Hi M.O – due to the underlying genetic cause, it is not unusual to find a number of children in the one family who wet the bed at night. Knowing the cause however does not necessarily make it any easier to manage. When it comes to familial links we generally find children stop wetting around a similar age to when their relative did, so the chances of them responding to the cold turkey treatment is highly unlikely and will probably lead to lots of frustration and multiple loads of laundry. The most consistent sign that your children are moving toward achieving nighttime continence is an increase in the number of mornings they wake-up dry. At this point you have two options open to you: you can either wait it out and continue to use the Drynites or you can look at reintroducing the alarm treatment. Treatment can take between 3 and 6 months, so it is not unusual that she did not achieve continence within 2 months. It is not uncommon for children to experience one or two relapses before achieving permanent continence, when this happens you need to re-introduce the alarm and proceed as before. The selection of an alarm is best done in consultation with a medical professional so do not try and do this on your own. Some alarms have different settings that allow you to vary the sound – sometimes a louder alarm will raise particularly deep sleepers like your daughters. Good luck!

Regards,
Dr Cathrine

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