O.K. he is 8 years old now. Everyone says not to worry he will grow out of it, can anyone else share my pain or tell me a story?

Really it's ok, especially for boys, I know it doesn't help to hear it all the time, but it does happen. I have two boy cousins who didn't wake up "to do thier business" in the night until they were about 11. I even have a girl friend who had to wear those "Goodnights" panties to bed until she was in 4th grade. It's not an insult to parenting, it doesn't mean your child is incompetint, it just means s/he forgot to wake up. I used to babysit a child who was old enough to change his own diapers (actually at that point they were "big kid pants"), but just had such a hard time telling when he had to go, he almost never made it to the toilet, he was about 6 or 7. For now just talk to his doctor and take a breath and say, "it's ok" because it is.

One of my coworkers was getting frustrated with the wet sheets so she sets her alarm and wakes her son up at night around 2 or 3 in the morning, carries him to the bathroom so he can go. He's 4 but it really helped with selfconfidence in potty training waking up with dry sheets. Maybe you could try that.
Hope at least there are some words of encouragement for you here!!!

Two of my sons did that, but it wasn't every night. I noticed that most of the time it was during summer when I let them stay up later at night. I felt like a late bed time and sometimes a very active day contributed.

I never called attention to it. They eventually outgrew it....around the age of eight or nine. I would keep a towel beside their beds....because they wouldn't always wake me up. I kept a covering over their mattresses. I would wake them during the night to go and they would "sleep walk" to the bathroom and then back to bed. Avoiding liquids before bed and going in the night helped a lot.

I hope everything goes well with your little guy. Take care. :)

Well since my child is only two and just potty training her wetting the bed isn't so bad....

My story though:

I wet the bed till i was almost 8 years old and even then I wet it a few more times till I was about 9 years old.

My "theory" for my bed wetting days:

1. I have the largest imagination possible for a human being (well my friends & I think so) so for me to even watch a silly Disney Movie, or even the Goonie. I would have nightmares about the mosters or whatever I thought was scary. SO I'd freak out and not want to go to the bathroom...but the thing is: I'd freak out in my SLEEP and not even wake up to get the courage to go pee

2. going to the fair or something with lots of crafts, like scarcrows...I was just a chicken child!!! Whenever I would get the courage to go potty in the middle of the night...I couldn't look out the windows and would close my eyes as I ran to to the bathroom cause when I would look out the windows I'd see the same monster looking at me...I'd end up running back to hide in the the covers or start to pee my pj's as I was running

3. I used to get into trouble for wetting my bed, I would get spanked and have to wash my own sheets and scrub my bed, why my parents didn't just by a plasitc sheet for me is unknown...or pull-ups for kids....they thought I was doing it on purpose which made it even worse. My sisters would laugh at me and I was called a baby cause I couldn't go pee...plus I was called a scared'y cat by just about everyone.

4. I wasn't really that heavy of a sleeper, I knew what i was doing but i couldn't wake myself up...so I guess in some ways I was a really heavey sleeper

Ways I learned how to HELP ME (since no one else would)

1. I stopped drinking anything past 6pm. I would go potty before I feel to sleep, even if I had to make myself stay awake till I did go.

2. I started to "get to know my dreams" I realized there was only ONE type of dream that made me have to go to the bathroom and it was me going to the bathroom...I would be dreaming about anything really then tell the people in my dream I had to potty and walk over and go...then keep going with my dream............so I had to teach myself how to STOP once I got to the bathroom...I had to learn how to wake myself up

3. It wasn't easy though, I would yell at myself in my sleep..I used to get up and walk around my room and take my clothes off in my sleep...trying to wake up...that didn't work, I started to hurt myself to wake up....(this has caused me problems to this day) I would wake up with nail marks up my arms/legs just trying to wake myself up...finally I somehow started to wake up...I would talk myself outta going to the potty in my dream and I learned to hold my pee till I woke up....was really hard and scary for me....I thought i was stupid and that I was a total joke to my family.

the best advice I can give you is just be calm with your child about it, they already feel terrible for being a bed wetter since thats a "Baby" thing. Let the child know you want to help them and maybe write up a plan of action to help stop the wetting of the bed, maybe buy a plastic cover for the bed so when he stops bed-wetting he won't have to look at the spots...if need be buy some kid pull-ups...I don't know how nice his doctor is but maybe talk with him...sometimes doctors can help you out abit with that

I don't want to freak you out but I feel like I need to say this:

When I was 3 years old I was molested and I read an thing in a book about side effects of kids being abused, and that is one of the major ones...(bed-wetting) Now i'm not saying your child was...but it's a side effect all the same

I hope this helps a bit...I've actually never told anyone about my bed-wetting so i think thats why I wrote a book to you!! :eek:

Mine are 5 and 7. The older one got it about a year ago - and he was late allready. My younger son will take muche longer - this I allready know. He is not getting more than a small drink for dinner around 6 pm. An hour later he goes to bed - never without going to the bathroom before. We draged him out of his bed between 11 pm and midnight - nothing would come, not even dripple. In the morning the bed was wet. Don't ask me how it works, but obviously it's not his time yet.

My sister-in-law's son is making it now and he is allmost 9. But they are bringing him to the bathroom every day around midnight. But only because he wants it. His class in school wants to go to a one week vacation in october and he wants to be sure he can handle it by then.

Just be patient.

I had similar issues and the last bed-wetting incident I had happened when I was 14. My problem is a combination of a small and overactive bladder, poor muscle development, and extremely heavy sleeping (I once slept through a tornado!). What it came down to was a bladder too small to hold what it needed to hold, muslces that couldn't "hold it" effectively, and sleeping so deeply that when those two things came together and should have woken me up...I just kept right on sleeping. Occassionally I even dreamed that I was in the bathroom - and that really didn't help!

We were lucky enough to have a wonderful doctor who was willing to run all the tests and then tell my parents to relax and not take it too seriously. They bought a plastic sheet to put over my mattress - and then covered it in a blanket when we found out that the plastic made me sweat and aggravated the problem. Being too hot, or too tired, was usually a guarantee that I would wet the bed. Even now I leave a window open through the night and I have woken up with my nose numb because it was so cold in my room, but I prefer it to being hot.

My husband wet the bed until he was 8 and I did until I was 9. My two oldest girls did not wet the bed at all after potty training but the youngest seems like she will continue to wet the bed for awhile. She is 5 now.

Here's a link for some info on enuresis (medical term for bed-wetting) - http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/disorders/bedwetting.shtml.

I suggest you speak with your son's doc about it and use something like goodnights sleep training pants. They are made for big kids and they are plain white and really help to limit the wet sheets problem.

I've said it before, and I will say it again. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree".

My 12 year old son inherited bedwetting from both sides of the family. I wet the bed while growing up and it's also on my husbands side of the family. One of his brothers wet the bed at an older age, as did two of his nieces.

It's a common symptom of add/adhd. It's one of the questions on all of the tests. Not everyone with add/adhd wet the bed but alot have.

I was one of 5 kids and was the only one that wet the bed. I am also the only one that admits to having adhd (even though we all do) and the only one medicated for adhd.

Anyway, I used to wet the bed all the time. There were no such things as pullups back then. I wish I would have thought of that idea. I could be rich now.

I shared a queen size bed with my sister, who was 1 year older than me. Whenever I wet the bed, she'd wake up wet. She always gave me trouble. Now we joke about it. I tell her that I used to do that on purpose to get back at her. Anyway, I remember going to the doctor to make sure my bladder etc were OK, which they were.

We had a regular mattress so it was saturated I am sure. My mom used to hang out the bedding on the clothes line and talk to the neighbor lady next door who was also hanging out the bedding for her son, who was the same age as me. Later we found out he was also adhd.

I remember spending the night at my friends house and wetting their bed too. (I can't believe people still invited me over.)

My parents tried to wake me up at night for nighttime bathroom trips. They tried to take away the liquids after a certain time. They tried everything except having me sleep on the toilet. I was just a heavy sleeper I guess. They said I'd outgrow it. Which I eventually did. (Seriously. I swear.)

I wouldn't wish bedwetting on my worst enemy. It's embarrassing, devastasting and lowers a kids self esteem below sea level.

It definitely doesn't help if you have siblings that are teasing you or parents that punish you for not trying. Luckily my parents never did that. They knew it was something beyond my control. The only sibling that gave me trouble was my sister, as far as I can remember. hmmm?

My daughter is 14 and a few years ago, when she was majorly mad at my son, she called him "diaper boy" once. I put an end to that immediately.

So, knowing how much bedwetting devastated me, you can imagine my sadness when my son inherited this trait.

He's 12 and still wets at night. During the day he's tough, cool, wears Hollister and Abercrombie and at night he wears a pullup called Goodnights XL. It's the biggest one they make and it's getting tight.

He refuses to be in the car with me when I buy them in case anyone I know sees me. We have to sneak them into the house weekly. He also doesn't like to go through the pharmacy drivethru when I pick up his bedwetting medicine so that the cashier doesn't know his secret.

Luckily my work has a program called payflex which is where you can get money taken out of your paycheck each week and put into a pretax account. When you buy it, you just turn in your receipts and you are reimbursed. The bedwetting medicine and the pullups are covered. I had to get a doctors note for that. But it really adds up.

He's been medicated for adhd since he was 3, so 9 years ago. A big concern for me has always been his bedwetting. We have had 3 doctors in the past 9 years and each said not to worry about it. He'd outgrow it. He started taking DAAVP for bedwetting several years ago.

When he turned 11, I started to really worry. We made an appt with a eurologist who ran a series of tests including an xray. Everything came back fine as far as his bladder, kidneys etc...

I remember when we went for that appt. My son had to drop his drawers while the doctor checked him out to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. My son couldn't believe that someone would want to do that for a living.

He takes Clonidine at night so that he can go to sleep. This makes him sleep very soundly so he doesn't wake up to go to the bathroom.

He also started taking Imprimine along with the DAAVP. He doesn't wet every night, but alot of nights.

He has a water bed so that we don't have to worry about the mattress etc.. I told him he could get a regular bed once he outgrows his "issue".

It really helped him immensely when I explained to him what bedwetting is, what causes it, how it is heretary on both sides of the family. How I had it and his dads brother and 2 nieces. I assured him he'd outgrow it soon. He thinks it's funny that I used to wet on his aunt.

He doesn't do his own laundry but he does carry his bedding downstairs.

On his next doctor visit, which is in August, we are going to talk about taking him off the clonidine to see if this helps. The clonidine is needed though so it might not be an option.

Anyway, if add/adhd plays a role in the bedwetting, it is imperative that the child not be punished or ridiculed for bedwetting. They have it tough already and need support from everyone they possibly can.

Here's a kid friendly url on bedwetting:

http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/bladder/enuresis.html

Hope this helps....

VickiS,

Any update on the bedwetting issue?

Thanks for asking!
No news is good news here, I guess. One incident last week.
He was invited to a sleepover last weekend and would not go because of it...
BTW, I do not do pullups, at least this way he "feels" it and wakes up, too late of course, but at least there is some "consequence" He changes his PJ's and moves to the floor with a sleeping bag we keep handy. In the AM he brings the mess down and puts it in the laundry room.
He is an only child, so no teasing.
It is just one of those things I guess...

My little girl is gonna be 8 and she has been potty trained since the age of 2 and a half sue to not even walking until the age of 2,her motor skills were VERY delayed.I have been having a lot of issues with her with her meds,she has wet her panties 2 times,once at a friends on the couch sleeping,and once lastnight 45 minutes after i gave her,her sleeping meds she wet her panties and didnt even relieze it.She got up and felt she was wet and started crying statingoh my goodness mommy i wet.It is very strange its as if her meds have her to dopped to even know.I am going to bring it to the doctors attention tomorrow.


Sandra

Thanks for asking!
No news is good news here, I guess. One incident last week.
He was invited to a sleepover last weekend and would not go because of it...
BTW, I do not do pullups, at least this way he "feels" it and wakes up, too late of course, but at least there is some "consequence" He changes his PJ's and moves to the floor with a sleeping bag we keep handy. In the AM he brings the mess down and puts it in the laundry room.
He is an only child, so no teasing.
It is just one of those things I guess...Have you concidered the "big boy undies" just for sleepovers? I think it's so sad when they miss out on fun things because of their fear of bed wetting... my coworker's son only wears them when he's not sleeping at home, this way he can still go camping, or sleepovers, but he still has the "responsibilities" you talk about at home (which I do think is a wonderful way to learn, especially bringing them down to laundry themselves)... don't know just asking?

Pige

I have not seen the "undies” I will take a look and show him.
Since we both agree that if he will probably not sleep as heavily since he is not in his own bed, I actually think there is more to not wanting to do the sleepover thing.
Since he was small there are several of situations where he says he does not "feel safe" (He hates field trips for example) so I think this may be part of it as well.
I am not going to push him. Funny, as long as he is in his "safe zone" which is really pretty reasonable, all is well, and he will take risks a step at a time. He has the nicest bunch of friends and his sometimes odd behavior does not even faze them.

Yeah, there are a lot of reasons for kids not doing sleepovers I can remember I cried my eyes out for my mom to pick me up my first night out... my sister tried I think 5 times before she was successfull... we probably should have been smart like your son and just thought about it first and not gone, lol... I I was around 3rd grade and she was around 4th before a "successful" one... but I remember trying as early as first grade... my poor mother :rolleyes: driving out to pick me up at 10pm because I woke up and freaked out because I wasn't at home... I didn't even try again for a year and a half... and didn't even make it to bed, lol... so I guess it's true there's other reasons... at least you are supportive of whatever he wants to do :) Pige

We went to my son's doctor appt yesterday and discussed his bedwetting issue. Even though he is 12, his doctor does not see a major concern. He said it's very common with add/adhd kids, especially with boys. He said girls develop earlier and stop the bedwetting earlier.

I wanted to take my son off the Clonidine that he takes at night so that perhaps he would not sleep as soundly and would then realize that he has to go to the bathroom but instead we increased his Clonidine due to a noise tic he developed that Clonidine can help with.

So...it looks like we will continue saying our nightly prayers and asking for help with his "issue". I will continue washing the sheets and blankets. And I will continue buying the nighttime pullups. (They are called "Goodnights".)

This too shall pass.

Our doctor had our son do kegles which is what women normally use to strengthen the uterus walls but it also helps build your muscles that clip it off so to speak. It helped immensouly.

We found that if he at least tried to go 3-4 times about 2 hours before his bedtime with no drinks in between he had better success since he was able to pee at least twice during that period. He'd read a simple book while SITTING on the toilet to ensure he had been there long enough to truly try.

Another option that helped a lot was a urinal kept by his bedside for those OMG!! moments. you know the one where its almost too late that way he could go without wetting his bed and dump it in the toilet after, they have lids and he would spray Lysol into it after each use. Eventually, it went out to the dumpster with his stuffed animals.

Kids grow at different levels once you accept that you can accept their faults.

I did until I was 11 I think it was. Goodnights are saints, they are an excellent solution until they grow out of it. Saved my life at sleepovers!!!

Yeah I wet the bed until I was 12. Had to have special provisions made whenever I had school trips etc. No fun at all. Glad it stopped.

For those of you old enough to remember Michael Landin of Little House On The Prairie, you might also recall a movie he produced about a boy who was still wetting the bed when he was in high school. The film was autobiographical. Michael's "consequence" for wetting the bed was to hang his sheets out an upstairs window. Michael became a star runner from having to race home to pull his sheets back inside the house before his school mates walked by on their way home from school.

I wonder what his mother thought of the film?

i'm 14, still wet the bed, at 8 its nothing to worry about, but if you're child is still wetting the bed at 14, you should get that checked out.

My non-ADHD son is seven and, until we started him on DDAVP, was wetting the bed almost every night. After researching the issue and talking to his doctor, I learned that he wets the bed because his body doesn't make enough of a hormone that causes the body to make less urine overnight. The DDAVP is a synthetic form of the hormone, which is why it works. Now my son is dry every night (although it took several weeks and upping the dose to the maximum to get that result) and he's even wearing underpants to bed. We'll keep him on the medicine for six months and then stop to see if he stays dry on his own. If not, I'll gladly put him back on it.

Good luck with your son!

My brother wet the bed until he was about 10. My parents tried everything a pad with a buzzer that sounded when he wet the bed worked the best, but didn't completely fix it, taking him to the potty at night themselves, making him change the bed himself, seeing a chiropractor,etc. Today, I'm pretty sure he had inattentive ADD which was never diagnosed. His life history to day would pretty much bear that out. It's not easy, but the good news he did finally out grow it (the bedwetting -- not the ADD).

Scattered

Of course I didn't read all of this, but I saw "bed wetting" and boom! I wet the bed all the way up until I was 13=\ Yes, sad, but true. It was due to the ADHD I found out later. When he sleeps at night, he dreams about being on the toilet when he actually isn't and it is also an inability to wake himself up out of a deep sleep. Try not giving him any liquids at least 3 hours before his bed time and if that doesn't help, you are going to have to wait until he grows out of it especially if he is already on medication. I'm sure you have asked him why he does it and he probably gets sort of embarrassed. DONT BY ALL MEANS ever make fun of him about it, not that you do, but my parents did until they understood why and that was scarring....lol I don't think there is a way to stop it until he is actually able to differentiate between his dream and the real toilet. I battled with this too...He will be okay...:) *hugs*