Secondary bedwetting

[Kims2020]

My daughter is 8 and a half. She has been dry day and night for 5 years no problems ever complete bladder control. Since April she has started bed wetting completely out of the blue. After it started happening a few times we thought it can’t just be a one off. So we limit drinks in the evening no drinks for 2 hours before bed going to the toilet just before bed etc. But it’s still happening. It’s happening most days now. And I cannot figure out why. So it started 2 days after her great grandad passed away. So we put it down to that but if you ask her she’s fine no worries nothing bothering her at all she’s not sad and we talk openly and there’s nothing. She is sleeping quite deeply and doesn’t wake up or even realise until morning when she would normally wake up she sleeps about 13 hours a night again nothing different there she’s always been the same. Her bowel habits haven’t changed. Stopping drinks in the evening isn’t working. And she is fully emptying her bladder in the night and has no idea at all. Praise won’t work as she literally has no clue so nothing she can control. Took her to the doctors to discuss she felt her stomach no issues did a urine test no infection and did a finger prick test for diabetes. But she’s only had the one test it was 2 hours after she had eaten and was 6.7. Could it still be that? Can they rule it out with just one finger prick test? Just at a loss as to what to do it’s been every night this week the bed is soaked. Any ideas? She has never had any problems previously to this at all.

[Yaleamanda]

There are things that you can do to help though, ensure that she drinks plenty of water during the day, this will help to train the bladder to hold more liquid, do not lift to take to the toilet at night as this only manages the issue and not deal with it, but do take her to the toilet before bed twice and make sure she completely empties her bladder, count to 30, you will be surprised how much wee comes out again. Don't restrict liquids after a certain time, it doesn't actually work . Have a read of this article bbuk.org.uk/wp-content/uplo.... Also ask for a referral to your continence team who will be able to help you.

[clmls123]

personally i would say the opposite of previous response....its interesting that this has started since lockdown/covid so she may just be processing a lot of emotions through her dreams. My daughter was also a very heavy sleeper & wasnt dry til 8,we had a bed alarm for her but it sounds like your daughter has had normal development with bladder control up to now & you have had her checked out by the doc to exclude any significant health causes. I would get her up just before you go to bed, wake her up & walk her to the loo....you might find this rejigs her memory of needing to wake herself up if she needs to.

[Yaleamanda in reply to clmls123]

Waking up to take her to the toilet is not recommended, it teaches them to wee when they are asleep which only manages the issue and not deal with it at all. Training the bladder to hold more urine is key, therefore increase fluids during the day will most definitely help. Ruling out constipation is also key. Some people think that just because they are going normally during the day they are not constipated when in fact they are completely backed up. Feeling a tummy is not a reliable method to rule out constipation.

[clmls123]

p.s. have her sleep times changed since stopping school? if she is going to bed later or sleeping later in the am this may also be a factor.

[Laundry]

My son was dry and night and he has started setting again since lockdown/ school closing. I think it’s emotional because of all the change and worrying/missing friends/ picking up on my worry. Although he never talks about it I think he still feels it and it’s coming out as bedwetting. I’d imagine if you add a bereavement into the mix she will definitely have a lot to deal with.

I spoke the the eurinesis team and we ruled out medical reasons like you and made sure he was drinking the right amounts (more that you think) and making it mainly milk and water and most of the amount by about 4 with just sips of water if thirsty after.

When we gave him time and nothing changed we started using an alarm provided by the eurinesis team and that seems to have nipped it in the bud.

Good luck

[Slice]

It's been shown that waking kids in the night does not help, but may make the problem worse. The first thing is to know if she has had changes in her behavior. Any changes around other males, particularly teens and older. It's an unpleasant thought, but one of the causes of secondary enuresis can be trauma. This can be from any of a number of things including molestation, a death in the family, discord amongst the parents to mention a few. The othes could be medical. Does she seem like she's always thirsty, is she drinking a lot more than usual,? This could be diabetes. I believe that there is a more involved test for determining diabetes. I missed something in what you wrote. I would strongly suggest that you see a sleep specialist. I've read a story about a teen boy who wet his bed badly. It turned out that it was very hard to wake him in the morning. Far more than the typical challenges of waking teens. He had an abnormal sleep pattern where he would go through the first cycle of sleep, but then would stay in deep (basically unconscious) sleep the rest of the night. If you don't know, sleep has 4 stages and each cycle of the stages lasts around 90 minutes. The other thing is if you have noticed extreme snoring when she sleeps? This could be obstructive sleep apnea. Good luck.