I am at a loss as to how to help my son stop wetting the bed at night. He is nearly 8 years old, and it seems as though over the last couple years it has gotten worse rather than better. I have a very small washing machine so this means 2 loads of laundry each time he has an accident. And when he wears a pullup half the time this does not hold everything and the bedding gets wet anyway. I am at my wits end.......and open to every suggestion you may have. Thanks for your help....
My nephew was wetting the bed until about a year ago (he's almost 13). They tried waking him several times a night, medication, etc. The thing that finally did the trick for them was the alarm. She said it was expensive, but she wouldn't hesitate to buy it again if she needed to.
Gracie has accidents nightly, and I do mean nightly. She wears the good night pull ups. We tried different combinations of cloth, but it was too much for her. She doesn't wake up after peeing, so while something might have held the first wetting, they couldn't hold the second. The goodnights can hold it most of the time. After talking with her pediatrician we have decided that an alarm is the way we will be going. Unfortunately they are costly and it seems to be the one item that we put off. She hasn't been bothered that she has accidents, but she is starting to want to have sleep over.... Good luck! You are not alone.
I wanted to offer a ((HUG)) my son is almost 8 too and I know exactly what you are going through. Im also afraid of the toll its taking on his self esteem, ya know? I hope spmeone out there has some great ideas!
i know nothing about bed wetting-that said i understand that it can be from a food intolerance-you can read about it here http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/Factallergy.htm poor mama and son-it must be so frustrating for both of you.
Just an update.... We did go to the pediatrician yesterday and he was really cool about everything. Explained that it is just a problem of sleeping too deeply and not with the plumbing, and that I should just be patient and keep doing laundry. He said I should get my son up before I go to bed at night and have him go to the bathroom again and keep him in pullups. I have not let him have cows milk the last 3 nights at dinner, and amazingly he has been ry 3 nights in a row. The doctor says there is no connection, but I wonder. He also reassured me that this something he would most likely grow out of by the time he is 10, and said whatever I do dont be mad at him because he cant help it, and never to let anyone tease him for this problem.
Doctors know nothing about food, nutrition intolerance and allergies in general. So his saying that there is no connection is bogus. It is ALWAYS a* possibility*. Worth a try keeping him off dairy (for at least a week)just to see if the sypmtoms stop. It won't hurt him not to have it. And imagine how thrilled he would be if bedweeting stopped.
Yet another mommy of an 8 yob who wets the bed almost every night. Maybe we should start a support group? PM me if you're interested. --NB
My 8.5 yr old still wets at night. Unfortunately she was blessed with parents that went through the same. I'm just thankful that she has the goodnights and doesn't have to go through what we did when we were young.
I know many moms who definitely connected dairy to bed-wetting. No more dairy = no more bed wetting. They challenge tested dairy and bed wetting occured. I found the same with a couple of my kids. We didn't have dairy much..but started having ice cream after baseball in the summer. We had more than one wet bed that night &/or kids up crying they had to pee & didn't make it. The other nights with no dairy that didn't happen. It definitely was NOT a coincidence as it happened other times too. Dr.'s DON'T know everything!
Tonight will be the test. He has been dry 4 mornings in a row when he gets up - no dairy at dinner - and tonight he is going to my moms house for dinner. Last week when he went to her house he had milk and 2 bowls of ice cream and wet his bed and my bed that night. She is so adamant about milk, that trying to get her not to serve it would cause a huge ordeal so I am not going to argue with her about it, but I bet he has trouble tonight. I am going to pick up some chocolate soymilk for him. He has tried vanilla and does not like it so maybe chocolate wil work. I'll keep you posted. Its nice to know we are not alone.
Oh geez J just announced that he has outgrown his blankets. I don't know what to do now! I need a shoulder to cry on :-( I am not in any position to completely cut dairy out of his diet. :juggle: Is anyone else interested in a support group, so we can all help each other through these times? Please? LOL --NB nama at dasya.com
Each child is different. Some kids need to have no diary in their diet. Some kids tolerate unpasteurized cow's milk or other animal milk such as goat. Some kids can tolerate yogurt &/or cheese, but not straight milk. Here is something I posted at a list I am on: "Unpasteurizied or raw cow's milk still has the natural enzymes in it that help the baby cows & humans (or any other animal that drinks another animal's milk) to digest the milk. You know how you hear about food enzymes to help digest food for those with food allergies. Well it still is in the raw milk. The enzymes actually increase in the fermenting process of yogurt, kefir and cheese. Some people who cannot digest pasteurized cow's milk can handle a small amount of fermented dairy products because even though it is pasteurized the fermentation process produces the enzymes. One of my dd's handles dairy better when she has food enzymes before she consumes it. Also some people confuse lactose intolerance with a food allergy. Food allergy has to do with the proteins in the milk. They are quite large & harder to digest...that is why the cow's milk formulas advertise the "smaller proteins". Also there may be traces of anti-biotics in the milk which can cause problems for those with anti-biotic allergies. (The farmers are supposed to "pump & dump" the milk from cows taking anti-biotics but tests on milk prove that there are amounts of anti-biotics in the milk). One more thing ...there are often tolerance levels in regards to food allergies. My DD can handle one serving of milk every couple of days. If she has more than that...she has reactions. My other DD can have more than that, but does come to a level where she reacts as well. Also other allergies affect the dairy allergy. If one is dealing with environmental allergies at the time & the body is busy with that then throwing in a food allergen pushes their reaction to over-flowing. In winter when environmental allergens are less they can consume more dairy then in other seasons when there are more allergens they are exposed to. Interesting stuff!! I used to drink raw milk often when my Uncle was a dairy farmer, just outside of Orillia. Oh...it was delicious!! I also was able to get some a few years ago through a friend of a friend. Since we are living in the middle of dairy & farm country I suppose I could find some raw milk. We have 2 dairy farmers we know within a couple of minutes drive. We have 2 horses, a sheep & some organic chickens & people ask us if a cow is next!!! Hmmm...but to keep the cow lactating we'd have to have her bred & I'm not sure what we'd do with a calf." Tolerance levels vary too. Some kids may handle yogurt once a day, but can't handle yogurt & pizza. Also if they have the dairy earlier in the day it may have less of an effect on bed-wetting. One articulate older girl with bed-wetting due to dairy said that she could "feel a sensation" in her bladder when she had dairy. If she had milk on her cereal she would have urgency to urinate, but not too big of a deal in the day. However, if she drank it later in the day, she would sleep through the urgent signal and wet the bed. Another girl with dairy issues said she had similar sensations too.
You know what makes me angry about this whole thing? Everything I have read on bedwetting NEVER mentions the dairy connection. My son has been dry for 6 mornings in a row and I can only attribute this to cutting out dairy in the evening. I am so mad that all this could have been improved years ago if I had only known. GRRRRRR - so called experts don't have a thing on mama knowledge!
