GC and still not dry at night

DD went to her surgery and borrowed something that triggered an alarm when it got wet, this made GC get up to go to the loo. She became dry at night very quickly.

My son had this problem we used a desmopressin spray when he went on sleepovers ect it worked very well and avoided him embarrassment when he stayed away

Thank you for your responses, I recognize that in the grand scheme of things this is not enormous! However it would be good to resolve this problem. My feeling is not to wait till she is 7 , I have looked on Amazon and there is a good selection if alarms available. Oopsadaisy1 your post is reassuring - thankyou, rosie1959 not heard of the spray , will look it up. If my daughter is in agreement I will buy an alarm of her choice .

Yes, had the same with my granddaughter. We were told not to worry until the age of seven. There is medication that can help, but the best thing my DIL did was to make little of it, so as not to distress her daughter.

It is hard, but most likely she will grow out of it, and if she doesn’t, there are treatments available. Try not to worry, and do the obvious things like no drinking before bed etc.

One of my little granddaughters wet the bed at night until she was seven. No big deal was made of it and she did grow out of it. A couple of accidents in the following year but completely fine now at age eleven.

I had two granddaughters(not sisters) who both were in double figures before being totally dry it had got to odd nights by then
It happens….. less fuss made best result They we’re both very heavy sleepers and were completely dry in their own time ( they were both potty trained at a fairly early age and had no day time problems at all Both their mums made nothing of it absolutely the best way we re all different

I appreciate your responses, thank you - it is reassuring to know how common this is. She was so easy to toilet train , no problems there at all. She is now wanting to address the problem herself - which is a positive sign . Think knowing little sister is dry at night is having an impact on her . I know it will resolve itself , just me being a worry pot Grandma!!

On a school field trip I had reponsibility for an 11-year old girl who tended to wet the bed if she didn't take her medication at the right time. All was well until the last night - an evening outing upset her routine and the medication didn't work.

We teachers, and some of the other girls, knew she had problems. When she woke me (too early to get up) I just told her to put on dry things, that it wasn't her fault, and to climb into bed with a friend for half an hour. I stripped the bed and we all settled down for a while. I quietly informed the hostel staff at breakfast and all was dealt with without fuss.

So, Shelflife, as long as the people taking care of your granddaughter know and understand, you don't need to worry about her joining in with things like school trips and Brownie holidays. Her friends might respond better if they're told it's a medical problem but I think most sensible adults will not make a fuss.

By the time she wants to do those things she might well be dry and, if not, able to cope with appropriate underwear at night anyway.

Both myself and a friend had this problem with our daughters. My daughter resolved just before 7 and hers needed a referral.

It's quite common I think, some children just don't develop that level of bladder control during the night until a bit later.

Try not to worry shelflife. It is very common. The ERIC web site is very helpful and also reassuring. It has all sorts of resources and also a Helpline for specific advice. I’m sure your granddaughter will be comfortable at night very soon.

I used the alarm system for both my younger children and it was easy convenient and trained them quickly. They were dry throughout the day so not long after they were in school for age 5 years I wanted them to have dry nights. Once dry nights they were more than happy with that.

I have known mums that the children were still not dry at night by 8 years old. Once we had a child for a sleepover and the mum gave me a rubber sheet for the bed, I was not bothered by that but when it was 9.30 p.m. the child became anxious and wanted to go home as he did not want to wet the bed in his friends house. Bless him I had to phone his parents who came for him and they could not stop apologizing.

The statistics say that 5 % of 10 year olds wet the bed and 10 % of 5 year olds . She will soon grow out of it. By all means try a pad and bell. Health visitors used to lend them out. Not sure if they still do . Alternatively there is the medication route. Try not to worry.

A star chart works well. Award a star for dry nights (these can be bought at stationery shops) Perhaps the mum could think of a reason for the little one to join in as well.

Please don't limit the poor child's drinks! Shortage of liquids concentrates the urine which then makes the bladder react by urgently getting rid of the urine. So no help at all, and possibly distressing for the thirsty one.

The spray needs to be prescribed I think as it is a hormone that some children don't have enough of at that age. Agree look up ERIC site for ideas.

nahsma

Please don't limit the poor child's drinks! Shortage of liquids concentrates the urine which then makes the bladder react by urgently getting rid of the urine. So no help at all, and possibly distressing for the thirsty one.

I wasn’t talking about limiting drinks all the time....just directly before bed. Obviously, if there is a thirst, it needs to be quenched. By bedtime though, I never felt my children had an intense urge to drink loads of water. It definitely worked for my DIL. Bedtime around 7pm, so last drink at 6.30. If she woke in the night needing a drink, it was accompanied by a toilet visit.

Hardly limiting it.

I was a bed wetter and so were my children. I asked my mum for an electric blanket and she said not until I was dry at night. It happened immediately, think I was 8 or 9. My children were both really sound sleepers. My daughter was dry at around 10, we had done alarms, that woke the whole house, and medication. In the end it just happened. My son was about the same age. I remember he went to a residential place with school, the teachers were great and made sure he went to the toilet late. Also to save embarrassment the bed he used had a plastic sheet, indicated by the duvet being turned down when he arrived. I’m sure your GC will get there. Best of luck x

It is not an uncommon problem. A lot of children, more than people will admit, have it.

My sister had it, this is back in the 1950s. The doctor's reaction, was that her bladder was slow maturing and she would get there in the end - and she did. However, she has always had a weak bladder, that is just the way it is, in the same way I have had weak eyesight.

The less fuss made the better.

You are all right about not making a fuss about this, but there are other practical things you can do, or the child's parents can.

When during the night does the bed-wetting occur? If it is the latter half of the night, it will help if her mother makes sure the child is lifted out of bed and put on a potty just before her parents go to their beds, as the night is obviously just too long for her.

If it occurs randomly, is the child sleeping so heavily that she doesn't register the need to wee and wake up?

If this is the problem, she may simply be too tired to react by waking in time, so the solution might be to consider whether she needs a sligthly earlier bedtime or less strenuous games etc just before bedtime. Or simply to go and wee one more time than she thinks she needs before bed.

Does she wet the bed because she dreams she is actually àt the toilet? Both DH and I did at her age.

That problem was solved by us saying or thinking to ourselves at bedtime - I shall not wet the bed, I will waken in time to go to the toilet.

It isn't a magical formula, or self-hypnosis, if it works, it does so because it boosts the child's confidence that she can solve this problem herself.

They used to make you increase fluid intake to stretch the bladder. Some kids need the hormone medication as they don't produce it until later.

Try not to worry though, as other say it is so common

Newatthis

A star chart works well. Award a star for dry nights (these can be bought at stationery shops) Perhaps the mum could think of a reason for the little one to join in as well.

But bed wetting is a physiological issue. How cruel to set a child up for failure

i don't see how star charts are relevant in this case.
they are for desired behaviour. where choice is involved.
not the case here, is a bodily issue.
there are special night-time pants available for children, which are absorbent, sometimes called pyjama pants.
so they can go away/visit without it being an issue.
personally i'd have hated the idea of an alarm; to me that would be some kind of punishment, and shaming.
huggiesdirect.co.uk/collections/drynites%C2%AE/products/drynites-girls-pyjama-pants-age-4-7

2 of my 3 GCs needed the medication - the middle one had no problem at all. Seems it is a physical problem, nothing else worked.

I don't think the alarm is shaming. The idea of the idea is that it wakes the child up at the first sign of wetness. This then trains the brain to wake up at the physical sensation of having to go. My mother got one for me and it worked within a few days. I never felt it was a punishment or shameful, I felt it was something my mother was doing to help me.