I have a 5 year old son who starts school next year and he wets the bed every night, we use a washable cover that sits over his fitted sheet that we have to wash every day. We have tried the alarm with no luck as he slept right through it (it didn't wake him at all) we have also tried a nose spray prescribed by our GP with no luck. We had no trouble potty training him at 2 and a half years old, but he has always had problems at night. We have also had his urine checked for infection and that was also fine. We were waking him up in the middle of the night for a while and making him sit on the toilet but I was told by the comunity nurse not to do that, so we stopped.I don't know what else to try??? Can you please give me some ideas as I would really like to try and get him out of this before he starts school next year.
feelings of frustration and desperation are common among parents of children who wet the bed – particularly if they are like you and have to deal with the added strain of waking up to wet sheets every morning – no wonder you are looking for a quick fix. Unfortunately when it comes to bedwetting there are no simple solutions. Firstly let me reassure you that what is happening is perfectly normal – with about 17% of children still wetting the bed at age 5 –at least two thirds of these are boys. I’m interested that you have already tried an alarm treatment as this is not typically recommended for children under 6 years of age as the success of this treatment is dependent on your child’s maturity and motivation – 4-year-old boys are often not particularly bothered by the fact that they still wet at night (nor should they be) making them less motivated to respond to the alarm. Failure to wake on their own is quite typical initially – this is why parents need to respond themselves and wake their child and get them to turn the alarm off and get up to the toilet (even if they have already wet). If he doesn’t outgrow the bedwetting on his own (and many children do!) I would recommend giving the alarm another go when he is a bit older. Other than waiting until he is a bit older you can try talking to him about the benefits of being dry (making sure he understand that this is not his fault). Some foods and drinks can irritate the bladder or cause the kidneys to produce more urine overnight – dairy products, chocolate and artificial colourings have been linked with bedwetting, you also need to cut down on sweetened and fizzy drinks and increase the amount of water he drinks throughout the day – do not limit fluids at nighttime although sometimes it is wise to start cutting down how much he drinks after 5 pm. In the meantime you can reduce your workload and stress levels by putting him in an absorbent pant like DryNites at night – this is preferably to waking him to go to the toilet which in the long-term will not help him achieve nighttime continence. Although it may not feel like it at the moment this will come to an end – he will eventually stop wetting the bed.
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