Wow article about bedwetting.

[nfowife]

I'm calling my ped in the morning about this. Wow.
http://mobile.slate.com/articles/life/family/2012/03/bed_wetting_the_simple_cause_your_doctor_probably_ missed_.html

[elliput]

That makes a lot of sense to me. It really is not much different than the urinary issues pregnant women have.

[nfowife]

The thing that is amazing to me is that the kid can be pooping as normal but still be totally impacted. How the heck is a parent supposed to figure this out if their ped says "it's okay for a 5 year old to be soaked every night" and they are pooping every day? This is crazy!!

[BeachBum]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

[trales]

DD was filled to the small intestine with poop and we found that when she was backed up she had more accidents. We sought help b/c of belly pain and the accidents stopped as a result of keeping her poop the constancy of pudding.

Now when she starts having accidents I will know that after this article it could be a sign she is backed up.

Good info, thanks.

[HIU8]

Extremely interesting article. DS wet the bed until he was 6. DD is 4 and wears an overnight pullup with a diaper doubler inside (or her bed would be soaked nightly). My best friends DS is 7 and wears a pullup nightly that he soaks through and soaks the sheets as well.

I'm going to mention this article to the ped at DD's 5 yr old well visit.

[Minnifer]

Really good info to have, thanks for posting.


How the heck is a parent supposed to figure this out if their ped says "it's okay for a 5 year old to be soaked every night" and they are pooping every day? This is crazy!!

Yep, wondering this myself - taking this into account, when would night wetting be considered a problem/abnormal where this should be looked into? I thought it was after age 6 and that kids needed some sort of hormone to have developed in order to have the ability not to wet at night, but I'm assuming that's without taking this into account. DD is almost 4 and has been day trained since right after turning 2, but needs a pullup at night (although at this point it's dry in the morning about 70% of the time).

I also have a feeling drs are going to be dismissive of this if parents raise it :shake:

[ourbabygirl]

Wow- thanks for posting! I'm going to ask DD's doctor about this as well. She's 3.5 but has been having a lot of accidents lately (and has to wear a diaper every night or she'll soak herself & the bed), and I wonder if it's because she's constipated. Can a parent just ask for them to do x-rays to check things out? I'm hoping the catheter and everything wouldn't be necessary if the x-rays are done first?

[twowhat?]

Holy crap! (no pun intended). And I'm also wondering when to worry that this might be an issue. DD2 has been on Miralax since she was 15 months old and wears a pull-up at night (which is soaked in the morning). DD1 has never been constipated and is dry from 7pm until 7am when she wakes up to use the potty. But - they're only 3.5 and no one expects a 3.5yo to stay dry all night...

[Twoboos]

WOW. This makes me wonder about DD2, who still wears an Pullup to bed and it's wet every morning.

DD1 had severe constipation issues when she was younger, but I never thought it with DD2.

Yikes. I think I should get them both going on the Miralax!!

[nfowife]

My DS has only been dry one night his entire life. Most mornings he wakes up with a very wet pull-up. During the day, no accidents but I am so worried about this. I plan to just ask for an x-ray from the get go or will make an appointment if the dr. wants to see me. I don't see the harm in one x-ray to rule out what could be a real issue. I probably wouldn't do it at 3.5 but my DS just turned 5 and I am very concerned right now and will feel absolutely horrible if he has been backed up this whole time while I had no idea.

[chozen]

i took dd into see ped. 4-5 mo. ago because she started to use the potty every 1-2 hrs. i was thinking she might have a uti. turns out she was constipated and it was causing her to feel like she had to pee all the time. after 2 wks. on miralax she was fine.

[jenmcadams]

My DD (who was 7 1/2 at the time) was having an issue where she "leaked" in her panties a little bit and it was a pretty frequent problem. I was worried b/c she had been potty trained by 3 and hadn't had Our pediatrician diagnosed her with mild constipation and now whenever it starts to happen, we do a little metamucil and get her regular again and the problem goes away. We hadn't realized she was constipated, but it was a relief to know that was the issue.

[zukeypur]

Wow, thanks so much for posting this!!! DD1 is 12 and has had two spontaneous accidents at school this year. DD2 is almost 6 and wears a pull up at night. She is notorious for waiting until the last minute to pee, and has also admitted to being too lazy to get out of bed in the middle of the night to pee. However, she is a chronic "holder" because she doesn't want to poop at school. Definitely looking into this.

[jjordan]

So, at what age is bedwetting indicative of a potential problem (according to this theory)? Anyone have any idea?

[Tinochka]

I just discovered it from a different book (that you need to deal with a constipation before dealing with bedwetting), this article is proving even more to me, that my kid definitely have smth going on and I need to clear his system out. I raised the ? long time ago, because for my background a child wetting every night till 6 is not normal, but got mislead by “oh, he will outgrow it”. I’ll try to put him to laxative and see, how things will go.
Just for 2 weeks my kids were in my hands (everybody were traveling) and I was in charge what my kids were eating and using potty and.... surprise!, found that my 4y.o. all of the sudden had dry mornings... Well, things backed up again...
What kind of laxative did you use? Which of them worked well, child friendly, but still did a job?
I don’t know why, I don’t like Miralax.
I also have one of this product. Do you think that this item is helpful?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=peter+gillham%27s+natural+vitality+natura l+calm&sprefix=Peter+Gill%2Caps%2C171

Or should I go Pedia-Lax route?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pedia-lax+tablets&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Apedia-lax+tablets&ajr=0

[AnnieW625]

I asked a similar question about a year ago and the common response I got from posters her was 6 yrs. old, so I was going to keep that age in mind if DD1 wasn't night trained. At a month shy of 5/1/2 she mentioned that she was getting up at daycare during nap so I the knew it was more of a heavy sleeping/psychological thing with her. It took her about a little more than a week to fully night train where she was used to getting up at night to pee, and she has only had two accidents since she started the night training.

[wendibird22]

Thanks for posting. DD1 is 4.5yo and has never had a dry night but has been day trained since 3yo. If her nap is longer than 1.5hr she has a nap accident too. This morning I even noted just how full and heavy of pee her pull up was from last night. Her BMs are usually only every other to every 3rd day and usually many smaller pieces so yep, she's on the constipated side even though she goes on a regular schedule (for her at least). Definitely mentioning this at her 5yr appointment...maybe sooner.

[Twoboos]

What kind of laxative did you use? Which of them worked well, child friendly, but still did a job?
I don’t know why, I don’t like Miralax.
I also have one of this product. Do you think that this item is helpful?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=peter+gillham%27s+natural+vitality+natura l+calm&sprefix=Peter+Gill%2Caps%2C171

Or should I go Pedia-Lax route?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pedia-lax+tablets&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Apedia-lax+tablets&ajr=0

Miralax is not a laxative. It draws more liquid into the stool to make it softer/easier to go. It does not force you to go. DD1 was on it for about 4 years. I would be more worried about using a daily laxative than Miralax, but that's me since we've had a lot of experience with it.

[nfowife]

Well, I'm taking DS in to the ped tomorrow. I called just now and said "I'm concerned he might be constipated. Would she like to see DS or order an X-ray first?". I will be bringing the article with me tomorrow and request and x-ray as well as a physical exam. This is what Dr. Hodges seems to recommend on his website and in the comments section of the article. I ordered the book on amazon last night and although it's prime shipping it doesn't ship for 9 days after ordering so it will take some time before I can read it in it's entirety. But I really feel this might be DS's issue:

-only poops every 2-3 days.
-poops are not very big, and are kind of "snake like"- skinny and longish
-last week, but also at times in the past, has had issues where he farts and some poop comes out.
-including (for the first time ever) in the bathtub last week. He was very freaked out as he has never pooped in the tub. He said he didn't realize any came out.
-and the issue with generally being dry all day (except on occasion where he waits too long and either has a full on accident (rare) or when a few drops of pee come out before he makes it to the toilet (not rare, but infrequent). But has only stayed dry one night a few months ago in his life. Every other night the pull up is very wet, regardless of water intake from dinner onward.
-During the day he drinks a lot of water. Not massive, but he's a thirsty kid. We only drink water at home (milk very infrequently, like with a cookie or something).

He's normal height/weight, meets milestones, and is very athletic and active. Hopefully the pediatrician will listen to my concerns and order an x-ray. If he's not backed up, awesome. I will wait out the overnight wetting. If he is, then we can get started on addressing the problem and hopefully that will lead to dry nights!

[dogmom]

OMG, been there, done that, have the T-Shirt, doing it again.

Need to get going so I can't write a lot. Yes, that can be part of the problem, not all of it for my DS, but the constipation doesn't help. You need someone who knows what they are doing to support you, some peds think you can just give Miralax, clean them out, then it's fine, it's not. Over time the colon distends and children need a larger and large volume of stool to trigger the BM. You can see it on x-ray. It takes at least 6-8 months if you have distention for the colon to heal and go back to a more normal size. So it takes time, charting of stools, knowing what you are looking at, and daily medication to get through this. Miralax is a very safe laxative. A standard treatment is 1/2 cap a day, scheduled toileting after a meal a day (sit for at least 5-15 minutes), and often senna once a day at the beginning. Do a search for constipation threads, there are many. I can tell you that with my child no amount of fiber was going to fix this problem. I went to a NP that specialized in this a Children's Hospital. I'm very happy I had access to her.

[Mommy_Mea]

Wow, that is fascinating! My nephews both night potty-trained really late, I will have to send this article. And I will definitely keep it in mind for DS1. We are mostly day pee trained, but pooping freaks him out and we can't get him to go on the potty, and I worry about constipation due to the stress...

[marymoo86]

So according to the article even if your DC has 2-3 BMs a day, there still could be constipation.

How, as a parent, are you to know if there is a problem?

[DebbieJ]

This is very interesting....

[Meatball Mommie]

Thank you soooo much for posting this! I think this describes my younger son to a T!!!!

We are actually in the process of having our older son tested for sleep apnea because he is 8.5 and still wets the bed at least 1x per week. He also snores insanely loud and seems to always be tired and lacks the ability to focus. He is not ADHD nor does he have any developmental issues. DH and I were talking about how DS1's bedwetting could be because of sleep apnea, but then why was our 6year old still wetting the bed EVERY night (wetting through pull-ups even)?

However, this could totally explain DS2's issues! He has always been an irregular pooper from day one, but he never expressed any discomfort, so we let it go. Now he holds his poo and we have to remind him to go poo every day or he just won't go. We usually end up mad at him for having poop in his undies (and thus smell!). He pooped last night and the size of the poop (tmi sorry) was unbelievable! Not the volume but (and this is way gross) but the diameter! My poop as an adult has never been that big! I even asked him if it hurt and he said not at all... He doesn't seem to have the feeling that he needs to go poo and is often surprised that there's poop in his undies. I can't tell you how many times I've said "How can you not know you need to poop?"

I am printing this article immediately and calling the doctor! THANK YOU!

[dogmom]

So according to the article even if your DC has 2-3 BMs a day, there still could be constipation.

How, as a parent, are you to know if there is a problem?

Your peds can usually palpate it and feel constipation, always remarked upon it with me. Some of it has to do with the appearance of the stool. You can Google Bristol Stool appearance chart and see. I checked, no weird porn sites popped up, BTW.

[Tinochka]

Your peds can usually palpate it and feel constipation, always remarked upon it with me. Some of it has to do with the appearance of the stool. You can Google Bristol Stool appearance chart and see. I checked, no weird porn sites popped up, BTW.

Thank you very much for resource. Now I am even more convinced that I have a constipated child, which started from holding at potty training...

[essnce629]

Hmmm, very interesting and may explain DS1's nighttime bedwetting that he had constantly up until a few months ago (and he's 8 1/2)!

Last year, when he was 7, he all of a sudden started having poop accidents at school. He said he just didn't have any urge to go and it would all of a sudden just come out. After him having poop accidents 3 days in a row I took him to the doctor and she did a rectal examine and said he was full of hard stool (but his sphinctor muscle was normal). I had found some info online about a re-training method to start them going to the bathroom again. It was basically, pick a time during the day, have them eat a snack, then rest for 15 minutes, and then have them sit on the toilet and try to have a bowel movement. If after 10 minutes or so they don't go, you give them a rectal suppository, wait again, have them try and go on the toilet, and if they don't go do a second suppository. It had to be a rectal suppository since that works pretty quicky vs an oral laxative that can take a lot longer. The doctor ok'd me giving DS1 a suppository and so I tried the method the first day and it worked! DS was having accidents afterschool, when he was still at school, so I picked him up right away each day, gave him a "snack" of a smoothie with flaxseed oil and magnesium citrate added too it (both help with stool), had him go lay down and read for 15 minutes, then go to the bathroom. It worked the first time and I never even had to do the suppository part. After that DS didn't have any more poop accidents. Now I'm wondering if his nighttime accidents he was having a lot of this year were because he was constipated again (not as much as before, but maybe enough to be a problem).

At the same time though, DS1 has always been a SUPER deep sleeper and I do think that is part of the problem too. Up until I had DS2 (when DS1 was 5) DS1 would fall asleep in the car and I would put him in the stroller and he'd stay alseep through an entire grocery shopping trip! I'd be pushing this huge 5 year old boy in the stroller while I was pulling the full grocery cart behind me! DS1 just doesn't wake for anything and has always been this way. We even did the pee alarms that you wear in your underwear that not only have an audible alarm but also had a vibrating alarm. DS1 would sleep through that and even killed one alarm since it rusted inside after he peed on it so much!

DS2 on the other hand has always been an extremely light sleeper and wakes up at a pin drop! He's 2 1/2 now and has been sleeping in underwear at night without accidents for a few weeks now and several times has woken up at night to go potty. So I do think being a deep sleeper can contribute to the problem.

We also noticed that DS1 would have more accidents when he would get cold at night. We now keep a space heater in his room set at 70 degrees. That solved the problem for several months when he was younger.

I also read somewhere that sleeping in brief underwear contributes to the problem since the waistband tends to press on the bladder. I read somewhere that they should sleep in boxers or no underwear. DS1 no longer wears underwear to bed.

DS1 has been dry at night for probably 4 months now, which is the longest he's ever gone in his life. I think we may have turned a corner, but if he starts wetting again I'll try treating him for constipation.

[kozachka]

DS2 on the other hand has always been an extremely light sleeper and wakes up at a pin drop! He's 2 1/2 now and has been sleeping in underwear at night without accidents for a few weeks now and several times has woken up at night to go potty. So I do think being a deep sleeper can contribute to the problem.

DS is a VERY deep sleeper and has been out of dipes during the night since he was 16.5 months old. He was dry every morning for several weeks before that, but if I did not get him out of bed and onto a potty promptly after he woke up, that's another story :loveeyes:. DS has always had very regular BMs, so it was easy to poopy train him. Wondering if the same is true for your DS2, and that's what explains him being able to avoid accidents. BTW, congratulations to you and DS2 on being done with diapers at 2.5 :bighand:.

[nfowife]

Just wanted to update. We are back from the ped. I described the article, and DS's symptoms, and she did a physical exam. She did not feel a large poop mass with a physical exam and she didn't feel an x-ray was necessary, especially given that DS's poops are not hard marble-type poops nor are they diarrhea type (which could indicate a big poop mass blocking with liquid getting out around it).
However she did feel from the symptoms I described, his poop schedule (not every day, which she said would be what we want), and asking him questions, that he was definitely having some poop issues. So we are starting miralax (he's drinking his first dose with lunch as we speak!).
I took him to the store afterwards and let him pick out ANY juice he wanted (we don't normally drink juice at all outside of the occasional juice box at a birthday party). I mixed it in and he is drinking it with no problems. We are doing 3/4 capful a day and seeing how that works. If she feels he needs more help we can move on to a more aggressive treatment (enema) next.
I feel satisfied with her reception to my concerns, though she wasn't terribly interested in the actual article's findings and didn't seem convinced at all that there was a major connection between DS's (or even in the general child population) inability to stay dry and constipation. However she said she would be more concerned if he had been dry for a period of time and then suddenly was wet. In my DS's case he has NEVER been dry except 1 night, in his entire life. She feels in his case it is maturity combined with very deep sleeping.
We'll see!