I have tried the alarm, which didn't wake her. I also get her up about 3 times a night, but it's not enough, and it's exhausting getting up that many times a night. I also stop drinks a good hour before bed. I am now using Drynites full time and have assured her that when her body is ready it will all stop. I do feel for her though because when she has a friend sleep over and they see her nappy they laugh and she gets very embarrassed. My doctor mentioned the nasal spray, but he said she can't have it until she is six as it is not safe under that age. What can I do from here?... oh, she has had a kidney ultrasound and urine analysis done and it was all good.
Hi Kelly, as frustrating as this situation is, you need to be reassured that it is completely normal – with at least 1 in 7 children continuing to wet at night by age 5. Many children do outgrow bedwetting on their own however given the frequency and amount she is wetting it is unlikely that she is going to outgrow this sometime soon. A small number of children wet the bed because they do not produce enough of the anti-diuretic hormone ADH. If nighttime ADH levels are low, children produce the same amount of urine at night as throughout the day. If this is the cause, children will continue to wet the bed at night until their body begins to produce more of this hormone. The nasal spray is like a synthetic version of ADH, which is designed to inhibit the amount of urine produced by the kidneys overnight. While some children do stop wetting the bed after its use, a common problem with this form of treatment is that once children stop the medication the bedwetting often resumes. This form of treatment has met with more success when used in conjunction with a bedwetting alarm so that may be a better way to go. In the meantime it is perfectly fine to use DryNites to help manage her bedwetting. Reassure her that these are just a form of management and a designed by children much older than her. Think of strategies that she can use to either hide her DryNites from her friends during sleepovers or, have a quiet word with her friends or their parents explaining the situation. Sometimes it helps if children understand that bedwetting is just part of development; while some children grow quicker than others, run faster, or read better, others just seem to have bladders that are better at storing their urine overnight. Everyone is different and that is what makes people so special!
Regards,
Dr Cathrine
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My 5 year old is similar to this. She didn't even experience a dry night until she turned 5 and we now have the occasional night, but mostly she wakes up with full nighttime nappy.
Things are difficult because she sleeps on a top bunk and is a heavy sleeper, so it's difficult to almost impossible for me to wake her or attempt to put her on the toilet during her sleep. So I don't.
I have a bedmat for her bed now and sometimes she'll go to sleep wearing underwear and wake up saturated wet. She tells me she doesn't feel it happening and will sleep through a whole night with wet clothes.
We have rewards charts for dry nights but she doesn't get many stickers.
I feel very alone in this and maybe it's because a lot of Mum's don't discuss it and certainly it's not a topic to be discussed around children, who would pick up on this to tease her.
But my GP has said it's okay and normal and not to worry.
Renee – 11 months ago
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