Bed wetting what should I do next?

[Bristolmum85]

Hi I’m after some advice. My son is 5 (6 I’m a few days). He has been in nappies a night. We have tried in the passed to take him out of night time nappies at his request but after a few weeks we have given up. He is desperate to be dry so we are trying again.

If he is in nappies they are full in the morning and often leak. As soon as you put one on him even when he is awake he wees in it. Anyway. He doesn’t seem to be learning to wake up. When I go to bed he is often fast asleep in a soaking wet bed. So I’ll change it all and get him to go to the toilet and he is soaked again in the morning. We have tried dream wees but it seems random when he will wet. Sometimes it is 10 or 11. Sometimes not till 2. Something he does wake up realising he is wet but it is rare.

I’m not sure what to do next. He doesn’t want to go back into nappies. Should I try more dream wees? A bed alarm? I just don’t know.

In the day if he needs a wee he needs in now. He can’t hold it. If he there isn’t a toilet near he sometimes has accidents. At home if he is too engrossed in what he is doing he still some times has accidents.

I spoke to his doctor who just told me he’ll grow out of it. Just get used to doing lots of washing.

I can’t keep doing this much laundry. I am washing his duvet most days. He is tried too from disturbed sleep. Please help.

[SallyandPaul]

Hi there.Just reassure him that it isnt his fault at all. There is a hormone that develops shutting down the need to wee. Often this doesnt develop until seven or even older. Just give it a go in the summer holidays for a few days. No luck try next year, I know that this is hard but he will be fine in time,just stick with the nappies and forget about it. Take care

[Bristolmum85 in reply to SallyandPaul]

Thank you. That’s what I have been thinking. Thins is about the 4th time we have tried this. Just seems really old to still me in nappies. Bloody if my friends have girls who were all dry through the night at 2!

[annarobish in reply to Bristolmum85]

I am 15 now and still have problems at wetting at night. My mum took me to the GP and we tried all kinds of medication. They then did some tests that showed that I started to grow faster than my bladder is - I am still hoping my bladder will catch up... In the mean time I wear protection at night - I started with drynites - which leaked a lot so, when I was 12 I went to the larger pampers nappies - I grew out of them eventually, but I am still wearing a nappy (Tena Junior) to bed each night. You are not alone. I got used to the nappies eventually - they are just another step on the journey. Please let your son know that lots of people need nappies a little longer. Its nothing to be ashamed of!

[Pbytra in reply to annarobish]

annarobish

So heartening to hear this. How did you manage overnight school trips ? Sleepovers? Thanks. 🙏

[Yaleamanda]

He is still only young, essentially you are waiting for the hormone vasopressin being produced and that's something you can't control. There are things that you can do to help though, ensure that he 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 it only manages the issue and not deal with it, but do take him to the toilet before bed twice and make sure he 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... . Bedwetting is extremely common, i think in a class of 30 children (primary age) 1in 3 will still be wetting at night.

[MrsSquirrel]

I would go back to GP (or a different one) and ask to have referral to continence nurses. Our son was like yours at 6 and still has problems now. We couldn't get referred until 7 when he was small but NICE guidelines have changed so you can get referred earlier - from 5.

Check out ERIC they have lots of good advice and a phone line. Don't suffer in silence - its all very well for GP to say these things but I'm sure they wouldn't volunteer to be changing wet beds in middle of night and deal with a tired child the next day. Emphasize the impact it has on your lives and keep asking.

Start keeping a diary of wees in day/night and make sure he has plenty of fibre and goes to loo for a poo and that it is nice and soft. Poo can often press on the bladder and its one of the first things they look at. You could have a small jug and measure volumes as well. All useful info for the nurses. They will look to tackle/identify the daytime problems first.

[Bristolmum85 in reply to MrsSquirrel]

Thank you I might try talking to the doctors again fingers crossed I get a different GP. I have read through half of the ERIC site trying to figure out what to do for the best.

[MrsSquirrel]

You can ask for a different GP to see you.

Other useful things could be - double wees (wee and wait, then try again blowing out of mouth can help relax pelvic floor).

Trying every hour to go for a wee (set alarm). Wearing pads or pull ups when you go out if needs be, or in the car. Short notice for wees is stressful for all!

Our urology consultant said there is no harm in lifting for a dream wee as at the moment we are using this to manage the symptoms not as a way to solve the problem. This contradicts what nurses said - ha ha - I'm going with the consultant view. We tried alarms but he is quite sensitive to noise - got a vibrating one (Malem) but tbh did not have any great success. Continence nurses may do pad assessment to give you free supplies but I think it depends on county and what has been tried so far. They can do phone appts with you once GP refers.

pathways.nice.org.uk/pathwa...

Take info with you to docs about what they SHOULD do as good practice as per NICE.

[MrsSquirrel]

Always useful to have continence nurse advice for school if any problems arise there like wet trousers or needing to go more often. We had a bit of a battle with our 1st primary over these things i.e 'He's making it up to get out of maths' . No, actually he wasn't. He had dysfunctional voiding.

[annarobish]

I am 15 now and still have problems at wetting at night. My mum took me to the GP and we tried all kinds of medication. They then did some tests that showed that I started to grow faster than my bladder is - I am still hoping my bladder will catch up... In the mean time I wear protection at night - I started with drynites - which leaked a lot so, when I was 12 I went to the larger pampers nappies - I grew out of them eventually, but I am still wearing a nappy (Tena Junior) to bed each night. You are not alone. I got used to the nappies eventually - they are just another step on the journey. Please let your son know that lots of people need nappies a little longer. Its nothing to be ashamed of!