Should I Be Worried About My 5-Year-Old's Bedwetting?

[apriljc]

I am starting to get concerned about my 5 year old. He still wears pull ups to bed at night because he wets during the night. We tried the wearing underwear to bed but sometimes he would wake and sometimes he didn't. We also tried waking him up about midnight or so and making him to potty but he would still wake up wet. I think he just goes, goes, goes all day and when he sleeps at night he crashes hard. My 3 year old has only had 1 accident in the last 18 months or so. At fiirst I had them both wear pull ups so that way my 5 year old didn't feel like a baby, but now I don't. I have asked my pediatrician and he told me not to worry too much right now but maybe when he is 6 1/2 almost 7 to than be concerned about it. I know I shouldn't worry but I do. He wants to have a couple of his kindergarten friends stay the night but I don't want them to because I dn't want him to get make fun of by the other kids. What is all of your advice? Am I just being a worried mommy??

 

[cajunchelle]

There is medications that they can give your son for the bed wetting. I have read up on it in the past for my son before he was even potty trained (can we say "I didn't want to wash sheets every day). There is also an alarm that you can get to put in his underwear or pull up that wakes him up when they start to wet. Also making him wait longer periods during the day can help to stretch his bladder so that it will hold more and could lead to less wetting.

 

[PCJen]

My son is now 7 and still has the problem at night. No problems during the day. His urine also has a sweet syrup smell to it. I hear this is more a problem with boys. My daughter is 4 1/2 and has never had a problem. Any doctors out there that can tell me why his urine may smell sweet like this. I know that I have read about it somewhere but can't remember where I read it or what it had said for sure.

 

[Jennie4PC]

IMO I probably wouldnt be to worried about it yet bed wetting can run in families so if someone in your family or his has had a bed wetting problem then your kids may have the same trouble he will eventually grow out of it. When he has friends over try buying the goodnights that are made for older kids who wet the bed they have cool designs on them and I am sure the kids wont even notice. Good Luck with eerything

 

[SillyChef]

I am starting to get concerned about my 5 year old. He still wears pull ups to bed at night because he wets during the night. We tried the wearing underwear to bed but sometimes he would wake and sometimes he didn't. We also tried waking him up about midnight or so and making him to potty but he would still wake up wet. I think he just goes, goes, goes all day and when he sleeps at night he crashes hard. My 3 year old has only had 1 accident in the last 18 months or so. At fiirst I had them both wear pull ups so that way my 5 year old didn't feel like a baby, but now I don't. I have asked my pediatrician and he told me not to worry too much right now but maybe when he is 6 1/2 almost 7 to than be concerned about it. I know I shouldn't worry but I do. He wants to have a couple of his kindergarten friends stay the night but I don't want them to because I dn't want him to get make fun of by the other kids. What is all of your advice? Am I just being a worried mommy??

I don't think I would rush into medications right away. I found that if I let my 3 year old drink something before bed he pees in his sleep. *he wears pull ups still* If I don't give him anything to drink lets say anywhere between 1-2 hours before bed he is home free. You should try talking with him about it too. He might be having bad dreams? I wouldn't worry tooo much yet. I hope this helps.

 

[thechefofnorthbend]

My husbands brother had this problem when he was a kid (he's 29 now) and it all was account of him having sleep issues. he fell so far into the REM level of sleep that NOTHING could wake him, therefore even the urge to pee wouldnt rouse him. he had to undergo therapy for sleep apnea and narcalepsy, neither which did he have. They had to have him sleep on special sheets that gave him a zing when he wet to wake him up otherwuse he was almost comatose. Now that he is older, he went and saw a ENT which has accounted it to sinus issues, had his adnoids removed and he has never had another sleep issure since. Just another option...HTH

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

My son is 9 1/2 now and he was wetting the bed until this last year. He was tested for things and they found nothing. I would get frustrated but didn't do the meds or the alarm or waking him during the night. He sleeps SOOOO hard! If I did try to wake him during the night he was totally delirious!!! It was kinda funny except he could barely walk and didn't know where he was going. He has finally stopped (except for a very occassional accident). I try to watch how much he drinks before bed. I, too, worried and worried. Every year at his Dr appt I would bring it up. And every year they would reassure me. Hang in there! He won't still be wetting the bed when he graduates, guaranteed!

 

[jm2003]

I can fullly relate to the wetting of the bed issue. My son is 12 and does it. I have found that it is brought on by his deep sleep and mostly stress. We have done the wake up at night thing, sleep alarm thing,attends, meds. None of it worked. We have finally come to see that it is all or mostly stress related. If something stressfull is coming up, big game that he is in, changes at school, or what ever he wets the bed sometime multiple times a night until the event has passed. This isn't an every night thing but can get very trying when it happens 5+ times a night!
I hear you load and clear on the doing sheets every day thing. I do about 4 loads a day depending on the stress level.
We have talked to the doctor and have done everything that can be done. We are told when he learns ho to deal with stress it will all be better.

 

[BethCooks4U]

How does your son FEEL about the whole thing? I believe that is the issue especially if there are younger siblings that do not have the problem.

We struggled with that problem with our son and no matter how understanding and supportive we were, he was very upset. He didn't tell us that but it affected his life in a lot of ways. He even became abusive of his younger brother (I won't go into the details but it was not our imagination). His brother WAS empathetic of him and even said "if someone sees them in this grocery cart and asks I'll say the 'nightpants' are for me" but life was a big challenge.

We finally had a doctor tell us that it was just an immature bladder. He put him on a medication and in no time his bladder was trained and he didn't need the medication.

Be patient, some kids just take longer. But if there are other issues - no matter how unrelated they seem - find out if there is something out there to help you.

These two boys still have some issues but we do have to say that now that the older is out of the house (graduated HS and is working) they get along VERY well. There is always hope! (The older had other issues too through his childhood but we do believe this was a big part of the reason it all developed.)

 

[priscilla]

My son is now 7 and still has the problem at night. No problems during the day. His urine also has a sweet syrup smell to it. I hear this is more a problem with boys. My daughter is 4 1/2 and has never had a problem. Any doctors out there that can tell me why his urine may smell sweet like this. I know that I have read about it somewhere but can't remember where I read it or what it had said for sure.

DISCALIMER: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. Please take him to a pediatrician ASAP with this info. My first thought, then after some research, this could be diabetes. Normal urine has no smell unless you are dehydrated, when it should smell like ammonia. A sweet smell could be uncontrolled diabetes, a maple syrup smell could be a metabolic disease.

I am not meaning to alarm, but please have him checked.

 

[supergirljennie]

DISCALIMER: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. Please take him to a pediatrician ASAP with this info. My first thought, then after some research, this could be diabetes. Normal urine has no smell unless you are dehydrated, when it should smell like ammonia. A sweet smell could be uncontrolled diabetes, a maple syrup smell could be a metabolic disease.

I am not meaning to alarm, but please have him checked.

I agree with this too. This could be a symptom of diabetes. Better to check and hopefully everything be okay then let it go on and something (god forbid) be wrong with him. I hope everything is all right, but it'd be best to have him checked. Let us know!

 

[gilliandanielle]

My DD turned 3 yesterday and we are still working on day training, but... I LOVE this catalog and highly recommend this company. Here are their "bedwetting" products-

http://www.onestepahead.com/jump.jsp?lGen=category&sid=75563397&iSubCat=86233&iMainCat=85243&itemID=86233&itemType=CATEGORY&vAll=true&change=118

 

[PCJen]

DISCALIMER: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. Please take him to a pediatrician ASAP with this info. My first thought, then after some research, this could be diabetes. Normal urine has no smell unless you are dehydrated, when it should smell like ammonia. A sweet smell could be uncontrolled diabetes, a maple syrup smell could be a metabolic disease.

I am not meaning to alarm, but please have him checked.

Thanks for refreshing my memory. I do remember reading about the diabetes part. He has had no signs of having diabetes, but I did not know about the metabolic disease and will look into it more. I will be bringing this up with the doctor. Thanks.

 

[ChefJoeCool]

That is so strange that you are having the exact same problem as we are with our 5 year old son. In fact, on the 23rd, we had a renal ultrasound to make sure all his "parts" were all ok. The doctor called this morning and said everything looked fine. She did mention the pills, but didn't recommend them until around the age of 7...which I fully agreed with.
He also wears overnights to bed and still has accidents with those (and we keep him from having any food or liquid after 6:00). But, he will have 1-2 accidents a day...I am so tired of smelling urine and doing laundry that I can hardly stand it!!!
The doctor said he is probably just having too much fun with whatever he is doing that he doesn't want to stop to go the the bathroom (I do agree with her). But, she did recommend that he go to the bathroom after every meal, whether he has to go or not, but just encourage him to do so...and to reward him when he does go (with stickers or something). So, I think we were incident free today...let's hope the same goes for tomorrow!!!

 

[lizcooks4u]

hate to admit this...

I am starting to get concerned about my 5 year old. He still wears pull ups to bed at night because he wets during the night. We tried the wearing underwear to bed but sometimes he would wake and sometimes he didn't. We also tried waking him up about midnight or so and making him to potty but he would still wake up wet. I think he just goes, goes, goes all day and when he sleeps at night he crashes hard. My 3 year old has only had 1 accident in the last 18 months or so. At fiirst I had them both wear pull ups so that way my 5 year old didn't feel like a baby, but now I don't. I have asked my pediatrician and he told me not to worry too much right now but maybe when he is 6 1/2 almost 7 to than be concerned about it. I know I shouldn't worry but I do. He wants to have a couple of his kindergarten friends stay the night but I don't want them to because I dn't want him to get make fun of by the other kids. What is all of your advice? Am I just being a worried mommy??

We had the same problems in our family, only with over night bedwetting. with my brothers/sister and even myself. I hated going to friends' houses as I was so afraid of what may happen. I was finally put on medications and that really seemed to help. Sometimes I would be in such a deep sleep I wouldn't wake up, other times I would dream I got up and went, etc.

Back then we didn't have pull up's either. Many doctor's even said things as lazy, but luckily our Dr. knew of this and how to treat it as well.

I was yelled at and everything by my parents, before they realized it was a medical problem. So the two younger kids it didn't bother as badly as it did me and my brother.

It usually affects males, but females too. I heard everything from being lazy, etc. It has nothing to do with those things.

HTH;

Liz

I'm 43 now and still don't like talking about it. I even currently work in the medical field, but it's that damaging.