[leeinmemphis]

Hi Everyone!

Since these two boys are the only "parenting experience" we have, I wondered if anyone had any ideas for us........

Our boys have been home for four months now and have adjusted very well. The only problem we have is with bedwetting. Both boys are dry during the day but at night William (who is 3... will be four in a couple of weeks) is ALWAYS dry at night and Timothy (who is 4.... will be 5 in a couple of months) is nowhere near consistently dry at night.

Call me crazy but I just assumed that the older boy would be the dry one......

We cut their liquids off after dinner (about 6) and they go to bed at 8, we have them go potty right before bed.... anyone have any other tips or tricks?

alli and lee

[Vicki H]

The only advice I can give is something that I read about in a magazine a few months ago.
Bedwetting is sometimes due to the child having a smaller bladder, which could be the case with your older son. This is common in boys.
Some boys cannot hold it as long due to this and if they do not wake up at night will continue to be wet in the morning.
You may want to ask the pediatrician about this.

I have no experience with this yet, so this is all the advice I can really give. Hope this helps.


Vicki

[needpink]

Your pediatrician will have loads of things for you to try. Here's what worked for me: My son, who had been potty trained since his third birthday with never an accident started regular bed wetting when he started to school. My pedi suggested that the cause was over-stimulation (which could also make sense with a new adoptee). What worked for us was waking him up to go after he'd had time to go soundly asleep (I know it sounds cruel) and his body had time to fully relax. He'd pee a gallon, and luckily go right back to sleep. We did this for about a month, and then he suggested that he'd try to go "extra-special much" himself before going to bed so we'd start leaving him alone. It worked.

-Samantha

[Cheryl62]

I agree with both of the above posters. My youngest son didn't consistently stay dry at night until he turned 6. He just slept too deeply, and had too small a bladder. (Didn't have this with the other 2 boys, though). At four, we decided it wasn't going to happen, adn put him in Pull-ups at night, which he was fine with.

At five, he was in school, and wanting to be a "big boy" at night too, and so we tried again, but knew it wouldn't work, most likely, as he was still wet in his pull ups in the morning. So, one thing we did that was like what needpink said, I guess, is that we always got him up before we went to sleep - about 2 hours after he was down, carried him to the potty, and had him go. He was pretty good about it - I'm not sure some of my other kids would have been - so it worked ok. But in a few months, right around his 6th birthday, he was not needing that second trip.

Good luck - I know this stuff is very hard -- on the kids and on us too. Who likes changing sheets? - particularly in the middle of the night!

[aw2]

In no way am I an expert but we had a similar problem for a couple of months after we got home with out almost 4 year old. We did cut liquids off early around 6, we made a couple of extra trips to the bathroom before bath and bed, we did use pull-ups (yes, pull-ups) just to be on the safe side for a short while, and covered the bed in a plastic sheet. We did not make a big deal out of bedwetting and soon enough the problem began to disappear. I' d check with my physician to make sure it's o.k. if the problem seems severe, though. madalyn

[Jensboys]

10% of all boys at age 6 are still bedwetting and it only decreases by 5% a year thereafter. Aprox 3% of all boys are still bedwetting at age 12 although it normally corrects itself during the onset of puberty.

I know all this because my 7 year old is off to Children's Hospital next week for an evaluation at a clinic. They usually wont look at kids under the age of 5, but if your son is still bedwetting at 5 I would suggest taking him to the doc and he will request a bladder ultrasound and a urinanalysis to rule out infection.

It is a genetic condition ... 50% change of inheriting it if your bio parents were bedwetters. (he is our bio son) and although neither I or my husband were bedwetters, we both have siblings that were.

We have tried the medications (which work for 99% of all who try them, but are VERY expensive), no fluids after supper, night waking (which is not recommended by docs) but literally the house could fall down around my son and he would sleep through it. Nothing has worked ... thus the clinic BUT ONLY because it is bothering him.

Once I understood that he would eventually out grow it and the best thing we can do is make it as "normal" as possible ... that helped. Ohh the joys of endless stinky pullups!!!

[votemom]

Definitely don't make an issue of it. Have him wear pull-ups or good-nights (which offer larger sizes). If he doesn't wet, you can re-use it the next night. Some people will disagree with the whole pull-up thing, but there is so much stress involved with wet bedding in the night or in the morning when it becomes a regular thing. And your child picks up on the stress. He has enough to deal with, this is defnitely not a big deal.

My son wore pull ups thru kindergarten (at night) and woke up wet at least twice a week. He continued to have the occasional accident at night thru 2nd grade. Yep, he was and is, at age 14, the most sound sleeper in the family. He sleeps hard and long.

He has no memory of bedwetting. But I bet he would if we had made it an issue with him.

[mess]

I hear you on that one,

Wyatt has had that issue, and has been in pullups since forever. My brother had issues with bedwetting, as did my dad, so we are sure that it is genetic for him as well. My poor brother's issues didn't resolve until puberty. But we are very hopeful for Wyatt, because a few weeks before thanksgiving he started having dry nights. I am so excited!! He still has accidents from time to time, but he hasn't worn pullups for about a month.

I have noticed a change in his confidence level already. I didn't think that it was affecting him too much being in pullups, but now I'm pretty sure that inside it was bothering him quite a bit.

Sounds like you've tried DDAVP? Wyatt did that too, and it worked, but he became accustomed to it, and it stopped working. We increased his dosage a few times, but eventually decided to just keep that prescription for 'special occasions' (camp and sleepovers). Actually another doctor that we saw told us that DDAVP was never intended for long term use.

Have you heard anything about a connection between the size of a child's adenoids and bedwetting? We are waiting for a referral right now to a ear nose and throat specialist to see if Wyatt should have his adenoids removed. (Usually done at the same time as a tonsilectomy). I was more excited about this possibility before Wyatt stopped bedwetting on his own, but we are still going to see the specialist, as there were other reasons for checking his adenoids.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I hear ya on the stinky pullup thing

Jess

[Jensboys]

Jess

T. is NEVER dry - EVER (unless we are the first night away from home while travelling and then he sleeps lighter and isnt wet ... and its been like that since he was 2).

This summer we did the pill routine - Doc said that he has never had a patient need more than one pill a day to become dry, but we had the option of going up to 3 a day if needed. We eventually went up to 3 a day (and at $4.50 a pill thats ALOT of MONEY!!!) and T was dry 2 random nights out of 30 days on 3 pills.

We saw two docs here at home and both said they had never had a patient NOT respond to the meds - so we got the clinic referral at Children's Hospital. But I think they are just going to tell us to mellow out and he will outgrow it EVENTUALLY. Ugh.

It bothers T because two big brothers and one little brother are dry. And I know this affects his sense of self esteem.

[mess]

Hi Jen,

I just tried to call you... You must be out picking kids up from school or something.

This is kindof a long story, but bear with me...

Last year Maxine took Kyle and Graham to an ear nose and throat specialist, because they constantly have ear infections and they have poor hearing from the scarring.

When Max was in with the doctor, he asked her a bunch of questions about her boys that kept making her think of Wyatt. This is what he asked:

1) Is your son a 'bed-wetter'?
2) Would you say your son is an extremely sound sleeper?
3) Does your child snore?
4) Is he a loud kid? (always uses an 'outdoor voice')

I could have answered yes wholeheartedly to all of those questions when it comes to Wyatt.

Kyle has the same symptoms, but to a lesser degree on all counts (especially the bedwetting). This doctor suggested that Kyle's adenoids be removed. Kyle finally had this surgery a couple weeks ago, and Max says that he is quieter already, and that his speech is less 'nasal'. The hearing isn't better yet, but they expect that to come after the swelling goes away completely.

Anyway - I looked on the internet for a connection between bedwetting and adenoids, and what I found was really interesting. I don't remember the exact numbers, but there was an extrememly large percentage of children who stopped or signifigantly reduced their bedwetting after having their tonsils and adenoids removed.

So, I went to my family doctor and we have a referral for Wyatt to see an ear nose and throat specialist. Hopefully we will get an appointment soon. I don't want my son to have surgery unnecessarily, but if the doctor thinks it's worth a try, I am going to give it a go.

couple of urls to check

http://www.attract.wales.nhs.uk/ques...estion_id=1698