Suspect Abuse of PJ Pants....

[mumsfocus]

Hello everyone, I'm new here and it is super awesome to find such a supporting group and a place to come to

My DD is 10 years old and will be 11 in November. Unfortunately she suffers from bed wetting most nights. We have tried medication, alarms etc. After scans were undertaken last year, our Dr informed us that her bladder is a little small for her age and it will catch up and she will grow out of it, most likely during puberty.

The problem and reason I am posting is because I have noticed a slight increase in the number Drynites (pull ups) she is using. Last night I went into her room to put her clothes away and she had just put her Drynite on (not used of course) then when I went into her room 10 mins later to say night... I noticed that it was full, she was watching TV at the time and I think she was just being lazy. I straight away asked if she was being lazy and she admitted that she was and I know she was telling the truth. I reminded her that the PJ pants are for night accidents only and that she should use the toilet in future. But I am still noticing an increase in her use and I think she is still using them when awake (being lazy), which I think is very odd.

Has anyone come across this where protection is being abused? Am I simply overreacting to this or will it pass? I know she is not incontinent apart from night wetting.

[TwoDividedByZero]

Hi! My 13 year old son is still in them. He has never done this though, and so I don’t think you are over-reacting. I can only suggest that really she should be putting them on as the very last thing she does before bed, as he does (then he does still get up after lights out to use the loo if need be, although once asleep he would not be able to wake up for this). He doesn’t have a TV in his room but if he did and I found he was doing this I would turn off the programme being watched so that he missed it anyway! I know that sounds harsh but if as you say there is no daytime problem, then this needs to be nipped in the bud! The other thing I just wanted to ask is if there is more than one toilet in your house? As if not, and her bladder is small, could it be that someone was in there (e.g. younger sibling having a bath) when she needed to go, and she resorted to the pyjama pants as a last resort? If there is more than one then clearly not an issue. I hope you don’t think I’m being harsh, as like you I have lived with this for many long years, with no real sign of it resolving (we have recently had the very odd dry night so the urologist has just discharged us for a year, as like yours, he says it should improve gradually) but when this happens knowingly while awake, that is not OK unless she was unable to reach the loo.

[Slice]

I think TwoDividedByZero has it right. How much time does your daughter spend watching tv? I have heard of things like this with kids who are getting addicted to tv or video games and will just pee themselves, sometimes being so involved in the activity that they're not even aware that they need to go until it happens. You need to set boundaries for her. Explain to her that if she is truly wetting in her sleep that it's okay, but that it is not okay for her to use the Drynite for conveniences such as not leaving a program that she is watching. Keep a close tab on how quickly the Drynites are getting used and if it's out of sorts, you're going to need to start checking her. If this is repeated, she needs to have consequences, and the first is that her tv gets taken away for a period of time. Before you go to that extreme, try talking to her and seeing if she will talk to you and explain why she is doing this. Good luck.

[Helen36]

Hiya - my daughter is much younger (5) but we definitely have a lazy bones with pulll ups! I keep them up high and only give it to her to put on after last wee before bed. She still wakes up in the morning and wees in it straightaway making it tricky to know if she’s had a dry night, but going for a wee is dull! We had a small bladder (also have day time issues) and we gradually increased it with a programme of water based drinks at set times, increasing the volume over time. It’s hard to do during school but you could try Feb half term and do it at weekends too. I don’t know what the volume would be for a 10 year old but maybe start with 250ml increasing to 350ml, every two hours or so (stopping at 5pm to give best chance of a dry night). X