Hi - I'm new on here and have taken so much solace in reading through everyone's posts and the replies. It can feel such a lonely situation.
My son is 7, nearly 8, and he has only ever had a handful of dry nights. We have had him on desmopressin, gone through the school nurse and religiously followed her advice and suggestions and we have tried an alarm (which he hated and was scared of). He is a very deep sleeper and nothing wakes him!
The school nurse dismissed us from her care and said there was nothing more she could do and to contact the GP again. I rang the GP who has referred us back to the school nurse...! I am in the process of trying to get back to the GP re: being re-referred to the school nurse, but I was just wondering if anyone had tried all these things and then been referred elsewhere? There must be other people that can help.
My son and I are both aware that this is completely normal at this stage but it is starting to have a detrimental effect on his self-esteem. This hasn't been help by his little brother being potty trained and within a week being dry through the night!
I would love to hear anyone else's experiences and thoughts. This is the first time I have reached out to anyone except the GP and school nurse!
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Rachel2110
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You need to be reffered to your continence team who will be able to help you. How much does he drink during the day? Drinking enough will strengthen the bladder and help with the night time wetting. Have you ruled out constipation, this is a common cause of wetting as the full bowel puts pressure on the bladder hence the accidents.
To add to the above advice - have you considered waking him before you head to bed and getting him to wee then?
My daughter is also a very deep sleeper so in the beginning she was wetting herself all the time (even after not having drink after 6pm and going to the toilet before she went to bed). I had heard they don’t create the hormones that they need to go through the night until later. So I’ve been getting her up and trotting her to the bathroom when I go to bed and that seems to be getting her through until she wakes up about 7am.
If I’m a little late getting up there I’ve started to notice she’s doing it herself sometimes... I guess it’s training her to feel for it a bit like a toilet routine we have for poo (as that’s our main problem with her).
I believe there might be conflicting advice on this but I’ve found it’s working for us.
Hi Rachel2110. I wondered how you got on with Yaleamanda's excellent advice and seeking referral. (Because of Covid...has GP referred you to bowel and bladder clinic or have you had any response with an appt date ?)
I'm sure you have noticed common themes looking at this site for children with your son's kind of story ( my son too). Common themes in nocturnal enuresis are constipation, a bit dehydrated perhaps, extremely heavy sleeping, apparent failure to produce enough vasopressin hormone at night to keep pee 'switched off'.
Keep notes on everything you do and discover; it is the first thing any continence clinic appt will get you to do and you can help yourself head off a lot of wasted time this way.
A fluid and wee diary can be a useful thing to turn up to an appt with, when you get one. Spend a few days keeping really exact tabs on fluid in (times and amount) and pee out (measure it and time). When he feels he has emptied his bladder, has he anything left? Try double voiding - wee fully, pull the muscle up for a few seconds (or stand and jiggle for 20 secs if that is too hard) and then measure what residual pee there is, if any of course.
Constipation (we discovered!) is not always a obvious as one would think and a proper GP exam to check is a good idea. You have probably already looked up Bristol poo chart, but if not, both familiarise yourselves - where (you look) is he generally? Does he really go properly everyday, does he sit long enough to empty his bowel properly (I had a 20 minute timer in the loo at one point!) Constipation limits bladder capacity but also causes bowel to stretch and it takes years to return to normal.
More recently I used some of those free sleep monitoring phone apps, for both my son and his two older non bedwetting siblings. His sleep pattern was markedly different - it just did not look like theirs at all. He truly was sleeping like the dead - from 4 minutes in for much longer than them - not many peaks and troughs for him!
Vit B12 and vit D (above just a multi vit) was a real help for my son (and I wish I had come across it when he was 8 and not 14). There are some interesting papers on it if you google effect of B12 on nocturnal enuresis and look up Vitamin D Council. My train of thought was what was reqd for normal CNS development and normal bladder function and tone. There is stuff online about poss effects of blue light which is interesting.
I have gone on and this is very rambly. I suppose I really want to get over that NE is multifactorial and that people on this site and following trains of thought through google have given some of the most useful progress.
If it helps, my son will be 17 soon and has been dry for 6 months - from being wet every night (without desmomelts and sometimes with using them too). We experienced a similar extended period of being dry when he was 15. One of the key foundation stones for him seems to be vitamin B12 supplementation (D too perhaps). The sleep app was interesting over the last year because his pattern of sleep seemed more normal (compared to his siblings night record) when he was supplementing and dry compared to when he was not (and was wet). Significant? Maybe only for him and not necessarily the same for every child with NE.
Wow - thank you for all your advice. We have an appointment at the hospital on Friday so I will make a diary this week so that I can take it with me.
I will definitely be looking up some of the things that you have mentioned and if nothing else take solace in the fact that I am not alone...even if some days it feels like it!
Hello, I’m new to this group and just come across your post. I was just wondering if there has been any improvement with your little one? I’m going through the same with my 6 year old boy.
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