Need some support

[TszKwan]

Hi I'm new here. My little boy is nearly 8 years old and have wet night nearly every day. We've been seeing the school nurse, which she has recommended to increase his intake of fluid during the day and aiming to stretch his bladder, and also have been given one of those alarm you use at the night time. He has been good and start drinking a lot more during the day but problem is that he wet himself every night between 2 to 3 in the morning. We didn't use the alarm during the week before he'll have a disturbing night and get very tired at school.

I'm going to try to give him the alarm during school holidays. My question is how long will it take to see any improvement on bedwetting? Also if this don't work, the nurse has suggested he go on medication. I'm two minded with this, I've done some research but still not too sure. Is there anyone there their little ones using it and is there any side effect at all? Also is it successful and can he come off it later on his life?

Sorry for a very long post but I'm hoping I'll get some support from her.

Thanks

Kat

[FranAdam]

The alarm treatment needs to be used for a minimum of 3 months as it works on the arousability centre of the brain and needs time to work.

If the amount your child is wetting is a consistently large amount, medication may be useful.

Desmopressin is an artificial version of arginine vasopressin which is the hormone we should secrete at night to concentrate urine. If concentrating is not happening then it has a very good success rate. It is used in children from age 5. It is relatively safe but there are rules to follow in that you cannot eat or drink anything from 1 hr before to 8 hrs after taking it, taking it at bedtime.

Drinking more in the day is a good thing to do and at 8 years old we would suggest he aim for 1.5 litres a day to promote good bladder function. However this may not stop the wetting.

Hope that's a bit useful.

[TszKwan in reply to FranAdam]

thank you for your advice. I would keep on trying the alarm and see if his body will start producing what he needs. At the moment he's wearing his pant and pull up at the same time and I put the sensor in between. Will this affect the result or should I just come off pull up and just wearing pants.

His bladder capacity is only 200ml at the moment, so I'm hoping he can increase to 240ml. I would suspect what he has passed out during the night will be 200 ml which is his bladder capacity. He has no problem during day time, night time is a battle for me. At the moment his bed wetting is getting worst then the treatment started but I would think all these take time to kicks in.

I'll keep on trying the alarm and see if that will eventually work, if not, I suppose medication will be my next step. He's more aware of his condition now, especially he is a very scouts member, going to camp / sleepover really knock his confidence back. I hate to see him get upset because others laugh at him.

[FranAdam in reply to TszKwan]

It is not ideal to use pull ups with the alarm because the child needs to feel the wetness. I would suggest 2 pairs of pants with the sensor between the 2. Use bed pads instead of pull ups.

If he is only producing 200mls of urine overnight then the medication is not the right choice. 240mls is an average for his age and we allow 20 mls either side anyway, so his capacity is not too bad.

Good Luck!

[TszKwan in reply to FranAdam]

Right that make sense.

Is there any suggestion on bed pads? I've a brolly sheet sit over the bottom sheet at the moment. Is there any product out there can protect the duvet not getting wet as well? I work full time, so keep doing the washing isn't really ideal. If I can have a protector for the duvet that'll save me a lot of time.

[FranAdam in reply to TszKwan]

Google ERIC and look on their shop. Lots of products on their site to protect beds and duvets .Pampers make bed pads that you can buy in the supermarket.

[TszKwan]

May I ask when you first started using the alarm, did he wet himself already before he'd be able to switch the alarm off?