6 Year Old Boy Still Wetting Bed - Any Advice?

My daughter was day and night time trained by 3, and a few months later, she starting wetting the bed a few times a week. She is now 6 and still wets the bed. He Dr said her bladder may not have grown as fast as she is. We have found that if we get her out of bed around 10:30 pm and send her to the potty she is fine. I don't limit her dinks in the evening (esspecially in this heat!) but once bedtime hits, the only "cup" available to her is a 3 oz bathroom cup and she is allowed 1 trip after lights out. Wehn we travel, we just use a good nights pullup (you can get some that look like shorts).

Hope that helps!

Ny younger boy had a similar problem, and the pediatrician recommended that I try an alarm device. It cost $80, and we pinned it on his shoulder next to his ear. The damn thing went off as soon as he peed, and woke everyone in the house EXCEPT HIM.

It was really an awful problem, because he was so embarrassed by it, but he really didn't get total control until he was 8 or 9. We just had to wait, and change those sheets! Try to be patient with him: he wants it to stop as much as you do.

His body is not ready.

My daughter is going on 8 in July and she is now finally dry, but every time she gets sick the old wetting happens. She's back in her pull-ups (her decision). She goes 7 nights dry and off with the pull-ups.

Relax about it and it will take care of itself. If you're very concerned, take him to the dr. and let the dr check him out and tell both of you to relax. Pull-ups were made for a reason.
S

Dear G.,
I certainly hope the cotton liners you got will work.
I have a very lovely friend who was still putting her son in pull-ups at 9 years old. She was convinced that he either couldn't hold it or just slept too deeply and it was easier than changing the bedding.
Everytime he came to my house to spend the night, she gave me all the pull-ups instructions and we were very discreet about it. We had a special hiding place for them in the upstairs bathroom so he could go in there and put one on when he got dressed for bed so no one would ever know the difference. He never used one a single time and never peed on anything either. That kid practically lived at my house that summer and I think it was after about the 6th time I sent the unused pull-up home, his mom quit buying them and using them at home. And he never peed the bed at home again either. There was no magic involved other than 3 little boys all the same age having a sleepover and he didn't want to wear the pull-ups. That was the end of that.
I peed the bed a couple of times when I was about 6, but I knew I had to pee and I dreamed that I got up and went into the bathroom. When I felt it dribbling on my leg, it woke me up right away and I headed straight for the bathroom. Kids do have accidents. But I dream like crazy. It's like going to the movies every night. If I started dreaming that I had to pee, I sat myself up to see if it was a dream, or if I really had to go.
I still do that sometimes. I'll dream that I have to get up and get the coffee on, get the laundry out of the dryer so I can get my son ready for school. So I get up and get started until I realize it's Saturday.
Maybe ask your son if he really dreams a lot.

Anyway, your son will eventually grow out of it.
Let us know how it goes.
Best wishes!

Pinworms can cause bed wetting. (Pinx over the counter can rid those worms). High bacterial counts can be the culprit as well. Samento is antibacterial and found online at nutramedix.com.

ps....After years of bedwetting, my 8 yr old son finally quit. I WAS giving him Samento, since I was treating his sister for UTI and I just gave him some as well. I don't know if that is what helped or not. I imagine it did. If you give it, it can cause insomnia and grouchy ness as the bacteria die off, so be forwarned. Give 4 drops, 3 times a day,try not to give it past 6pm so it doesn't keep him up at night.
You can have up to 49,000 count of bacteria in the urine and it's not considered an "infection" by the lab. However, bacteria can and does cause irritation of the urethra/bladder and can cause urinary accidents.

My daughter just stopped wetting the bed at 15. My cousin also had this issue. I tried the alarm and a medication. It did not work for my daughter, but you might want to try them for your son. I finally had to let it go. It was not bothering her, so I figured why should it bother me.

Good luck!

My son wet the bed until he was 9, and one night just stopped and has been dry ever since, almost exactly 1 year ago. He still doesn't wake up in the middle of the night to go, rather, he holds it til morning. His bladder is finally mature enough to do that. PS. He didn't sleep through the night until he was 3!!! I'm not sure why I was so eager for that to happen... :)
Be patient if you can - this too shall pass.

Just as another voice, my daughter was having the same problem. She is now seven and has only had a few accidents over the last year. She is actually getting to the point where she stops them before they get to the bed so the pj's and undies might be wet, but not the bed. Much easier to deal with. For a while, I was also waking her up before I went to bed and this seemed to help quite a bit.

Give it time. His body will get it. I'm glad your new system is working for you.

I personally had problems and took medicine through sixth grade for my wetting. If you can hang on, I would suggest it. The medicine was gross and I don't recommend it unless the doctor thinks that there is a problem with something else.

Have you spoken to his doctor? He may refer him to a pediatric urologist. They can make sure there is nothing physically wrong and help you determine behavioral treatments.

I feel your pain! My son is 6 and also still wets the bed. We have done everything you have but nothing seems to work. I also try to wake hinm up before I go to bed and sometimes it is too late. He always goes back to sleep though which is good. We recently bought one of the alarm devices and it is not loud enough to wake him up despite the fact that it wakes the rest of the house up! I have been told that he is having a hard time with it because he is such a DEEP sleeper. Interested to hear what others have to say!

A friend of mine was just telling me that they had the same problem with their boy and the doctor recommended they give him a Magnesium supplement. It worked! That was the last time they had any problems.
I buy Natural Vitality Magnesium - Kid Calm from the health food store or online.
Good luck!

This is not uncommon. He can't help it, so don't pressure him. Eventually his body will wake up and he'll get to the bathroom. Until then, I'd use pull ups.

The only thing I would worry about is his self-esteem, especially if sleepovers start. It's important for him to know that it's not his fault, it will eventually stop, and it is a common problem.

My 14 year old didn't stop wetting the bed completely until fifth grade (ten years old). Nothing worked: alarm, pull-ups, non-pull ups, medication, waking in the middle of the night, contract and making him change his own sheets (as he got older), rewards. One pediatrician had him "practice" sitting on the potty for 15 minutes a day to get him used to to the "go" vs "hold it" sensations. I tell everyone i've met who's gone through this, that it ends when it ends...way more people go through this than you would ever guess, and DON'T make a big deal about it to your son. That was the worst thing we did. It's hard to keep your frustration to yourself (he had a bunk bed! what a pain to change those sheets). Bedwetters truly can't help it, and already feel shame, so try not to compound it. We kept pull ups on hand for sleeping at grandmas's, etc, and as he got older used the medication for sleepovers. good luck

Be careful, the way you respond can really make a difference in this sutuation for self esteem. Talk to a doc and have him checked out. 6 is still little. Be patient.

My son also started wetting his bed after being potty trained. We did pull ups (on the sly) in front of other people or friends until he was 11 and just out of the blue it all began to work. He had went to the dr's and everything he just grew out of it. I relate and just be patient.

Hi - I have an eight year old boy who just stopped this last year (age 7 1/2). We tried when he was younger, and it just created a lot of stress for everyone (and didn't seem to help). He is a very SOUND sleeper and would not wake up until it was too late. I even tried waking him up at times during the night, but I would always just seem to miss it. I didn't want to make a big deal about it, because both my brother and husband had this issue when they were younger and got lots of grief over it. So we kept using pull-ups. Finally this last winter, he wanted to try again - we started with no pull-ups once again, and he only had two accidents and then he was done!! (Our next step was going to try one of those sleep alarms, but we never had to do it.) He's never had an accident since - he gets up during the night and goes on his own to the bathroom. Very easy, no stress, and one happy kid. I hope that helps - some kids just take longer, and I think the less stressful you make it the better it will be. (Even though I know the frustration in washing the sheets/bedding for a number of nights in a row!!) Good Luck!!

Hi. We have gone through the same thing. From our experience it is the fact that our sons bladder has not grown at the pace the rest of his body has and he also does not wake up. At 6 we went to the doctor and asked for help. They have several medications you can try, you will have to see which one works for your son. Your doctor may also refer you to a urologist, we saw one just to make sure everything was ok, kidneys etc. Here are the medications we have tried: DDAVP nasal spray, Ditropan, Trofranil. Tofranil has worked the best. We also tried the Hyland's Bed Wetting pills from the healthfood store and those work pretty good too. You might want to try the Hyland's first, they melt under the tongue and are easy to take. My son is now 9 1/2 and they tell us this will all go away when he goes through puberty. We were against medication at first but went ahead because he was embarrassed and couldn't do sleep overs etc. Now he is doing great. Good luck!

Ditto to what Katie R. said. My son finally stopped wetting at age 11. We tried the alarm but it only called negative attention to his problem so we stopped using it. We covered the mattress with a waterproof cover and taught him how to change his wet fitted sheet. We let him know that he could wake us up if he needed help, which rarely happened. It gave him a sense of independence and control of the wetting situation. Understandably, he didn't like sleepovers, but he would always go to the party part and call us to be picked up when he was ready to come home. His friends accepted that without questions. As another point of interest, my mother-in-law told me that my husband was also a bedwetter until he was 11.

Hi, I can relate, ugh it is a ton of work constantly changing sheets! Our 9 year old still wets :( We have researched it online quite a bit and discovered that it is actually due to a sleep disorder. I forget the name of the place we found the most helpful..."Enurisis something....
Anyway, he has little to no REM sleep, in other words he sleeps really super deep all night. Does your 6 year old sleep like a rock? What about day time accidents(leaking)? Does he/she have the need to go frequently throughout the day and often wait to the last minute?
Write back if you like and I will try and find the website we liked so much...
Curbing the fluid intake does not work, you actually want to train the bladder to hold larger volumes longer. Often the bladder is underdeveloped.
T. ~

Some childeren don,t stop wetting the bed until about age 12 I know that sounds bad but just let him wear the pull ups . also have him see the dr. to make sure nothing is wrong. good luck S.

Most children who don't wet the bed at night have the ability to hold it all night or else they get up and use the bathroom. A child who is unable to hold it all night MUST be potty trained for nighttime. Following are instructions on what worked with my oldest when he was 4 and still wetting the bed...he was a heavy sleeper:

At bedtime, have him lay down in the dark with all bathroom and hallway lights off just as if it is the middle of the night. Ask him to pretend to be asleep and then think about how he feels when he needs to go during the day and pretend he is having that feeling while he is pretending to sleep. Ask him what he normally does when he feels the urge during the day...should be, "run to the bathroom". Have him practice "waking up", going into the bathroom, pulling his pants/undies down, pretending to urinate then pulling up the pants, flushing and getting back to bed. Have him do this visualization and practice routine 5-6 times in the evening at bedtime every night. Within a week or two he will probably be getting up in the middle of the night to go and most likely will not even recall doing it. My son, now 14 still "sleepwalks" to the bathroom to use the toilet in the middle of the night. I read about and tried this technique right before we tried the sheet alarm or putting him back in diapers...no pull ups at the time.

I hope it works as well for you. Good luck!

I had this issue as a child because I am a heavy sleeper and just wouldn't wake up. I would suggest #1. having him in pull ups at night until he can stay dry. Or #2. My mom would put me to bed at 7pm then wake me up at 11pm when she was on her way to bed. I would get up and go to the bathroom then go right back to bed.
This didn't work with my daughter because once she is awake she is AWAKE! So she is in pull ups and changes herself when she gets up (she puts her wet pull up in the diaper pail and puts on her big girl underwear) this works well for us both. :)
Best of luck, he will stay dry sooner or later (I hope for sooner for your sake)

Did you or your partner/husband wet the bed as children? This problem is transmitted genetically. It is just an immaturity of the nervous system/bladder that he will grow out of. Just reassure him and don't guilt trip him. If he is very upset by it or by wearing pull-ups, you may talk to your pediatrician about a bell/pad system that could help. A sensor is attached to his PJ's and as he begins to wet, an alarm goes off and wakes him up.
A little about me: a child psychiatrist with two children,a boy 18 and girl 12, who had problems at night until age 8, currently dry every night!