Constipation or night time enuresis?

[DeeOwen]

Hi folks,

We're in a bit of a conundrum wether to resolve a mild constipation issue before trying to resolve night time enuresis. Our eldest is 7.5 and still extremely wet at night but is also on 1 sachet of cosmocol a day. We are trying the Easter holidays without his night pants, which so far is not improving at all. However, I've noticed something that seems a little odd over the last few days as we have been measuring his wee. There have been a few times when he has had quite a big drink and yet he has not had a great deal in his bladder. At tea time today he had at least 400ml to drink yet when hubby took him to the loo before bed around 3 hours later, he only emptied around 100ml of urine. I seem to remember a gp friend saying a while ago that the constipation meds tend to absorb more liquid than usual to help the bowel. With this in mind, is it worth even trying to get him dry at night if his drinks are not getting fully processed into the bladder and deal with the bowel first?

[CN4321]

I wonder if it might be a combination of issues, my son (aged 7) has had long term constipation issues but also doesn’t empty his bladder well. When they did an ultrasound before and after a wee he still had loads left in his bladder. It’s also worth considering that if your son is constipated it will be pushing on his bladder making it harder to get dry.

We tried getting a bed alarm a few months ago even though his pull ups were soaked every night and we haven’t solved the constipation issue yet and it has gone loads better than I thought it would do. He can have a run of 6 dry nights now and even when he’s wet it’s not that bad, so I’m pleased we did it. We got the wet stop alarm from Amazon and a load of those mats for under the sheet.

Good luck

[DeeOwen in reply to CN4321]

Thanks, that's all good to know. We tried an alarm over a year ago and it was a disaster so decided to rest it for a while and try again this summer. Strangely though, he's asked today if he can try his alarm again so fingers crossed.

What advice and tips did they give you about getting him to empty his bladder properly?

[CN4321 in reply to DeeOwen]

I taught him how to do pelvic floor exercises (which I get him to do occasionally when I remember). Then I get him to do the reverse when he is on the toilet by really pushing the wee out. I then get him to double void (waiting 40 seconds then doing the same again).

Previously I got him to spend about 2 mins on the toilet and that seemed to help as well but then I stopped as I wasn’t sure if his bladder was just refilling or not (I never really know what I’m doing).

My son asked to try the alarm as well and to start with when it wasn’t going too well I asked if he wanted to stop but he was determined so I felt that was a good sign.

Good luck

[DeeOwen in reply to CN4321]

That's all really helpful. He asked for a night without it last night, which I just went with. I want him to feel in control of things and I think he was getting a bit tired with being woken twice a night. On the positive side, he has no daytime issues. I know it will all get there in the end, it can just feel a little stressful in between can't it?

Thanks again for your help

x

[CN4321 in reply to DeeOwen]

Oh definitely, it feels so never ending and so socially isolating. This group has been a saviour for me not just for picking up tips, but also to know we aren’t alone, I tell my son about it as well so he doesn’t feel like the only kid struggling.

My son was also exhausted to start with (as were we) but thankfully things improved - I have my fingers crossed they do for you too.

[DeeOwen]

Furtunately my son is feeling pretty ok about the accidents. Some days he doesn't want to use the alarm which I say is fine. When he does use it it is highlighting how much he is weeing in the night. He had 2 accidents within 25 minutes of each other last night an then he was wet this morning when he woke up, (he didn't want the alarm on again after the 2nd waking) but not sure what time his 3rd wet was. We have been recommended a chiropractor which we are looking into. The Desmopressin was an absolute disaster so it looks like nature will have to take its course.