Night Time Wetting

[H702]

Hi, my son is 7 and is wet every night. We have been to the enuresis clinic and the advice was that he was constipated because in the one week I recorded he only went 4 days out of 7. They asked us to start him on movicol. After this I recorded for 2weeks and he was going every day so we did not give him the movicol. He started on desmopressin melts and after 2 weeks still no improvement, they doubled the dose. He has been on this for nearly 5 weeks now and still no improvement. I finally spoke to someone yesterday at the clinic and they told me to give him movicol. I'm so frustrated, he is showing no signs of being constipated! When he wees he is only doing about 100mls each time, for his age he should be able to hold double that. They just seem so determined that he is constipated 😡. Anyone else been through this? Thanks!

[ERIC-Charity Partner]

Hi H702, we're sorry to hear about your sons issues with night time wetting. Going for a poo less than 4 times a week can be a sign of constipation. When he does go for a poo what are they like? Ideally it would a soft, smooth sausage. You could try the sweetcorn test at home to rule out constipation. You would need to make sure that he had not eaten any sweetcorn for a week before giving him a portion to eat. If there is no poo backlog then the sweetcorn should appear in his poo 24-36 hours later. Have you seen any reduction of wee whilst hes been on the Desmopressin? What can be helpful is to stop drinking 2 hours before bedtime and then taking the Desmopressin 1 hour before bedtime. the medication takes an hour to have an effect so taking it an hour before sleep in theory another opportunity to empty the bladder so you know that his bladder is completely empty before sleep. Natalie@ERIC

[H702 in reply to ERIC-Charity]

He does generally go at least once a day for a poo and they are normal consistency. The one week we recorded it he had a chest infection and so probably wasn't normal. He has always stopped drinking an hour before taking the desmopressin and then an hour later he goes to bed. I wouldn't say there has been much reduction if any in his wee 😔. Thanks