Oy, the floods!! and what to talk to dr about bedwetting

I know before you had reasons you weren't wanting to work on "curing"/fixing the bedwetting, but here is what I found to be the cause for my STBAS. (he was much the same way as yours!) •Primary enuresis: Children who have never been consistently dry at night. This usually occurs when the body makes more urine overnight than the bladder can hold and the child does not wake up when the bladder is full. The child's brain has not learned to respond to the signal that the bladder is full. It is not the child's or the parent's fault. This is the reasoning behind using betwetting alarms. In my STBAS case, he slept too deeply to get up to go potty. It took about 8 weeks, and he was consistently dry overnight. He had 1 additional accident and NOTHING since then. He has been dry overnight since August of 2012. Other physical causes could be an under-developed bladder, heredity (this is the case with me personally) and emotional issues. So, it sounds like he has many factors working against him. I know they also have medication that helps with bedwetting, but don't know much about it. I would write down his normal routine, fluids he drinks (and when restricted), does he act thirsty a lot? Does his urine smell......different than just urine? I ask because urine from a diabetic can be a sickly sweet smell due to the body's inability to process sugar. Possible UTI symptoms? Does it hurt/burn when he pees?Has he had a fever recently or been sick? Does he wet the bed EVERY night consistently or just every other day/every couple days, emotional issues encountered lately etc. Hope this helps!

Im going to be watching this thread. We are having issues with my DS and bed wetting. Is isnt every night but he still has them. We tried the alarms, but he wouldnt wake up to 3 alarms going off.... so WE would have to get up and shut them off. Poor kid, it breaks my heart :(

Mine doesn't flood but he wets the bed off and on. He was on pills awhile ago; stopped wetting and came off. Just went to the doctor. She said that pills don't really help. She recommended a bell/alarm so when the child starts to wet, the alarm goes off and the child wakes up. I haven't started yet as he hasn't been wetting the bed.

I had to have an alarm when I was little because I was a really deep sleeper. My mom tried everything before the alarm.My kids inherited my problem...I finally got the alarm. My DD wore it for about a week...she had an accident on day 2 and she did not like it and that was the end of her accidents. So her brother asked if he could have it. After two weeks of no accidents...he went off it too and we haven't had an accident since.Everyone I know who has used the alarm has been very pleased with the results.

Well, the whole point of the alarm is to help wake the child. INITIALLY, you WILL have to wake the child yourself. Read the instructions on the alarm. It tells you that you need to be active in waking the child AS SOON as the alarm goes off, as it interrupts the urine flow. They recommend you sleep in a room very close to the child or use baby monitors so you can hear the alarm going off. Initially, it wont' stop the bedwetting, but wakes the brain and stops the urine flow. After 2 weeks, my STBAS started waking up to the alarm on his own, but I still had to get him fully to the bathroom since he was still groggy and still had "wet spots" from urine flow just starting when the alarm goes off. Then he was able to stop the urine flow when the alarm woke him up and only had a tiny wet spot in his underwear...... eventually he woke up all on his own. Toileted on his own and went back to bed. Still does now. The process took fully 9-12 weeks before no accidents for 2 weeks in a row. and he then had 1 accident after the alarm was removed. Alarm went back on. Not one accident for over 2 weeks and it came off at night again. Not ONE accident since then, about 1 year ago now.

The alarm us definitely the way to go.Meanwhile, you may need to make sure everything is pointed in the right direction. Basically, is the undergarment getting completely soaked, or was there a growth spurt and he is now just peeing out of it.I found a quilted waterproof pad to put in the middle third of the bed over the sheets. That way I usually just had to put a fresh pad in when things leaked and not change the whole bed. I bought several.Good luck.

With my son, we did EVERYTHING. You know, avoid these foods, take these ones. Limit fluids. Take him twice a night to the bathroom. Go to the chiropractor. Try this exercise. Do this. Do that. We went to the bedwetting clinic at Children's. They tested his flow, did an ultrasound. He was "fine." Except he flooded every single night without fail. They gave him medication. That didn't work past the first two nights. Another one. Yeah, same thing. I bought the "grow out of it" thing...sometimes.Over the years, I kept going back to nobedwetting.com It sure is pricey. I knew it was. I couldn't afford it. I wish I had made it a priority. Though we had been pretty poor when ds was young (6, 7, 8), I could have used the income tax money or saved $30 here and there. I could have figured it out somehow had I known it was more important than I realized and sooooo fixable! But we waited. And then I did it. It uses a combination of methods to MAKE SURE your kid is successful. SO many people report that the medication doesn't work after a short time or the moment they get off it. Same with the alarm. Same with the peanut butter or chiropractor or honey or walking them to the potty. But they work with you and challenge it and everything making absolutely sure. AND, should you have a relapse down the line, they're there to help you get back on track (unnecessary in our case, btw). I absolutely believe it is helpful. And I would NEVER let a kid get over 8 years old still wetting the bed again. But for most kids, I wouldn't wait anywhere near that long. I would make it a priority because the bedwetting is only a symptom. It also effects their self-esteem (even if we want to believe it doesn't because we're handling it in such a low-key manner). It also effects their learning (even if our kid is gifted, they could be moreso if they were sleeping properly). It also effects their behavior (even if they are well-behaved, they could be learning more and better). So many people don't listen because it is pricey. It is worth it. VERY worth it. Could you do it on your own? Possibly, but it is so nice to have someone on your side to guide you through using your individual child's progress to guide the process. nobedwetting.com I absolutely believe in it and if I have a child who needs it, we will go right back to them.

sorry, I don't want to sound ungrateful for the advice, but I have reasons for not wanting to address the actual bedwetting yet. What I would like to know is what I should ask the doctor about to rule out medical issues that might be causing this. He is completely soaking through his diaper. The Curity diaper we tried last night worked a little better, but even then there was so much pee it was starting to leak beyond the padding and into the non-padded edges. There is obviously a much vaster amount of urine then there was before. Because we are restricting fluids, my conclusion is that he used to be able to hold in some of it but now he can't hold any at all of it in. He wets the bed EVERY night, he never wakes up dry. A year ago he did start waking up dry some of the time, maybe 3-4 days a week. That only lasted maybe 2-3weeks and then he was back to being wet every day.

servnjah - another poster had rave reviews about ETC. Do you know approximately how much they usually charge? We might be interested in doing this but it sounds like I'd better start saving up now!

I don't have any advice for you, but I do have sympathy. My little guy is 5 and has never been dry at night (not even one night). He also leaks through his pull-up nearly every night. I found that underjams work best for him. However, medicaid will pay for his pull-ups and so we use what they send from the medical supply company. I believe they are the curity brand. They also supply pads to go under or over the sheets. I wash sheets nearly every day. My little guy's ped did do a urine analysis, but it came up normal. I can't restrict my little guy's liquids because of his PTSD, but really he does not drink that much (but must have access to water at all times). He also has sleeping issues and if I wake him he will be up for hours. His dr told me to wait it out and he should mature. My little guy was so neglicted that he doesn't care if he is wet or dirty. We are working on that in therapy, so maybe that will help. Just know that you are not alone.

I added a couple things in there and deleted a few of the suggestions, wasn't sure if you missed that part of my post, since I know I did also mention what I did with STBAS. But as a medical professional, those questions are what I would want to know about my patient.

restricting fluids and taking a child to the bathroom is actually counter-productive. You'll cause more issue doing that rather than just dealing with the mess (which you're likely gonna deal with anyway). In fact, with the ETC, we did exactly the opposite as part of treatment.Sorry to be vague about treatment. They have a system with various parts. Different kids need different parts. Additionally, when and how is done based on the child's response to treatment at the time. So really, on top of signing that I would not disclose all the parts of treatment, it really could be problematic if people tried to do it on their own. Though I have done the treatment, I wouldn't do it by myself for another child.

I know you said you are very strict with fluids but beyond it being a medical issue it sounds like he is sneaking fluids. Could be a fast trip to potty and gulp gulp while washing hands, or a run to toss a tissue in the kitchen trash equals gulp gulp from any fluid available. Only takes a few seconds to hammer down some serious beverage. Just a thought.

MaybeDays -- yes, I did see what you had said, thank you very much :) digmykids -- there is no way he is sneaking fluids. We are on a tight schedule at night ... we are literally with him every second during the bedtime routine. Our well water is pretty gross and we don't want him drinking it (technically it is safe, no bacteria, so we do rinse with it), so we are always with him when he's anywhere near the sink to make sure he doesn't. It is VERY unlikely that he could be getting up in the middle of the night to get a drink ... to go out to the kitchen he would have to go through the baby gate (which is loud and wakes us up) and if he used the hall bath the pipes are on the other side of the wall from our bed and I wake up whenever anyone runs the water.

Hmm maybe I need to give it a try again. Our ped just said use an alarm (or a couple). She didnt give any detailed instructions and didnt suggest a certain type of alarm, so we used alarms we had in the house (so no instructions) Thanks for the tips! Im going to check out the website nobedwetting too! TFS :)