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Dr Catherine
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Girl
8-15 years

Hi, my 13 yr old daughter still wets the bed occasionally. Sometimes she goes up to a month with dry nights then has an accident again. I have been to the doctors & tried the wake up routine & yet nothing works. I was told she will grow out of it but at 13 I thought it would have stopped by now. There is no major life changes & she is the only one of my 5 children that has had this ongoing problem. Just after your advice please? Thank you

Given the frequency of her wetting your daughter would be a perfect candidate for the conditioning alarm. Alarms work by helping your daughter learn to recognise the need to pass urine and either wake-up and go to the toilet or learn to hold on until morning. Bedwetting alarms come in two main forms. One is a body alarm with a small sensor that can be worn inside her DryNites. The second type of alarm is a bell and pad alarm that is placed like a mat over the bottom bed sheet. It can take a few weeks until your daughter begins to respond to the alarm and may take up to 3 months to achieve continence. If she is a particularly deep sleeper you may need to help her to wake initially. Ideally you should not try and do this on your own, the more support and guidance you receive from a medical professional the better the outcome. The fact that she does not wet every night will certainly increase her chances of a positive outcome! Kind Regards, Dr Cathrine