My soon to be 6yr old still wets the bed overnight? is this common? what to do?

Angela - posted on 12/05/2008

my son is 9 and still has accidents every few months which will last a few days then nothing for months.he is a very heavy sleeper but doesnt drink a lot anyway, i dont make an issue of it and hope he will eventually completely stop. As you say they are all different. my daughter was completly dry day and night by 2 and a half and has been since.my other son was 7 before he stopped having accidents.

Teresa - posted on 12/05/2008

Both of my boys have had that same problem 8yrs old I think when it slowed down. But still had occasional accidents. With my oldest I went to the doctor and got meds but then decided to to let him naturally outgrow it. It pretty common as you can see with all of the posts. You can go to the healthfood store there are some natural dissolving tablets that they can take to help. It works with some and not others but better than meds.

Debbie - posted on 12/04/2008

it might pay to check if he is really a heavy sleeper or if he is actually suffering from sleep apnea which lots of research studies o/seas suggest have sight effects of bed wetting, decreased weight for age, behavour issues etc. once the body grows to accomodate the tonsil this settles down hence bed wetting stops. I have one who is 10 and still wets the bed, one stopped the day he had his tonsils out at the age of 5.

Shannon - posted on 12/03/2008

This is very normal. Make sure you don't make a big deal about it b/c at age 6 a child is able to become self conscious.

Nadja - posted on 12/03/2008

my son is nearly 5 and still wears pull ups every night, and doesn't want to stop wearing them!! I'm going to try undies over the summer hols too. we have a small waterproof sheet that just goes over the top of your sheets so that if they have an accident you just take that off and don't have to change the whole bed.

Kelly - posted on 12/03/2008

It can be common for many of reasons, one could be that your soon to be six year old is a deep sleeper. There can be some things in his/her life that are stressful, and yes children do experience stress. A new school, family, move from their regular routine of activities. Has there been an addition to the family like a new baby? Sometimes children will regress in behaviors in which the see attention is gained. Another thought given by my sons Pediatric Nurse practitioner shared of course was the obvious consumption of fluids before bedtime. Also might I add another suspect to the bed wetting crime, CAFFEINE. It likes to hide especially in Chocolate items. So, although a cup of latte tea and hot choco may sound yummy before hittin the hay. Check those food and beverage labels for the Caffeine Caper.

Dawn - posted on 12/03/2008

Yes,it is considered a part of normal child developement. My 8 year old still wets the bed too from time to time. Some bladders take longer to mature than others.

Natasha - posted on 12/03/2008

It is different for every child, like the one lady said, everyone has there own experiences and know there own children the best. Monitor your kids routines, there are different situations for every family, from medical to physical to phycalogical, always check with your doctor. My daughters problems were also Medical so she was not trained until she was almost 3, But it had nothing to do with her bladder,she had diarreah all the time due to certain foods, I also know a 8 year girl that just started having bladder problems suddenly, and found out it was brain cancer, not to say that is your problem, just to say not eveything can have a different answer, she had other symptoms as well.

some things are simple to answer and some just take time what ever happens good luck and everything always turnes out for the best

Susan - posted on 12/03/2008

I learned with my daughter, now 7 years old, that sometimes their bladders are not big enough to hold all that pee throughout the night. So along with the pull-ups, I didn't let her drink anything at all past 2 hours before bed and had her go to the bathroom right before getting into bed. That has since went down to an hour before bed, but both my kids sleep through the night with no problems. I think they have each wet the bed maybe once or twice since coming out of pull-ups. (my daughter was 5 and my son, now 5 years, was 3 1/2)

Lisa - posted on 12/03/2008

You could take him to the chiropractor. If that doesn't help get him up in the middle of the night to go potty.

Nicole - posted on 12/03/2008

My son is 8 and still wets the bed every now and then. We have just really had to be strict on watching his fluids after dinner and making sure he goes to the bathroom right before he goes to bed. I think that some kids are just such heavy sleepers that the urge doesn't wake them up. I swear a bomb could go off and he wouldn't wake up. It should get better as they get older.

Barbara - posted on 12/03/2008

I actually had this problem when I was little and my parents started getting me up to go to the bathroom at night. I still get up two times every night. I think if you got that habit started it would work and not be embarrassing for your child.

Peggy - posted on 12/03/2008

yeah it is normal I know 8 year olds who wear goodnites kids bladders are small so sometimes they have a hard time holding it in and sometimes it is worse if the child is a boy.

Sally - posted on 12/03/2008

My son wet every night until he was 9 - when a pediatrician finally offered us an alarm system that would train him, and it worked! Within 2 weeks - and he has been dry ever since. My daughter is 6 and we've tried the alarm with her, but her body is just not ready yet... it all takes time, and for their bodies and minds to mature enough.

Nicola-Chris - posted on 12/03/2008

Its really nice to hear other peoples stories and to feel that people are going through and have been through what you are, its nice to have the reasurence that your child is actually fine, and that all children are different and some similar in little ways too!!!

Its not until you hear others with the same story that you realise its not just you!!!

Thanks guys!!!!

Elizabeth - posted on 12/03/2008

Just remember that every child is different. I know of a child that can do laundry and washes the sheets everyday because they still wet the bed at 10. I also know that a child can be completly trained before they are a year. It depends on how they sleep and the blader that they have. Talk to the doctor if you are really worried that something is wrong other than that go day to day and do not make your child feel like they have to hide it from you.

Natasha - posted on 12/03/2008

My son was trained fully at 18 months, But I did not use pull ups and switched to underwear right away. My daughter I got lazy and used pull ups and did not start untill she was 2, I found the pull ups only made the training take longer. I finally changed her to full time panties and after a week she has no more accidents and goes to the bathroom when she needs to, When she knew she had the pull ups on she would just pee in them anyways so she could sleep longer or play longer it did not mater if they were cool alert or not, My experience is to take away the pull ups, I just used one of those mats that can go under there sheet so they dont see it and it saves your mattress but she has never wet the bed scince I took pull ups away.

My kids are now 4 and almost 3 and fully trained, Its well worth it to deal with a few accedents and get rid of the dipers! Give your kids nothing but praise! Its a major acomplisment for them :)

User - posted on 12/03/2008

My son was a sophmore in high school before he quit totally around 15 yrs old. The smartest DR I had said he never saw any kid going to college who still wet the bed! Basically for some kids you can spend all the $ and try all the tricks and nothing works till the brain recognizes when they need to pee. he also told me not to change the sheets in the night that urine is sterile and to just stick a towel down and forget it! My son actually started taking over the problem and put his own towel down and or changed what ever. I finally gave in to this thinking (he was 10) and we were all happier and my kid never suffered any physiological problems over it either. This answer is for the parent who has tried everything to no avail!

Kelly - posted on 12/03/2008

My 8 yr old daughter sees a urologist for an overactive bladder and he says it is common up until 8 for kids to still not stay dry through the night. Just to add to what Rachel has said below

Nicola-Chris - posted on 12/03/2008

My son is 5 years and is the same, he wears a pull up and its proper wet in the morning!! I try to cut out drinking before bed, if i lift him when i go to bed he is too asleep to know to do anything, and i wonder to myself 'when do i begin to worry!!!!????'

Helen - posted on 12/03/2008

Two youngest children wet until I took them to a Chiropractor. I looked into getting a Chiropractor that dealt with children, my 2nd child wet until she was 4 and she for visits to Dr. regularly for 2 months - no wetting during and after. The youngest was also 4 and she wet every night too, but we had moved, I found a Doctor that said she'd only need one visit, and that's all it took. My collegue at work had a daugther who was 8 and she took her to him too and it was only one visit for her as well. Find a Doctor that knows how to treat this problem, it's a matter of them checking something against their spine so the child will be able to feel when they're blatter is full... even when if they're asleep, so they can wake up to it.

Nicki - posted on 12/03/2008

Well my neighbor has a child that had when they were younger had an under developed bladder. This is not a forever thing. Just means their bladder had to play catch up with the rest of their body. You can go see a doctor about it. probably isn't it but doesn't hurt to check it out.

Aimee - posted on 12/03/2008

My son is now 10... he wet the bed until he was 8 or so. The pediatric urologist would not even see him until then because it is not considered a "problem" until age 8-9 because the bladder muscles aren't fully developed until that age, especially with boys. If he is a heavy sleeper, then that will also account for part of it. My son is also a heavy sleeper.

One thing we did with my son is have him wear a pull-up over the top of his regular underwear, that way there was still a consequence if he peed, but not a mess to clean up. And he could clean it up himself. (That's actually the only way I ever used pull-ups!)

Try limiting what he has to drink for 2-3 hours before he goes to bed, make sure he goes to the bathroom right before you put him to bed and then wake him up and make him go again before you go to bed. This was a huge help to my son (and most of the time he wouldn't even remember the next morning that we had woken him up to use the potty because he was such a sound sleeper.)

So, yes, it is common, it's not a big deal and those are some things that helped us.

Also, if you are really concerned about it, you can buy underwear that will make a loud alarm go off if your son starts to pee in it. But if it is still developing bladder issue, it won't help much at this point.

Hope that helps! :-)

Anna - posted on 12/03/2008

I am so glad to her other moms are having the same issue. Our four year old has been potty trained only for a 1 1/2. It was so had to get her to go to the bathroom. She was doing great until two months ago, and started to wet herself and would try to hide it from us. I mean it wasnt at bed it was during the day to. So we have to keep on her and on her to go. And we dont let her have a drink before iot is time for bed.

Jen - posted on 12/03/2008

My son is now 8 and he wet the bed till he was almost 7yrs old as to the question is it normal I think for boys it's more common then not it also depends if he is a heavy sleeper and or has aweak bladder you may have to cut back on his drinks befor bend and maybe wake him up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

Good luck

Louise - posted on 12/03/2008

I had the same problem with my daughter. Took her to dr's and all sorts of specialist, one gp told me she was just naughty ... had brain scans done, paid a lot of money for pills to drink, and then one day I got to a specialist that told me nothing really works and we just need to wait she'll outgrow it.

I also stop her from drinking sweet drinks after 3 in the afternoon and make sure she take most of her liquids early in the day and took her to the bathroom before I put her in bed and took her everytime before I go to bed. And she was a heavy sleeper as well.

But good news she is dry for 3 years now...

You'll get a system that work for the two of you.

Rachel - posted on 12/03/2008

My daughter is now 9 and she wet the bed at night up until around the age of 7. We talked with her pediatritian many times and had our daughter checked out and they felt that her bladder just hadn't matured enough to know when she had to go and that the problem would right itself and eventually the wetting at night got less frequent and eventually went away. Very frustrating as a parent, I know, because I, as a child, wet my bed until I was 10 so I knew what she was going through and how embaressing it was. My parents were very good about it. So, my husband and I just made sure to not make a big deal out of it and covered her bed with a plastic covering and quietly changed her sheets at night or in the morning and eventually it just stopped around the age of 7 and what a relief that was for all of us. Not that this is the case of your child because you may want to get it checked out if you haven't already for your own peace of mind, but this is what happened with our child.

Stacey - posted on 12/03/2008

Well, my daughter, now five, was still wearing a pull-up every night until this past summer. Then she decided she was too big. But she was still wetting at night. We just had to bite the bullet and let her sleep without the pull-up. For the first week, we would wake her up before we went to bed to get her to pee. But, we had to let her actually wet the bed a few times before she started waking up on her own. We would put a towel and a waterproof pad under her so that when she woke us up, we just had to replace the towel, not change all the sheets. Overall, it only took about 3 weeks until she was dry every night.

I think that kids can be a bit lazy when they know the pull-up will keep the bed dry. Christmas holidays might be a good time to see if he is ready to be without them, that way he won't be tired and cranky at school if he doesn't get a good night's sleep.