Bedwetting

[trodgers5]

My soon to be 4 year old boy is still wetting the bed at night.  It is not occasionally but about 2 or 3 times a night - it never wakes him up and he would sleep in it soaking wet if we didnt change him.  He was potty trained by 2yrs 2 months and has never had an accident during the day.  At night we have tried no nappies, nappies, bed sheets, lifting him out before we go to bed etc but nothing seems to stop him.  Is he being lazy or is he so deeply asleep it is not waking him up.  I am not sure if I should be worried at his age but pyjama pants (nappies dont fit as he wears size 6-7 clothes) are so expensive and we are tired of changing sheets.  Help anyone

[Marvin84]

I don't mean to sound rude here.... but do you think that it might be psychological??

[Marvin84]

What about incontinence pants - would they help??

[minxymo]

You may find it difficult to get a referral to a clinic at his age as most GP's will not see it as a "problem" until he is about seven or eight years old. There are various reasons why a child would wet the bed- One possibility is that he is not producing enough vasopressin which we have naturally in our bodies at night to slow urine production by the kidneys. Usual symptoms of this are large wet patches with weak urine. Another possibility is bladder instability with symptoms like sense of urgency during the day to go to the toilet, passing urine very frequently, smaller wet patches, they usually wake after wetting. It sounds like you are describing the first issue in which case you can ask your GP for vasopressin replacement therapy (usually tablets/nasal spray). Alternatively if your child goes to school then you can ask to speak to the school nurse who is usually up to date on issues such as bedwetting. Most of all don't worry- this problem is extremely common!

[Maggie-Mae]

Hi. I know how frustrating this is as my son used to wet the bed at night.  He was about 10 or 11 before he stopped wetting, which i know probably doesnt sound very good for you right now, but I do believe that they do grow out of it.  Your son is still only 4 and personally I wouldnt think that it is anything out of the ordinary at his age and although its frustrating, if you persevere with it, im sure he will grow out of it. Alternatively you could try getting him up in the night before you go to bed though I used to find this disturbed my son's sleeping pattern to much. You could try speaking to your doctor or health visitor though as I have heard of  having alarms put on the matress which detect wetness and then sound to wake the child up. My other son never wet at night at all and Im struggling to get my daughter toilet trained during the day at all.  So dont worry too much, their all different!

[jeepster]

My daughter has just recently stopped wetting the bed and she is 12! It is worth taking your son to the doctors as my daughter had to have a scan  just to make sure everthing was working okay(which it was). We didn't take her untill she was 10 and were starting to worry. They did think about prescribing the nasal spray but as the bedwetting was becoming less frequent they said to leave her to grow out of it. She has now been dry for about 10 months!

The main thing to remember is not to get cross with  children who bedwet, it is very difficult not to when it happens every night,but they can't help it.

[spudqueen]

I don't think that it's really a problem at your little boys age. Boys are often later than girls at these sort of things ( I say this as a mother of 2 boys!). I know a boy of 10 who still wets the bed occasionally, and I don't think that the Doctors really don't consider it a problem until about the age of 7, though you could go and see your Doctor and see what they say. I think the main thing here is not to beat your self up about it (because everyone elses child will be dry........) and not to get upset /angry with your son.

[Marvin84]

Was watching Dr Phil today and saw a woman with the same concerns... the advice was to look into the family history as it is sometimes genetic, but even with this predisposition that the matress alarm is the best that you can do. He did also say what other people have said on this site, and that is Not to worry about it, your boy should grow out of it....

Hope that this helps too! :-)

[trodgers5]

Thanks Marvin84 thay is really helpful. Thanks to everyone else as well it has set my mind at ease!