Teen bedwetting : Hi, I'm new to the group and was... - ERIC

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Teen bedwetting

Jojo2019 profile image
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Hi, I'm new to the group and was wondering if anyone has has any success getting teens dry from bed wetting and some times in the day, I have had to move my daughter to another school due to bullying because she has had accidents, now she is at a new school with a 4 night trip away and I'm just worried, she's been on pills to try to stop it, have vaulted drinks after 6pm, was told to stop waking her in the night to go to the loo, as she has to learn to wake up and nothing seems to be working, any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

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Jojo2019
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ERIC-Charity profile image
ERIC-CharityPartner

Hi Jojo.

Sorry to hear your daughter is going through this - teenage years are difficult enough without a bladder problem!

First of all it would be worth focusing on her daytime bladder problems before thinking about the night time. Have you investigated for constipation? Constipation is more subtle than you would think and can cause issues like this.

If she isn't constipated then make sure she is drinking 6-8 cups of drink each day, and that her bladder isn't twitching when she has certain drinks. Sometimes caffeine or even orange squash can irritate the bladder lining so try putting her on a water-only drinks diet for one week, and then re-introduce different drinks one by one. Keeping an intake/output chart (you can find this on our website) will help you to track these effects. As she is wetting at night, make sure you plan out when she will be having these drinks by, so that she can stick to having her last drink no later than 1 hour before bed.

You can also focus on a really good, supportive, relaxed toilet routine so that alongside drinking enough, she is also emptying her bladder regularly. She needs to be encouraged to sit on the toilet every two hours, to sit with her feet on a stool so that her knees are raised above her hips, and to take the time to really relax each time she sits on the loo. A double wee just before she goes to bed might help her to really empty her bladder as well.

Although it is best to focus on her daytime wee problems first, you could still have a look at our Guide to Night-time Wetting. Sometimes accidents at night happen because the body does not know how to make less wee at night. There is a very safe medication called Desmopressin which could help her body to do this - our Helpline or your GP could give you more information about this.

ERIC x

Slice profile image
Slice

Jojo, sorry to hear that your daughter is going through this. It's tough when you are a teenager. The first thing to deal with is the daytime issues. Talk to her and see if you can find out what's happening when she has an accident. Does she know when she needs to go? Is she waiting too long to use the loo? Does she have problems with using the loo at school? Some kids are extremely pee shy and won't go in a public bathroom when they need to. If she's not feeling when her bladder is full, then there might likely be a neurologic problem and that is affecting both day and night. Does she have a small bladder? This could be looked at at home. Find a container that she can pee into after getting her bladder as full as possible before an accident. A rough guideline is using their age + 6 to determine what their volume should be. If she is a small girl for her age, that is height and weight of a child 4, 5, or more years younger, using that + 6 might be more accurate. If you don't have a graduated container for this, you can use something else and then get a weight which that can be converted to volume. There are plenty of conversion programs available online. I would not be surprised if the medication was not working as success rates are (in one study) they say that success rates with Desmopressin are between 10% and 65%. and the relapse rates after treatment are as high as 85%. Depending on how often the daytime accidents are, you may want to get her to wear protection during the day. For school, talking to the nurse or to her head of year can help facilitate her being able to change in the nurses office or elsewhere in privacy from her peers. This also may become an issue that will be forced by the school if the daytime accidents are frequent enough. Drynites, or other female protective underwear can be used and if she dresses smartly, she can completely hide the fact that she's wearing it. This is a lot less embarrassing than wetting her pants in front of others. Skirts, dresses, looser pants, higher cut pants and or longer tops to make sure that her waist area is not exposed when she sits down or bends over. One other thing. She is old enough (I am assuming that she has no physical or intellectual impairments) that she should be managing this herself. She should be taking the responsibility to remember protection at night, and taking care of her bedding and laundry as it pertains to the bedwetting. This is NOT punishment. It is about empowering her and helping her to feel like a young adult rather than a small child. More on all of this later.

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