Experience with older child bed-wetting?

[Fairy]

Hello! I wonder if anyone has older children that may have had a problem my friend is experiencing. she has an 8-year-old who has been consistently wetting the bed at night her whole life. She has no problem during the day, but at night, she cannot seem to go a dry night. They've tried everything from regular underwear at night and the DD dealing with the bedwetting when she wakes up to giving up and doing the pull-ups and plastic sheet thing. Short of a urologist, they've tried everything. Her ped says this just is no big deal and to stop worrying about it, she'll grow out of it. But the grandmother wants her to go to a urologist. Again, there are no problems of any kind during the day, it's just overnight. If anyone has any thoughts, I'd appreicate it, and I'll pass them on to my friend. Thanks so much!

[JBaxter]

Honestly I would talk to her ped again if its becoming a problme for your DD. She is getting to an age she will want overnights or slumber parties and I am sure a good night would make her uncomfortable.
If she do go the urologist route make sure its a pediatric urologist. Maybe they can give some insite into why Honestly at 8 I would be taking my child to at least see if there is a medical issue involved.

[jermak]

My daughter did this until she was about 6 1/2 and then it just stopped. She wore pull ups, and we didn't make a big deal out of it. Our dr. also told us not to worry about it. If she's like my daughter, she's a very heavy sleeper and not even aware she has to go while sleeping. We took our daughter to a ped. urologist b/c she was also having daytime accients b/c her bladder and brain just weren't communicating. they had some really great advice. I'd at least call a pediatric urologist and talk with them! Good luck

[noahcraigsmom]

I had this problem as a child and my parents took me to a urologist - I think I was around 7 years old. I didn't have any daytime problems either. The determination was made that my bladder was too small for my age. The urologist set up a program that when I needed to go to the bathroom, I had to hold for a specified amount of time (5-10 minutes) to help stretch my bladder. It took care of most of the problem, but I still did have occaisional overnight wetting problems almost until I was a teenager.

I have no idea what they typically do these days, since this was in the late 70's, but I think it's a good idea to check with the urologist - there could very well be a physical problem.

Kris