Nighttime Bedwetting Help

[sste]

So DS is 6.5 still wetting the bed at night and it seems to be worsening rather than improving. At this point between his sheer volume of pee and the boy factor we are having to wash every scrap of bedding 2-3 times per week.

We no longer use night time dipes on the thought it might be encouraging the bedwetting. I am willing to go back to dipes though at this point.

We tried the "chummie" monitor. It worked beautifully the first go around and he stopped bedwetting for a month. But then restarted. Now using it again does not seem to be working for him, he is wetting with it on. And the darn thing goes off sometimes when there is no wetting.

We have never, ever gotten mad or visibly upset but it is very hard here -- esp with reflux from baby DD, we are literally awash in bodily fluids. DS is sometimes very upset about it; often he doesn't seem to realize/admit it is pee and will tell us "he got sweaty" or once "I was doused." DS there is no third party dousing you in the middle of the night!

Any ideas?

[WatchingThemGrow]

Is the chummie monitor similar to the malem?

[sste]

I think it may be different?? The chummie has a flat sensor and little tape pieces. You tape it to the front of the kid's underpants.

http://www.amazon.com/Chummie-Bedwet...ywords=chummie

[WatchingThemGrow]

Do you think the sensor has gone bad? Could you call the company and ask them to send you a new sensor if it is going off without being wet? Seems like that may be the most frustrating part, well, along with a refluxy baby!

[sste]

I have called and they just say it needs to be washed very carefully everyday. We try but it does seem very quick on the trigger still. Hard to tell because maybe it is detecting drops of urine?

[wendibird22]

No experience with the Chummie but had great success with the Malem. I remember the Malem instructions saying to start using it again if night wetting starts to re-occur and I recall doing that once or twice after the initial "discontinue use after 2 solid weeks of dryness" and it working with just 1 or 2 "reminder" days.

I think the sensors are made to be highly sensitive so yes, it could be reacting to just a drop or two of urine in order to trigger your DS to wake up when that feeling happens. Maybe if it's going off with a drop or two and your DS isn't visibly wet that's a good sign that he's holding it?

[essnce629]

DS1 wet the bed regularly till he was almost 9. He peed through two audible/vibration alarms (Nighthawk) and rusted them out. They didn't work for him. He's such a deep sleeper it would just take him forever to wake up.

What finally worked for us was this bedwetting hypnosis cd:
http://www.amazon.com/Morning-Contro...dp/1905557175/

When we first got it he was wetting the bed 2-3 times a week. After day 2 of listening to the cd he wet the bed again and then stayed dry for an entire YEAR!!!! He's now almost 11 and still listens to the cd nightly. He has wet the bed a handful of times over the past 2 years, but I'm talking about 5 times or less. I read somewhere that sleeping in briefs puts pressure on the bladder so he switched to not wearing any underwear at all (at night) years ago. Also, I read that kids who wet the bed have constipation issues and that makes bedwetting more frequent. DS1 didn't seem to have any issues, but I started giving him 3 prunes a day anyways, and that definitely cut down on the accidents.

So my advice would be to make sure there's no constipation issues and try the cd!

[sste]

thanks everyone! I am going to try the cd plus more consistent chummie usage and if not switch to the other monitor mentioned. Thank you again for the ideas to stem the flood of urine pervading my life!!!

[pastrygirl]

This might not help as my son is only (almost) 5, but Underjams are the only thing that contain the pee. Just barely, though. I would think about putting in a disposable Flip diaper insert as well if it ever comes to that. I don't like changing sheets at night! But ugh, the expense! I wet my bed for many years, so I expect my son will, too. (I used to pray so hard at night before bed that I wouldn't wet the bed. I feel like I could've sweat blood with the fervor of my prayers...)

[Sweetum]

I have heard that magnesium supplement helps with that. It might be due to what latiq said about constipation.