[fostadoptmom]

My six year old son has started both daytime and nighttime wetting - he was potty trained over two years ago!
He is adhd (on adderall xr 30 plus dexedrine 5 mg in am), and possibly bi-polar (takes risperdal to control outbursts). Why suddenly after being dry for so long could he be wetting himself? I've had urinalysis done. Dr. has talked to him about holding himself too long; or not peeing completely when he goes. I used to think he just didn't want to stop playing - but now he's doing it at night too. After much frustration I put him in pull-ups - to eliminate the constant laundry issue and changing of clothes at school. We gave him the package of pull-ups to give him freedom to remove wet pull-ups and put on dry ones on his own thinking maybe it was an attention thing. Yesterday we found 30(!) old wet pull-ups stuffed between his bed and the wall <<<we wondered why his room smelled!>>> Yet, when asked if he was using the trash can in the garage he would always say yes. So now we are angry about his lying to us. We took the clean pull-ups away so now he has to ask for them (and give us the soiled one). Not really sure what to do - any suggestions??

[Andrea Dean]

Relapses could be a sign of stress
If your child has been dry at night for some time and suddenly starts wetting the bed again, this could be a sign of stress. Children commonly wet the bed during times of emotional upheaval, such as divorce, death or the addition of a new baby to the family. This needs a different approach. Encourage your child to talk about their worries and try as a family to address their concerns.

Sometimes children who have been dry relapse for no apparent reason, and no source of stress can be identified. They may wet on an occasional night, or for a period of time, and then stop. If it persists, treatment may need to be started again.

Where to get help
Your doctor
Your paediatrician
Local community health centre
Things to remember
Bedwetting is common in young children and is part of their physical and emotional development.
The child isn't deliberately wetting the bed, so don't punish them.
A relapse of bedwetting is often a sign of stress in children

[chaosjade]

There are a variety of emotional reasons for bedwetting. For example, when a young child begins wetting the bed after several months or years of dryness, this may reflect new fears or insecurities. Or stress like the other post said.
As a parent try to remember that a child rarely wets the bed on purpose and usually feels ashamed.
When I got married, my step daughter started wetting the bed. She also was 6 years old. I didn't understand why she was doing this. At times I became frustrated. I read up on it and realised that she was stressed because of the new living situation.
Once we got to know each other and the changes in her life became more familure, she gradually stopped wetting the bed.
We talked about what we could do to help her stop doing this.
less drink before bed
wake her up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom
and on dry days and night let them know how how proud you are

[numbr1dbcksfan]

My daughter went through that last year. She ended up having a urinary reflux issue--which we wouldn't have know without this happening. But the main reason that it was happening was because she was constipated! It has pretty much subsided..but she does still have trouble sometimes and thats when I know to mix her laxative in her juice... These things can be very embarassing for them to talk about -- my daughter wouldn't use pull ups and I wasnt going to force her to do something so embarrassing. We used Serenity pads. She was so embarrassed and it wasnt anything that she could control.

Just wanted to chime in, in case the issue wasn't emotional. Im not sure if boys can have the same thing happen.

[mrsred]

I know this was an old post, and issue has hopefully been resolved.. but we had same problem with our son. Found out risperdal can cause incontinence, took him off risperdal and problem was gone.... haven't found replacement for risperdal yet, so he is an emotional mess, but he is a dry one anyway.

[hotspice58]

My 11 yo wets the bed off and on. He's on meds which help but of course, he has to go back to the doctor and we couldn't get to her for a week and a half. They do feel ashamed. I tell my son it's ok but to tell me so I can strip the bed. Of course, he doesn't and the room smells!! QVC or hsn has bed protectors that work like a charm.

[Sheriv]

Hi,
I wasn't going to post, but....since this was the second thread on the same subject.....my son (6) is diagnosed RAD. He pees on himself and his bed day and night especially if he is extremely angry or had some sort of traumatic event. This could be being told no. I make him clean his bed, resheet it, etc... but that got to be a treat and turned into a control thing. He has even defecated on himself in the bed and refused to take a shower. I threw out the pajamas (which were his favorite) because hey.... that is too much extra work for mommy.

I still make him clean up now, but select when I will have him do the work or even if...but we are in therapy for Attachment and all that this entails. Just a thought if you have a therapist who understands this they too may have some ideas....

In solidarity with soiled laundry!

Sheri