Unfortunately while medications are helpful in the short-term they generally do not help children to achieve permanent nighttime continence. About 6-8% of children aged 10 years continue to wet the bed at night – the majority of these will need some form of intervention in order to help them to become dry. The bedwetting alarm experiences the best outcomes with approximately 75% of children achieving dryness after its use, and are particularly suited to children who experience less frequent wetting like your daughter. It is important that you do not try and tackle this on your own however as the more support you receive the better the success rate. In the meantime, have you considered using DryNites for sleepovers? It’s often helpful to talk to the parents where your daughter is staying before she goes and prearrange a place where she can discretely change her clothes and dispose of her DryNites. If she would prefer to keep it a secret there are things she can try like hiding them in the bottom of her sleeping bag then putting them on once everyone has gotten into bed – she can even hide a bag of lollies in the bottom to disguise the noise! Give her a plastic bag so that she can take them off in the morning and place them in there – it may mean she leaves them in her overnight bag until she gets home. Sometimes it’s a good idea to have a practice run at home so that she feels more confident when she is with her friends. Alternatively hold the sleepover at your house where she will have your support and guidance – either way it is essential that you try and minimize any impact he bedwetting has on her social life.

Regards,
Dr Cathrine

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