Re: bed wetting
anonymous

Question:
 

Im running out of ways to handle my step sons bed wetting problem. It wouldn't be such a problem for me if he was around 6 yo. But he is almost 11 now. I have a new born

baby and enough on my plate as it is, but when he wets the bed, it is more work for me to do. My husband (who works night shifts) tells me to get him up at about 4am and it wont happen, but this just makes me even angier as i am constantly up and down tending to my new baby and any extra sleep at the moment is a god send. When he wets the bed, he wont tell us most the time, not because he is embarrased, but because it is his responsibility to wash his own soiled bed sheets, so if we dont cheack the bed, he will go nights on end is pee soaked linen.

We do all the right things like limit his drinks after 4 pm, make him go to the toilet before bed and i get him up again before i go to bed, yet it keeps happening.

SO three questions: 1, any ideas on how to stop his bed wetting? 2,could there be any type of medical condition that somehow doesnt link a full bladder to his brain, 3 how do i stop stressing so much when i cant even get 15 mins to my self!?

My Advice:

I have a 6.5 year old son who wets every single night. He starts from 30mins going to sleep to all through the night. I got sick and tired of cleaning his sheets and blankets every single day so I finally went and saw my GP who refered me to my Peadi who refered me to a urologist. I saw her last week and we now have a mat and alarm on the bed.

Even with out the alarm you can still train your child to go to the loo.

Firstly you have to either limit the fluid r increase the fluid your child drinks. for a average child (acording to the lady we sw at he hospital) they should drink 1.2L of water a day. So we have a 1.25L bottle that we fill every day and our son drinks that. He has 2 drinks of milk on top of this as well. This water should be drunk mostly in the first art of the day, about 3pm. and then the rest with dinner. They should also just before bed have 100ml of water or milk then brush their teeth.

The child should also have a bed time ritual, ie shwer, drink, teeth, loo, story, bed. This will help their brain compute that it is bed time and it has to wake the body up when the bladder is full. This will not happen over night nd some kids need extra treatment with the mat and medication if the mat fails.

With the mat, basicly it is a large rubber mat like a door mat that is plugged into a box that has a alarm once wet. The child has to get up, turn the alarm off, go to the loo, wipe the mat down and put a new sheet on the matt and change their clothes, put them into a bucket and go back to bed after turning the machine back on. We have had the mat a week and I have woken once and so has my hubby. My daughter who's bed is adjacent to my son hasnt woken up. It is important that you do not help your child do this unless they are under duress. most kids can cope with the task.

There are a few things you must not do with a bed wetter
Never scold them or make them feel bad for what they have done as this lowers their self esteme and can make the problem worse.

Always incourage good behavour, WOW that isgreat only NON WET once.

We have to refrain from using words like Wet, acciedent. You use Dry and Non Dry. a wet bed is called a "Slacko" because your brain didnt register.

For the first few nights if you canget your child to go tot he loo, walk to bed, sit on bed nd walk to the loo again sit there and repat 6 times (for 3 nights) this will help the brain register what it needs to do.

Dont wake your child before you go to bed. This is called lifing and doesn not help the brain work out what it needs to do.

It is up to you if you us pull up/dry nights. I personally dont ike them, but if you have a mat they are not to be used.

You can buy the small alarms that hook onto you PJ's and the sensor end is in the childs pants on ebay for about $30 or the mat from the hospital will set you back $10 a week depending on your income.

In couraging your chld to clean up after themself is a great idea too. it means that if they have become "lazy" that they will start to realisewhat they have to do. We have to get our son to do his sheets every morning before school (with a little help as he is so young)

Good luck

*This info s from my experience and the hospital appointment we had with our son*