Need Advice - bedwetting

[anonomom]

Wondering how y'all have dealt with this. DS, 6.5, still wets his bed at night. Occasionally, he'll rack up a dry night or two and sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to the bathroom, but more often than not he simply doesn't wake up.

We've had him in pull-ups, but have sporadically tried letting him wear underwear at night, only to give up when he has 3-4 wet nights in a row. We'd figured it doesn't do any of us any good to be up in the middle of the night changing clothes, and generally he only wakes up when he gets cold from being wet (so it's not like he feels the urge to pee and just chooses not to get up).

But now we're wondering if we're doing a disservice by putting him back in pull-ups. Is it better to keep letting him wet the bed, on the chance that eventually he'll start recognizing how it feels and wake up before he has an accident? Or are we still in that not-able-to-feel-it phase where there isn't a point to wearing underwear?

(We will be asking the pediatrician about this next month, but looking for in-the-moment BTDT.

[abh5e8]

Both of my boys finally had success using a malan alarm. It took a few weeks, but then totally dry. It's a huge pain in the you know what, as it's usually 2-3 times a night getting up with him, to help him to the bathroom and then into new undies + pull up. I have him wear undies with alarm attached covered by a pull-up, to prevent wet beds. It's not fun but like I said, effective.

[MSWR0319]

My son did not stay dry until at least 7. His brother who is 3 1/2 years younger was dry about 2 months after DS1 was finally dry somewhere between 7 and 7.5. The pediatrician was not worried at all and said if at 8 he was still wetting, then we would explore other options. DS wore under jams which were less baby-like than pull ups and he was ok with it, so I never put him in underwear because neither of us wanted to deal with a mess at night. We did have to treat constipation (he was going daily, but was backed up on an x-ray) along the way which did help some, but didn't fully stop the night wetting. It's something that all of a sudden he went a few nights dry, then fully stopped wetting. I did make sure he didn't have anything to drink an hour before bed and that he went to the bathroom immediately before he got into bed. I'm not sure if any of those things helped, as we'd been doing them all along. I really think his body just finally was mature enough to handle it and the constipation was gone and not pressing on his bladder.

[pastrygirl]

My 8yo is still in pull-ups. He was out of them for about 7 months last year, but regressed. I was a bed wetter until 3rd or 4th grade.

[twowhat?]

DD2 wasn't dry until well into her 8th year and it happened pretty suddenly. I was just about ready to pull the trigger on the Malem alarm and I'm glad I waited!! We just kept her in pull-ups until then. She preferred Pampers Underjams - they are softer, thinner, and more discrete (less noise for sleepovers).

[mmsmom]

He’s still young... most peds say give it until 8 years old. If it doesn’t bother him then put him back in pull ups or something like Underjams which are more “big kid”. You could do the Malem alarm but only if he wants to do it and even then I would wait until summer because it does disrupt sleep for a while. We had success with the alarm when DS was 7.5. He really wanted to do it because he had a younger sister that was dry at night.

[newmomto1]

My DD is 11 and is wet almost every night. And she does wear pull ups.
We have tried 3 different alarm systems, she has been to a specialist, and she has done physical therapy (pelvic floor strengthening). We have also treated for constipation. Nothing has helped and she just hates it :(
I posted here recently and I did get some feedback about enlarged tonsils / sleep apnea possibly playing a role.. To my knowledge she does not have these problems, but I do intend to discuss with the pediatrician at our next checkup. She would give anything to have this problem behind her!

[AngB]

DD2 wasn't dry until well into her 8th year and it happened pretty suddenly. I was just about ready to pull the trigger on the Malem alarm and I'm glad I waited!!

DS stopped wetting the bed all of a sudden as well. It was really mostly us cracking down and making sure he peed before bed (a lot of times he said he did but didn't really) and I think age/maturity. (He's still only 6 so I wasn't super concerned yet but it was hard not to be annoying, especially when our younger son stayed dry through the night regularly.)

[sariana]

Keep him in pull-ups. It's not a disservice to him; it's what he needs right now. It sounds as though he's just not ready, and putting him in underwear won't change that.

[pastrygirl]

The alarm was problematic for us because it scared the daylights out of my older (sensory) son. He would panic and not be able to sleep if he thought the alarm would go off. With the vibrating, too. He’s really, really anxious about nighttime noises. I had to let him sleep in the guest room during the months that we used the alarm. ETA: he can hear everything from my 8yo’s room...

[Mommy_Mea]

I know this thread is a little old, but wanted to add my recent experience. 6 yo DS was still wet at night and wearing Underjams and similar. He would ask from time to time to not wear "diapers", and would always wake up wet. We take him to pee when we go to bed, but he is too asleep and rarely goes. After a night or two, we would put him back in pullups.

He has been more persistent about it, and combined with not wanting to put more diapers in the landfill, and reading on here, decided to get him Hanna Unders. He was very excited about having "real" underwear at night.

Well, they aren't very adsorbent and he still woke up soaking wet. BUT, he was very insistent about continuing to wear them, and after weeks of changing sheets, one morning he was dry. And then another. And then one morning a little damp, but not soaking. And then dry again! Now it has only been about a week, but that is 6 days longer than we ever went before!

So the cold turkey approach might be worth a try if you aren't ready for the Malem alarm.

[wendibird22]

My DD1 wasn't consistently dry at night until about that age, maybe 7. We did the malem alarm during the summer before 1st grade and it worked great for her. She's a super sound sleeper...she'll sleep through anything...and just wouldn't wake up with the urge to go. The alarm waking her worked in about 4 weeks time. We chose to do it in the summertime to not have the night waking/alarm impact her sleep on school nights.