPOSSIBLE to wake up. In the morning he didn't remember us trying to get him to pee. He's a very heavy sleeper. And I wonder if he just relaxes too much. Reading online it says that one cause of bedwetting can be lack of a hormone that is produced at night. However, on the rare occasion he falls asleep during the middle of the day, he still wets. So I don't think it's lack of this hormone at night causing his problems.

In 7 years he's been drying maybe 3 or 4 times. I don't see this as something he's going to outgrow anytime soon. Any thoughts or advice or experience?

[stacieandtheboys]

My middle son is 7 and still wets the bed at night. He has never ha a dry night. I mentioned my concern to his doctor and like you said they aren't concerned until past 8. My oldest son also wet the bed until age 8. We do trials of no goodnight and never have any luck. We did this with my oldest too and one night he just got it. So no advice your not alone

[omahamama731]

With my oldest I had her wear underwear and put underjams on top. the underwear stayed wet but the underjams absorbed, and when she felt the wetness and/or chill she woke up. It still took a couple of weeks but she stopped wetting at night.

[mmmom]

Could he be constipated? I have heard this can be a cause of bed wetting?

My daughter is 7 and just in the last 9 months has she been consistently dry. The turning point for her was when her paediatrician paid her to stay dry. He asked us to print a blank calendar and in the morning we wrote either a D or a W on it depending on if she was wet or dry. If she was able to obtain 7 d's in the 30 days he said he would give her $1 and if she got to 14 d's she would get $2.
He paid her $2 after the first 30 days and the kept it up for 6 months adding to the number of d's required to earn the $2.
At the end of the 6 months she was required to get 20 d's and got 29 so we told her she earned the new bed sheets she wanted and we were done with the calendars.
She has accidents here and there over the last 3 months so it isn't 100% but it definitely worked

[DesertRat]

Originally Posted by mmmom Could he be constipated? I have heard this can be a cause of bed wetting?

I read that too. And no, he's not constipated. He actually has a fructose intolerance (so fruits and HFCS) that gives him diarrhea. He is never constipated!

[mmmom]

Originally Posted by DesertRat I read that too. And no, he's not constipated. He actually has a fructose intolerance (so fruits and HFCS) that gives him diarrhea. He is never constipated!

What have you tried?
Do you wake him before you go to bed or a couple hours after he does and take him to the bathroom?
We had success with that; kind of. We bought dd to bed at 8pm, I would wake her at 11pm and take her to the bathroom. If she peed she was often dry in the morning. The side effect to this was she was cranky and miserable since her sleep was interrupted

[DesertRat]

Originally Posted by mmmom What have you tried? Do you wake him before you go to bed or a couple hours after he does and take him to the bathroom? We had success with that; kind of. We bought dd to bed at 8pm, I would wake her at 11pm and take her to the bathroom. If she peed she was often dry in the morning. The side effect to this was she was cranky and miserable since her sleep was interrupted

Honestly, we haven't really tried anything. I suggested not drinking water before bedtime but we haven't been consistent with that. And the couple times we tried to wake him up to go to the bathroom he just won't wake up. Because of the way he pees automatically anytime he falls asleep, I've assumed it's mostly out of his control. I haven't wanted to discourage him by setting him up to fail. But maybe that's been the wrong approach.

[Computermama]

I'm dealing with this with my 5 year old. She does have the odd dry night, but not even one every month. My 9 month old has more dry nights than her big sister. If she falls asleep she'll pee. I've tried eliminating drinks, but DH forgets and so does she. Even waking her up in the middle of the night is hit and miss - half the time waking her up 2-3 hours after bed she'd be wet already, and frequently even if she was dry when I got her up and she went on the toilet, she'd still wet between then and morning. Its an exercise in frustration.

She's an extremely deep sleeper. I could probably have a dance party in her bedroom and she'd either not wake up or she'd not remember it in the morning. She gets that from her Daddy. Also I remember being old enough to change my own sheets and bedwetting, so she comes by it honestly.

[mmmom]

Originally Posted by DesertRat Honestly, we haven't really tried anything. I suggested not drinking water before bedtime but we haven't been consistent with that. And the couple times we tried to wake him up to go to the bathroom he just won't wake up. Because of the way he pees automatically anytime he falls asleep, I've assumed it's mostly out of his control. I haven't wanted to discourage him by setting him up to fail. But maybe that's been the wrong approach.

I don't think it is the wrong approach at all. We don't want our children to fail, especially at something they honestly cannot do. When we tried the calendar with my dd she was occasionally staying dry so I knew she would be able to get at the very least 7 dry nights out of 30.
I myself was a bed wetter and can remember being in my teens and still having the occasional accident. It was horrible but honestly there was nothing I could do about it.
I think it sounds like the only thing you can do right now is make sure he is using the toilet right before bedtime and then try waking him in an hour or two. Our doctor suggested waking after an hour, when they started staying dry after that hour, wake them after 2 hours and so on.
Good Luck I know how frustrating it is from both sides

[sillymama]

Bed wetting is so frustrating, and having to wait until 8 years old to consider it an issue drives me crazy. My 6 year old has never had a dry night. She almost never sleeps during the day so we don't have the same issue as your son. She started having terrible reactions to wearing goodnights to the point that her bum looked like she had cystic acne. For the past 3 months we have been waking her up 3 to 4 times a night to take her to the bathroom. In the beginning I was hoping it would "train" her bladder but absolutely nothing has changed. My mother, sister, and one of my brothers all had bed wetting issues until puberty and the thought of having to deal with this for another 6 years is heart breaking. I know my daughter hates it too. She hated wearing a pull-up and wished all the time he didn't have too. Even though she can be ornery to wake up in the middle of the night I know she loves being able to wear underwear to bed.