8 year old bedwetting

[Jupixi]

I took my daughter to the GP today as she has always wet the bed at night. I’ve tried on numerous occasions to try to get her out of pull ups but to no avail and thought it was something she would grow out of in time. She often had accidents during the day until she was about 5 and occasionally still has the odd one. I’ve used reward charts for going for a wee before bed and no fluids an hour before bed but it doesn’t seem to work. I’ve considered buying an alarm but as she shares a room with her sister I’m not sure this is possible? When I spoke to the GP he asked me why I hadn’t taken her to see someone sooner and told me that I should have. He asked why I hadn’t spoken to my daughters health visitor when she was younger and I was made to feel stupid. I’ve always thought that it was a case of something she would grow out of when she learnt to control her bladder muscles. It’s only now that she’s wanting to be more independent with sleepovers I feel that it’s become more of a problem. I now feel awful for not taking my daughter sooner. I was wondering what age other people sought help from their doctors? Am I wrong to have left it so long? Thank you.

[Chopsmith]

Hi, please see my post about an alarm... I know it might wake your other child up, but for the sake of a week it's got to be worth a go. Good luck!!

[Jupixi in reply to Chopsmith]

Thank you Chopsmith I’ll have a look 😊

[LouiseD2100]

My son is 9 and doctors where not concerned with bed wetting, they said it is normal. They only agreed to help when I said it would affect him in terms of school trips and sleep overs.

[Jupixi in reply to LouiseD2100]

Aww bless him. Do you find he’s really self-conscious about it? My daughter was really worried about telling the doctor. I explained that they were only going to try and help, and that they wouldn’t laugh at her. Have you tried the alarms? What have they advised now?

[LouiseD2100 in reply to Jupixi]

He tries to hide the fact the he has wet the bad. He refuses to take he movicol and hates the alarm - it tends to fall off as he is a fidget at night! Am thinking of giving up on continence nurse until Ben is more motivated.

[Laundry]

Please don’t feel guilty. I took my son to the gp just after his 8th birthday and they said they wouldn’t have done anything until he was older than 7. They have referred to the eurinesis clinic so we are waiting for that..

[Littlecabbage]

I agree - medical opinions seem to vary widely as to the “best” time to start investigations/treatments, so don’t feel bad.

[Jupixi]

Good luck with the enuresis clinic Laundry! I’m thinking they will do the same for my daughter too. He said he needs to refer to the community paediatrician.

It does seem to vary doesn’t it Littlecabbage. He wasn’t very supportive at all and made me feel like I’d neglected my child by not going sooner! He didn’t ask her any questions, I even said to my daughter during our appointment “what do you think?” to try and involve her in the discussion.

[JessGirl]

We spoke to the school nurse and the Gp and constantly got told they wouldn’t refer him anywhere till he was 7yrs old as they said they like to see if they grow out of it.

Please don’t feel silly as every child is different, my friends child was exactly the same but has become completely dry just after 7.

Us in the other hand still waiting. X