My son is 8 years old going on 9 and still has bed-wetting accidents. Any advice...

Sandra - posted on 03/26/2009

here here. i tota;;y agree with pull ups. my son is 10 and still wets at night. life is stressful enough without haven to battle with wet bed sheets every morning. we know they are going to grow out of it we just have to be patient and let nature take its course

Wendee - posted on 03/26/2009

Hi Pamela :) 

My son is 8 - nearly 9 (july) and still has accidents.  However, he also has AD/HD... which means that he can do some things about 1/3 behind his  peers.  That said, my son is still in pull-ups at night.  He'll outgrow it in awhile... and while it's inconvenient, smelly, and embarassing for my son when he wants to spend the night somewhere, we can deal with it by sending him with a zip-loc bag for his used pull-up when at a friend's house.  Fortunately, the two friends he has become close with don't care that he uses a pull-up - one of them uses one as well.  I struggled with putting my son in a pull-up - thinking that he wouldn't connect his nighttime accidents with the urge to pee in the middle of the night... but I'll be honest - I'm not up for changing sheets in the middle of the night and getting my son back to sleep.  the struggle just isn't a battle I'm willing to pick at this time.  my daughters self-trained and haven't had accidents at night since they were 2 or 3.  Strange how that happens.

I'll also affirm the advice of others - make sure there's not something physical going on before taking a breather and relaxing about it. :)

Debbie - posted on 03/26/2009

Have you had him checked out by a urologist? My oldest son had a problem with bedwetting until he was about 5. After a series of tests, they determined that he wasn't able to "feel" like his bladder was full, because his urethra was very narrow, so he didn't know when he had to go. Also, I was finding that he was cold at night sleeping. He was a kid who tossed the covers off of himself throughout the night, and his back and kidneys were exposed to the cool night air, causing him to want to pee more. He did outgrow it, so I would just hang in there. Good luck.

Trish - posted on 03/26/2009

Bed wetting is smelly, inconvenient and just plain unpleasant. Here's the good news: As long as you make sure your child doesn't have kidney troubles, or some other physical problem, if you're patient, it will go away. Both of my kids had quite a bout with soaked sheets, but they're teenagers now - and over it. :-) Keep a plastic sheet over the mattress, clean sheets on hand, and relax as much as possible. This too shall pass. Promise.

Sherry - posted on 03/26/2009

My pediatrician told me it was common, He said as the child grows their bladder doesn't always grow with them and takes a little longer to catch up. He suggested the obvious (cutting out drinks an hour or 2 before bedtime), but also added something else that I hadn't heard of - feed them salty snacks, such as potato chips or saltimes. The salt with make them feel thirsty and when you are thristy you body wants to retain water and not eliminate it. Seemed to help reduce our night time addicents. Our accidents because less and less frequent and finally stopped around the age of 12 for my son, much earlier for my daughter.

Karen - posted on 03/25/2009

Hi Pamela .. it is very possible and a chiro visit can often help if something is out of alignment .. Our now 13 year old had that problem until he was about that age .. only at night time. It will likely pass very quickly .. overnight literally .. some boys have harder times waking themselves to go to the bathroom at night time .. we tried not to make too much of an issue of it .. it didn't seem to matter whether he drank in the evening or not.

Teresa - posted on 03/25/2009

I always worried about that and my childs doctor alway said that kids do things at different ages.  It was just like it stopped one day.  As a teacher it is just like a group of students, some come in the room the first day and soar and the others take a while longer but it does happen. 

Kim - posted on 03/25/2009

I don't know if helps, but my son who will be 7 on 4-4 still wets the bed. I found out from his doctor that he is such a hard sleeper that he just doesn't wake up, no matter what. I've tried the monitors that set off alarms when he starts to wet. Scared him half to death the first time. I don't think it really worked, but not sure as it was lost when we went on vacation. We put him in Pull Ups to sleep in instead of changing sheets every day. I still have the protectors on the bed.
Kim

Rhea - posted on 03/25/2009

I used to wake my daughter and bring her to the bathroom before I went to bed. She outgrew it by about 9. Inthe meantime use waterproof mattresspads and keep lots of extra sheets onhand! hang in there!

Julie - posted on 03/25/2009

I have 4 children 2 were great at training 2 not. My daughter who is 8 still has accidents now due to a bladder complaint and attends a clinic. Back pain could also be confused with kidney pain due to infections, if you are at all concerned get him checked with your doctor it wont do any harm and it will put your mind at rest. All the best with it, it can be so hard and frustrating for you and them.

Marilyn - posted on 03/25/2009

I had 4 bedwetters and never did find an answer. But after the fact I have heard sometimes chiropracters help, also I have heard that sometimes on little boys their urethera tube can be kinked making it hard to control the bladder functions. It's hard to know. My children wet the bed until they were teens:( but they are adults now and fine. So it does go away sooner or later, some sooner than later.