If you have a child who soaks the bed in the night, just put a rubber sheet on to protect the mattress. Then add another sheet and then another rubber sheet, and finally another sheet on top of that. That way if the child wets the bed, all you have to do is tear the top sheets off and clean it in the morning. You are not making the bed at 2:00 AM.
By coville123 from Brockville, Ontario
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
My 27 month old boy stopped wetting the bed when he turned 24 months, but all of a sudden he started peeing on himself during the day and wetting the bed. What might be the problem?
Baby potty training.
Step 1
I would switch to pull ups.
Step 2
Do not give up, reward him with a special treat when he uses the potty.Also if he is dry in the morning.
Step 3
Praise him up when he goes in the potty and when he is dry in the morning.
Step 4
Tell him he will get a treat only if he pees in the pot.
Step 5
You have to make him interested in the training process again.
Step 6
I always started at 2 every child is different.
Step 7
My son was 4 before he stopped having accidents.
My son is now 7 and we are having a hard time with the bed wetting. I will take his drinks away at 6 PM and wake him up to let him go to the restroom but he still happens wets his bed. He has been prescribed medicine and it isn't working either. I am just tired of doing laundry every morning before I go to work, and it is bothering his mental well being as well. Please help!
your son will more than likely grow out of this. for the meantime get him some goodnites. (pullup diapers for big kids). let him take care of using them and throwing them away in the morning himself.
Take him to the Dr. They have a pill that will strengthen his bladder. We only needed it for a short time and it was cured.
I think you should be sure to have him checked by a doctor. I'm worried that the bedwetting isnt the problem, but rather a symptom of another problem. It might be an emotional problem. Please do not belittle the child for something he cannot help.
Bedwetting is something that simply takes time to outgrow. We had one son who required GoodNites till age 12. Even then there was often bedding to wash. We used a zippered plastic mattress cover and bought inexpensive mattresses when necessary. Teach him to do the laundry. Just as he would be taught to clean up anything else he spilled, etc., treat this very matter-of-factly as well.
I was governness to a six yr old girl who had a problem bedwetting. This was before the pullups and goodnight bigger size diapers.
She had a bladder problem. She was treated medically, and in the year I was there, her 'accidents' were less often, and finally gone. Sometimes thier bladders just do not grow as fast as they do.
Just try to be patient. Do not get mad at him, as I am sure it is not something he enjoys doing, as it is out of his control. Just treat it as a matter of fact. Oh, okay, let's wash those sheets straight away and clean up the mess if any.
My son is 28 years old now & when he was a boy he too had a bed wetting issue every night. I had to use really thick underwear & plastic pants back then but please do not get angry. This is something he will outgrow when his kidneys & bladder mature.
Our daughter is almost 8 and still can't stay dry at night. No problems during the day. She did train late tho at 4. Anyway, she is small for her age and a pull-up still fits her so she wears one every night. She doesn't mind at all. Sure, I'd like to quit buying them but I really don't want to strip a peeped up bed every day and wash bedding. There are some "diapers" for bigger kids called "Goodnights"....suppose to look and feel like underwear. I have not mentioned any of this to our daughter's pediatrician yet. I figured she would outgrow it and I don't want drugs or surgery to be suggested. Sometimes she's dry so eventually I'm sure she will be dry every morning. Children's bodies mature at different rates.
I would suggest taking him to the Dr. My aunt, my stepbrother and I all had trouble with bedwetting when we were young. During each of our childhoods we were all diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. There may be a connection your child. Mention it to your Dr. and have him check all possible causes. Remember this is very embarrassing for him, so please do not get angry when it does happen.
PLEASE hear me out! Take him to a chiropractor. My son was wetting at least 3 times each night for most of his first 6 years; I did not want him on a prescription to "calm" him down as my husband's dr. had prescribed for him as a child. I considered therapy for him as his dad and I were divorcing when he was 5. But a casual conversation w/a girlfriend whose husband is a chiropractor led me to our solution!
One treatment/adjustment and my son was dry ALL night for the next 27 DAYS. It couldn't hurt to explore this option, and may just be the answer for you, too!
I would hate to have your son "suffer" w/this condition needlessly for years - we all know it's embarrassing and humiliating for the child.
Good luck
I have babysat at nights for a lot of children and so many of them wear Goodnites. Bedwetting is very common. It is just that parents do not talk about it. Let your son wear them so you don't give yourself all the laundry. I can remember my sister, myself, and one of my daughters, all having problems as children.
I also agree with going to the Chiropractor. However if that does not work. Go to the Dr. and ask about the "Potty pager" I don't know if they still have them or something similar. My son is 19 now and had a problem for a long time at night only. The "pager" would wake him as soon as his underwear got a little wet. After 3 nights he was practically dry. He was sleeping too soundly. The "pager" reminded him he needed to get up at a certain time to go to the bathroom. Good Luck!
As a mom of 5 I had 3, 2 girls and a boy that wet their beds until the age of 9 or 10. I made sure that they were checked out by the doctor and the I used thick underwear and plastic pants. Worked well for me.
I have four kids who wet the bed 3 boys ages 14, 12, 11 and a girl 9. all of them wear goodnites and plastic pants under their pajamas and it has helped alot I suggest it to all parents of bedwetters!
I'm for the Goodnights for over nights and hectic weeks when washing every night is out of the question. I have a 7yr old that wets as well. He has a plastic mattress cover on a mattress that was GIVEN to us....so cheap mattress is a good way to go. He wears protection occassionally and is definitely responsible for washing his bedding without humiliation or punishment. It's just a way of life for now and eventually he will grow out of it. Oh! .... and he's a big fan of fabreeze for that smell in the room if he lingers on Sat & Sun mornings without cleaning himself up.
He'll grow out of it when his body is ready. I've got a bedwetter, also, and have talked with MANY moms
who have grown kids who were bedwetters. It's just a physical development thing, very common and they will usually be done between the ages of 9-15! Hope that helps--we just use Goodnites and I rarely have to do laundry for wet sheets. No shame in that!
Hello! My heart goes out to you and your child. I understand the frustration you are going through, as i have a child who wet the bed nightly (often several times) until he was 8 years old. We solved his bed wetting by using an alarm. The bed wetting alarm took about 2 months of patient use but has given us years of dry nights.
The book that really helped me was, Seven Steps to Nighttime Dryness, by Renee Mercer. I urge all parents dealing with a child's bed wetting to read it. My child absolutely loved the children's book, Prince Bravery and Grace - Attack of the Wet Knights by Gail Ann Gross. It is the story of a young prince who struggles with "the Wet Knights" and eventually defeats them by using an alarm. It's funny yet empathetic and gave him the understanding and motivation to end the bedwetting. www.braveryandgrace.com has lots of positive information about solving bed wetting. Invest in the books-they make the process so much easier, then an alarm -its the best decision I ever made. Let me know if you have other questions. I wish you the best!
I am the mom of a bed wetting 14 year old daughter. She has weak bladder muscles due to the state of depression she was in 2 years ago after dad died from a heart attack. I use a thick cloth diaper and rubber pants on her a night. She broke out in rashes from disposables. The cloth diaper and rubber pants work well for her. She is a very girly girl and I sometimes put the diaper and rubber pants on her for special occasions. She wears them every Easter under her cute Easter dress.
My son was 6 years old and still wetting the bed at night. The laundry was killing me and I could see the wetting was starting to eat away at his self confidence. I took the kid to the doctor's office in hopes of getting a prescription that I had seen on a TV commercial. My doctor had a better solution, one that was free, easy, and no pills with possible side effects were required. It worked the first night and we never had another accident!
The doctor simply told my son to "practice" and train the muscle that would "hold it" while he was asleep at night. He asked my son to simply stop and start his flow of urine a few times a day when he was going potty. Start to pee, stop, start again, stop again, then finish. Doctor said that kids grow faster than every part of their bodies can keep up with.
This simple muscle training exercise literally worked the first time and we never had another problem. It was so easy to do, I thought the poor doctor had lost his mind and was sure it would never work. I figured we'd humor him and then be back in a few weeks for the prescription we came in for in the first place. Ha! I wish I had a way to shout this solution from the roof tops, as so many kids wake up each morning and, as soon as they realize their bed is wet, immediately feel bad about themselves and that they are somehow bad and need to feel ashamed and embarrassed. Forget all that. Just practice keeping that valve turned off so that your brain will know to keep it turned off while you sleep. Poof! Dry mornings!
Although many young children wet their beds, most stop by the time they are 4 or 5 years old. Bed-wetting that persists can lead to embarrassment and teasing by peers. If your child is 6 or 7 and still can't stay dry through the night, you should consider speaking to a doctor about bed-wetting treatment. One treatment that helps many children is a bed-wetting alarm.
My son is about to be 7 and has wet the bed on average of about 3 times a week all of his life. We have tried EVERYTHING. The only thing we haven't yet tried is prescription meds. That would be my last resort. I don't know anything about them and was wondering if any parents here have any experience with them?
Oh goodness... one of my older sons went thru this til he was around that age. The doctor told me it was worse because he is a boy. For some reason boys are more apt to do this til older. Anyhow, we finally figured out if we stopped all liquids at 6 in the evening, and would make him go to the bathroom several times before bedtime, it would work. Now it took us a couple of months to get it down pat, but it worked. Only every once in a while after that would he wet the bed. But I was finally able to remove the padding... that washing it constantly was so tiring!
Let me know if this helps.
I was like you and would do anything but medication, especially when the doctors couldnt find nothing medically wrong.
~kathy
My younger brother wet his bed all the way through high school. It affected his self esteem and he never, ever had sleep overs like other kids. His problem was that he was such a sound sleeper he just never woke up. My mom used to get him up every night and had to walk him to the bathroom and tell him to do his business; he never actually was awake for the whole process and one time peed on the wall while my mother stood there yelling at him to stop. Now that he is an adult (he no longer bed-wets) he sleepwalks and has been caught by his wife going to the bathroom off the back porch, and once in their closet! I think doctors tell parents that their children will grow out of it, but a lot of them just do not. I have seen commercials on television for undergarments for children, so you are definately not alone in your problem!! Good luck to you and your son, I hope you find something that works for the both of you.
Hi, My daughter wet the bed when she was small and of course couldn't have friends over or go to their house. This happened with my husband when he was small and also one of my brothers. We didn't want her to go through what they did so we purchase a Bed wetting alarm. The one we had was wonderful. I believe it was called the "Wee Alert". Anwyay the way it worked was a mesh wire (which looked like a window screen) the size of a pillowcase was attached to a battery and slid into a pillowcase (for comfort). The alarm was turned on and at the first drop of moisture to hit the screen made an alarm go off. Your job at that time is to get up and get your child up and they MUST turn off the alarm themselves, go straight to the bathroom and wash their face with a cool cloth to get woke completely up and then go to the restroom. Once done they have to change out the pillowcase themselves and reset the alarm. At first this goes on several times a night. But, within 2 months she was no longer a bedwetter. It was well worth the money spent on it. I gave you the details because I know there are several on the market and I know this kind worked. Good luck if you try this route. Her problem was not medical it is just some children sleep such a deep sleep they can't train themselves to wake up. This item took care of that problem. Hope this is of help. Sharon
I experienced this with both of my daughters. First of all, make sure your little boy knows he is not the only one, and buy him the "good nights" NOW. No one needs to be dealing with a wet bed, not you and not him. They work like underwear and don't show under jammies. (My kids even took them to sleep overs and to camp! We devised several methods for being discreet about them, and I don't think their friends ever knew! I also did NOT tell the people at camp; I felt like it was something the girls managaged on their own, so why bring anyone else into it?)
We tried several medications, with no success. We also tried waiting it out, as we'd been told puberty would take care of it. Well, number one hit puberty and still was not dry.
What finally worked for us was the kind of alarm that goes inside the underpants (or Good Nights) and the little "box" part pins to the jammies.
My younger daughter decided to try it first, and was dry in about a week. The older one took about a month, but her problem was more severe. But it did work and was worth every penny.
I did not get up with them with the alarm. Since they had the Good Nights on, I didn't feel the need. It might have taken a bit longer the first few times; but they managed without a problem. My reasoning for not getting up with them was primarily that I wanted them to understand that I knew the problem was "medical" and not behavioral; and that I trusted them to learn this new way to deal with it as I had always trusted them to deal with it.
By the way, number 1 had never, ever been dry through the night; but number 2 had been, and then began to wet again--which is not uncommon; nor is it behavioral. They can't help it.
My view was that it was like any ongoing medical problem--except that ours would eventually get better! So I saw that part as a true blessing!
Hallo. have you had your son checked out by a chiropractor?
joints that are not properly aligned can put pressure on the muscles in groin area. I find it hard to explain as I am not a chiropractor, but I seen amazing results with my own kids.
and much better than medication, good luck
I would definitely take him to the pediatric urologist as another person has suggested.. And follow through with that doctor's advice... Also, I'd ask that doctor if he/she thought it might be emotional or not. I think sometimes kids that have a lot of stress in their lives have such problems.. If it were my child, I'd definitely want to get to the root of it. Best of luck
We used an alarm on one of our 3 daughters (search thrifty fun under potty training for the full story of that). Anyway, we bought the cheapo alarm on ebay (you'll see them, they sell a ton). It's cheaply made but it worked & was only around $20. The more expensive alarms are around $100.
Our daughter will be 8 in May and she sleeps in a pull-up....we do not make an issue of it and she doesn't seem bothered by it. Every now and then the pull up is dry but most mornings it is wet! She does fine in the daytime but was late to train. I haven't mentioned to the Dr yet as I really wasn't interested in medication or surgery. I'm sure she will grow out of it in time. Sure I'd like to quit buying the pull ups but better to spend the money on those than wash sheets and change bed daily!
Wow, it really is a problem! I think it is an inherited problem. Four out of my husband's five kids had this problem. The pull ups work well, but you have to make sure they go right out in the trash. We have never found out what the cause of the problem is. It does help to restrict fluid intake after 6pm. But, the medications that are out now work very well, I totally empathize with anyone that has this problem! Please have patience and love! This too shall pass!
WE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WHEN OUR DAUGHTER WAS LITTLE. WE TRIED TO TAKE AWAY DRINKS EARLY IN THE EVENING, WOKE HER UP AT MIDNIGHT,EVERYTHING. SHE STILL WOKE UP SOAKED IN THE MORNING. AT AGE 5 THE DR PUT HER ON MEDICINE AND SHE STOPPED. SEEMS SHE SLEPT SO DEEP AND HER BODY WOULDN'T WAKE UP .
I know you won't believe this, but try a chiropractor! My son, now 17, wet the bed 3-5 times per night, every night, for years. His father & I were divorcing, he was 4-5, and I was ready to put him in counselling to help - I did not want him on medications! Our friend, a chiropractor, asked to see him when the topic came up over dinner one night.
My son was a forceps delivery - which may have pulled him out of alignment - anyway, I do not understand HOW, but after ONE ADJUSTMENT, my son went from 3-5 times soaking bed at night to 28 days without even one accident.
It's definitely worth a try before medicating the little darling!
Hi Jo,
I have a teenage daughter on some heavy medication for other ailments that make her incontinent at night. She takes Desmopressin (which is generic for DDAVP and don't ask me what that stands for!) It is a mild diuretic and works like a charm.
However, I would recommend trying a homeopathic doctor for this problem. My daughter has had terrible nausea, and the homeopathic doctor gave her little pellets of hellebore to take and it's completely cured her. I'm going to have him prescribe something for the incontinence, too, and see what he comes up with.
Good luck!
Nancy from Pennsylvania
You'll find that for almost every single kid who wets the bed it is NOT a medical problem, it is merely a sleep problem. Our son wet the bed for years, and we discovered that when he sleeps he falls into such a deep sleep that he cannot wake up enough to hear his body telling him that is is about to pee. We paid a fortune for a consultant and large pad that would sound when the pad got wet. He had to wake up and change his sheets etc. It was such a waste of money. A friend gave us an alarm that is attached by velcro onto the undies, so that the very first drop sets it off. The other end of the alarm is velcroed to his t-shirt, so it buzzes right into his ear!
We were watching a movie the first night it went on, and heard this yelp from his room ... HUH??? It was hilarious. He was in a daze, so I told him he needed to pee. It only went off once more after that, and the alarm taught him to wake up as soon as the pee muscle was about to go into action.
Don't bother restricting fluids, don't bother with pills, don't bother with counseling, just get el cheapo alarm and watch the magic happen.
Michael Landen used to wet his bed. His mean mother would hang his sheets out the window for all to see thinking that would stop him. He used to run home every day to get them in before the other kids could see. Later he ran in the Olympics! I had two kids who did it every night. Changed their sheets every day for years I thought of him every day. My ex-husband did it until he was 13. I just figured they inherited it from him. Seems like the timer would work I wish I knew about it when my kids were little. I don't think I would take him to the dr. I would call the dr. if they want to see him I would take him. But taking him might upset him.
One of my sons had a wetting problem also. We went to a urologist. He asked if my son drank tea. He did. The doctor said he could have all the tea he wanted, before noon. He explained that for ever cup of tea you drank, you pee a cup and a half.
it could be possible that your child is a type#1 diabetic! it 's a simple blood test ! please have him tested. i have a friend whose daughter started wetting the bed for no good reason & after testing they found out she had diabetes. i hope not but you need to have him tested!
The best way to keep from wetting the bed is to make sure to empty your bladder before going to bed. Make it a habit to stay awake until you use the bathroom.
My 10 year old daughter has wet the bed for years. Nothing is medically wrong. I have found this is common, so she wears Goodnights to bed, but in the AM she'll lay in bed, wide awake and wet her pull-up until it runs out onto the bed. I ask her "why", she says she doesn't know why. I have, in the past, been very patient and understanding, but today I lost it. I made her wear the nasty wet pull-up around the house for punishment.
What is up with this? Is it a fetish? Is she mentally ill? I have lost my mind. I told her if she does it again she will have to wear it to school and I will tell all her friends. The parent in me knows this is not the right approach, but I am at the end of the road here. What else is there to try?I wet the bed until I was twelve, and my older sister until she was almost sixteen. My three younger sisters wet the bed up until around age ten; my brother until about age six. Both of our parents were late bedwetters as well.
All of us were healthy, and the cause for the bedwetting was never determined. My mother did not shame us, though sometimes we could see and feel her frustration and despair (it was a LOT of bedwetters wetting at the same time--for years!)
How is your daughter doing now? It is five years since you have posted about her problem. I hope you made amends with her. Mothers can do so much permanent damage to their children and to their relationship with them if they don't have the important things in mature perceptive.
My 9 year old has been wetting the bed the last couple years off and on. He is healthy and happy and there's no rhyme or reason to it. I never shame him, he feels bad enough about it himself! I put an old shower curtain under his bedding to protect his mattress and do a lot of laundry. Just part and parcel of being a mom!
Best wishes to you and know you are not alone and she will outgrow it eventually.
I have a son who just turned 5 year old who still wets the bed almost every night. We currently put him in Pull-ups, but he often makes so much pee that it even leaks out of the diaper onto his clothes, sheets, blanket, etc.
It requires a trip to the doctor. It sounds like the sphincter to the urethra is not fully devolved.
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My 10 year old daughter has wet the bed for years. Nothing is medically wrong. I have found this is common, so she wears Goodnights to bed, but in the AM she'll lay in bed, wide awake and wet her pull-up until it runs out onto the bed.
I have a son who just turned 5 year old who still wets the bed almost every night.
