Constant Bed Wetting - 6 year old

[Bubble*Crazy]

My DD has probably only had 5 dry nights EVER. Pure accident/fluke obviously. She wears pull-ups (dry nites now) each night as it is a constant thing. We didn't want to have to resort to mattress alarms etc, but it looks as though we may have to now. It is so frustration as she is a healthy, bright, intelligent girl and has always been advanced in other areas, apart from this (I spose there's gotta be something!). Not to mention the cost of the dry-nites (poor reason, I know!)

She's never had a problem during the day with #1's or 2's, but even if she has a nap during the day she has on occasions wet the bed then too.

* She always goes to the toilet before bed
* We encourage heaps of water drinking during the day to train her bladder to take bit amounts of water or to hold on if needed
* Water only at night (the occasional juice with dinner - hardly worth it with the amount we give her!)
* We don't wake her/get her up during the night as it's not helping with the training of her bladder (on advice from pro's, once again - and besides we did try before we sought help last year from CHN & read about it and she just doesn't wake up as she's such a heavy sleeper)

I'm not sure what else can be done that we're not already doing without 'intervention' as such, so any advice would be greatly appreciated :thumbsup:. (I'm not sure the alarm thingy would work as I'm not sure she'd wake for that due to her deep sleeping) - does anyone else have any suggestions, before we seek help from CHN or enurisis (sp?) specialist.

[Funkychicken]

I don't have any advice for you but our DD is nearly six and exactly the same.She has had a few rare dry nights but I too think they were flukes. She daytime TT at 2 1/2 and did this really fast but nights are just disastrous. i managed to get away with the largest nappies until last year, but then she was just too big but I don't want to pay for dry-nites so I made a couple of polar fleece pilchers and I put a cloth nappie folded rectangularly in this. Saves heaps on money. My brother was a bed-wetter until about 8 and I remember watching him go through the alarm thing-he didn't cope very well and mum put him on tablets, which I later found out are part of the anti-depressant family of drugs so I won't be considering that option. It is said to be a gentic condition so I'm hoping our DD will grow out of it but at the same time I don't want her to start getting hung-up about it. She has started questioning why she still has to wear nappies at night. I guess I'm at the same cross-roads as you are!

[the_queen]

Kids become night-dry when a hormone begins being released in their brain to concentrate the urine. It's purely developmental, not behavioural at all, and all you can do is wait for them to grow out of it.

Mine is 5 this week and has had 1 dry night her whole life. We've switched to cloth knicker-nappies so it's not so expensive. It's not worth getting really worried about until after they're 7 years old and it's still happening.

[KarniF00l]

It could be either of two things.. as i know this because i was to a bed wetter.

One - Nervousness.

Two - A kidney infection (which is what i had) Ask your DD if it burns or hurts when she goes to the toilet. I don't want to scare you but it's probably best to jump onto this matter asap.. my mother spend many years trying to find out what was causing this and at 9 years old we finally got told that it was due to a kidney infection and it was to late to do anything about it which resorted into getting my kidney removed.

mummyto2 and Funkychicken - I wish you the best of luck :fingerscrossed:

[Little_Toad]

Mummy to 2
We don't wake her/get her up during the night as it's not helping with the training of her bladder (on advice from pro's, once again - and besides we did try before we sought help last year from CHN & read about it and she just doesn't wake up as she's such a heavy sleeper)

My parents had 5 kids and with ALL the kids, we would do a wee before we went to bed and when my Dad went to bed (around 10pm ) He would pick us up and take us to the loo to do a wee. We hardly ever woke up or were in a daze most the time. I did this for my little brother too. We never wet the bed.

Why don't you try that. Keep all the lights off .

[Bubble*Crazy]

It could be either of two things.. as i know this because i was to a bed wetter.

One - Nervousness.

LOL - not this "Princess" ....!!!!!! :laughing:


I'm going to get her checked out to rule out any medical issues, so really, whilst I don't want it to go on for much longer, I'd rather it be something she grows out of when she's ready, rather than something be medically wrong. But, I don't want her to feel on the outer as a result.

Queenie - are these like the nappies you use on Curtis? By the state of the dry-nite, she obviously has a number of wees during the night and they do sometimes leak, so how do the cloth knicker nappies go? Where do you get your from, as this would be a much more economical option (paying nearly $1 each night on dry-nites).

Cheers for your replies!

[Bubble*Crazy]

Mummy to 2

My parents had 5 kids and with ALL the kids, we would do a wee before we went to bed and when my Dad went to bed (around 10pm ) He would pick us up and take us to the loo to do a wee. We hardly ever woke up or were in a daze most the time. I did this for my little brother too. We never wet the bed.

Why don't you try that. Keep all the lights off .

We've tried this, but she won't go and mumbles (in her sleep) that she doesn't need to go. I've sat there with her before for 5+ minutes trying to get her to go. Then had to drag her back to bed!!!

Stubborn little thing, she is! :banghead:

[the_queen]

I got a pair of Happy Heiny's, they cost me about $30 but because of the cost of pull-ups, after a month they've paid for themselves.
Yeah they're a pocket nappy, but not a nappy, they pull on like underpants. There's an opening at the back and I stuff it with hemp boosters - you can use anything absorbent though, but I bought a bundle of hemp boosters because hemp is really absorbent plus it's anti-fungal.

Here's the website I got them off
Whoopeekiddiess (http://www.whoopeekiddies.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_27&zenid=153971cd421b8d005beacae8f0c94fa8)

I notice they've got a few on sale at the moment, the XS one is a great price but probably wouldn't fit a 5 yr old. I got Vallerie the "Hey Diddle Diddle" ones, it looks in the picture like they have velcro (like a nappy) but they just pull up like knickers.

I got her another pair, from cheekybutts, but I got her the biggest size they do and she's almost outgrown them already. Whoopeekiddies do much bigger sizes.
:thumbsup:

[KarniF00l]

Also.. if it's due to lack of training the bladder while she's asleep, you can get this little machine that clips onto her undies and when she starts to wee the machine beeps. That can also help her.

mummyto2, i really hope for your daughters sake it isn't an infection. I just wanted to tell you so that you can be aware of it. :hugs:

[the_queen]

I put Vallerie on the toilet sometimes in the middle of the night, and I've found what helps is if I make a psssssss sound. Go on, laugh at me :o I was reading about EC (elimination communication, where you don't use nappies you just learn to read your babies cue's) and they say that is encourages a kid to do a wee. It works with Vallerie.

But now if I even half-wake her up after she's asleep, she wets right then and there, so if I pick her up to take her to the toilet she wee's all over me before we get there :gloomy: LOL just had to use that smilie...

[KarniF00l]

I put Vallerie on the toilet sometimes in the middle of the night, and I've found what helps is if I make a psssssss sound. Go on, laugh at me :o I was reading about EC (elimination communication, where you don't use nappies you just learn to read your babies cue's) and they say that is encourages a kid to do a wee. It works with Vallerie.

But now if I even half-wake her up after she's asleep, she wets right then and there, so if I pick her up to take her to the toilet she wee's all over me before we get there :gloomy: LOL just had to use that smilie...


:laughing: .. I do the same thing with DD1 but we run the tap instead ;)

[JATS]

I suffered severs kidney problems and a damaged pelvic floor as a kid and was in my mid teens before I learned pelvic floor exercises and regained enough muscle tone to have control down there:o

Its an embarassing problem, I could have solved it earlier if my parents had been more supportive, taken me to a Dr about it rather than punishment each time it happened.

You may need to teach her the exercises if it continues for a while. ATM I wouldn't be worried, alot of older kids do it and it rectifies itself, just keep the exercises in mind for later.:thumbsup:

[Bubble*Crazy]

I might try it again, but I'm sure she's grown heaps in the past few months as I struggle to lift her. She's like a dead weight when she's asleep.

THanx for the link, Queenie. Looks good - might order 1 and see how we go :thumbsup: