Bed wetting

M2LR

I am hoping some of you with older kids can help me out/chime in.

My son is 6 years old and recently started bed wetting again. Not every night, and I don't think he empties his bladder fully every time, either. I think he wakes up and recognizes that he's wet. Changes his clothes, goes back to sleep. Most of the time, he comes in and tells us.

Why would this start up all of a sudden? Especially after a year or more of staying dry over night.

I don't want to cause him any embarrassment, so I don't want to take him to the pedi just yet.

shellibean

I don't have older kids, but I do have a close friend with a a 6 year old who wets the bed sometimes. She said that in her research there can be many causes.
1. Scared of the dark- too scared to get up and go to the bathroom during the night so he tries to hold it. (which I think is part of her son's situation).
2. Sleeping through the urge- playing so hard during the day that when he gets to sleep, he sleeps a REALLy deep sleep. He never even wakes up from the urge to pee.
3. Sexual abuse- (not accusing you of course) but that can be a sign of that.

Her pedi. suggested first finding out if he was awkae or completely asleep when he would wet the bed. Then, if he was feeling the urge adn ignoring it (holding it) or what. Also, make sure the trail from his bed to the potty are well lit. And last, limit beverages in the evenings.

I hope this helped a bit. And good for you for trying to not embarrass him. My friend's husband humiliated their son. I was PISSED. He made fun of him, bouhgt him GIRL diapers for older kids for at night,etc. I really felt for their son. And my friend didn't even stop her husband from embarrassing him. Poor guy.

M2LR

Of all of those, I'd go with #2.

He is 100% GO all day long, and doesn't really nap anymore.

I also know that he's not fully awake when it happens, because most of the time, in the AM he doesn't remember changing clothes, and he doesn't remember coming into our room to tell us.

mad scientist

M2LR wrote: »

Of all of those, I'd go with #2.

He is 100% GO all day long, and doesn't really nap anymore.

I also know that he's not fully awake when it happens, because most of the time, in the AM he doesn't remember changing clothes, and he doesn't remember coming into our room to tell us.

No experience, but I have recently learned that quite a number of kids in my family (including my Mom) occasionally wet the bed until almost 10 years old. It definitely seems like a common thing that no one really talks about.

RedCatWaves

Occasional bedwetting up til puberty is very common. My 2 older boys both did it, and my daughter to a lesser extent. It's probably just exhaustion, but possibly emotional. You may never know the reason why. I did notice with my kids that it tended to come in patterns...wet the bed several nights in a row or several nights over a week or two, and then dry for months, rinse, repeat. I just tried to not make a big deal. Never yelled at them. When it happened, I would have them strip their own sheets and put them in the washer, but it wasn't punishment, just participation in the work entailed to clean it up. I didn't shame them...they felt ashamed enough all on their own. I always told them "it's OK, it happens to everyone". They all had waterproof covers on their mattresses til they got to puberty age, just in case.

lapushka

If you know at what time the bedwetting occured when it last happened, you might want to catch it next time by waking him up before that time and making him go pee. He will not like it! Do that for a couple of nights and he will make the link and will feel the urge next time, with any luck. This is how my mom handled me, when I wet the bed once at age 5 (I didn't feel I had to pee and woke up surprised in a wet bed). I never did it again. She only woke me up one night and it clicked.

Might not work with all kids, but it worked with me.

shellibean

I was in Jr. High and staying with my older cousin and her husband for a week in the Summer. I had a dream i was falling over a waterfall. Then I landed... i woke up and had PEED in the bed! I was HUMILIATED! i had to go tell my cousin in the middle of the night and get new sheets,etc. It was awful b/c in Jr. High- evrything is embarrassing anyway & she was my cool older cousin. It was one of the most uncomfortable moments in my life.

Cynaminbear

RedCatWaves wrote: »

Occasional bedwetting up til puberty is very common. My 2 older boys both did it, and my daughter to a lesser extent. It's probably just exhaustion, but possibly emotional. You may never know the reason why. I did notice with my kids that it tended to come in patterns...wet the bed several nights in a row or several nights over a week or two, and then dry for months, rinse, repeat. I just tried to not make a big deal. Never yelled at them. When it happened, I would have them strip their own sheets and put them in the washer, but it wasn't punishment, just participation in the work entailed to clean it up. I didn't shame them...they felt ashamed enough all on their own. I always told them "it's OK, it happens to everyone". They all had waterproof covers on their mattresses til they got to puberty age, just in case.

I shall cosign on this response. Never shame, but include him in the clean up. This is actually a complex problem.
Other possible causes for enuresis:

4. genetics. This tendency can be inherited, either because of deep sleep or a small bladder.
5. a kink in the spinal area that isn't allowing the signal of a full bladder to the brain as strongly as it should. The chiropractor helped us a little bit at one point.
6. food allergy. This was one of the signs my son had food allergies/sensitivities. Even though he had an empty bladder when he went to bed, after falling asleep his body would 'release the toxins' from the food he was allergic to.
7. not training the brain to recognize the signal. Many kids will be so busy during the day they put off going to the bathroom when the urge hits. In putting it off, they are basically training themselves to ignore the signal. The cure for that is going frequently throughout the day, especially recognizing the urge.
8. Stress or a fear or a change in life/schedule/habits and patterns.

My son has been an incredibly deep sleeper since around 4 years old and this has been an issue since. There's a system that can help called a Night Trainer. A battery pack with a loud noisy alarm, attached to a pad that goes into the underwear. At the first drop of liquid the alarm goes off and wakes the child. They soon recognize the feeling of needing to pee with waking, but the pad needs to be worn for at least 6 months after the last accident to be completely learned. This will help stop the wetting no matter what the cause is if the child is committed to working on this. After a while, my son would change his clothes and go back to sleep when the alarm went off. He got frustrated in the summer because he'd sweat and the thing would go off. When he stopped responding to the night trainer (probably around 9 or 10, maybe a bit older) I let him know the responsibility was his. If he didn't want to wear it then he needed to change his clothes and bedding. He never got in trouble for wetting, but if he left the wet stuff on his bed and unwashed, then I'd get mad. Of the 8 possible reasons, my son experienced 5. One of my siblings, and one of my parents had the problem, he has several food allergies (citric acid seemed to be the trigger for enuresis), he's a deep sleeper and insists on sleeping in a position that definitely kinks his spinal column, and lastly, he'd hold it during the day.
My daughter wet the bed only once, and it was after she fell and broke her tailbone.

Your son could be going through a growth spurt that makes him sleep deeper. He could be experiencing some kind of stress during the day. Six years old is when I realized my son had developed more allergies: oranges, citric acid, grapes, and maraschino cherries (added to dairy and chocolate).

rainshower

our son went through a frequent bedwetting phase at 5 years of age after having virtually dry sheets for 2 years. we discovered that he was wetting the bed just before daybreak. i knew this because i'd get up to nurse our baby during the night and check him and he'd be dry most of the night.

i chalked it up to him sleeping through it during REM sleep.

mattress protectors are a must for young children. that and a bottle of biokleen's bac out stain remover. it gets rid of any organic stain and its odor, old and new. a must for every home, with or without kids.