Bed wetting help

MileySmiley_2

karen24 wrote: »

Unfortunately I can't physically lift him out of his bunk as he is very heavy and I have a back problem, so if he doesn't wake when I try I leave him. He does use the toilet when he's awake, and since we have limited liquids after tea, his nappy is not as wet as it was earlier this year. It used to leak out and wet his bed and pyjamas, so that at least is an improvement. I'm not overly bothered about the nappies and bedwetting, I just deal with the extra washing and don't make a fuss at all. The only reason I asked for advice is because he has started removing his nappy in the night and is asking not to wear it anymore. Obviously I don't want to be changing a wet bed every night for a year if I can avoid it, apart from the extra washing there's his quality of sleep to consider. Believe it or not I'm not annoyed with him at all, and he knows this as I'm sure if he could stay dry he would. I spoke to the support worker at school today and she's going to get the school nurse to call me, I'll let you know what she suggests to see if it can help anybody else. He stays with family regularly but hasn't been asked to sleep at a friend's house, he probably wouldn't stay anywhere where wearing a nappy would be a problem due to his other problems. It's been interesting and helpful to hear the point of view of people who have had experienced bedwetting personally and will make me think carefully before I do anything now.

try a bedwetting alarm, It worked with my daughter as she wanted to be dry, I'm about to go out now and will post either later or tommorow, look online.

xx

daska

Boots do an own brand pack of nappy booster pads which may help. The item number is 26-72-995. You may have to ask for these as I've not seen them on the shelves and they're not available on-line.

tiamai_d

Your Health Visitor can sort you out with pull ups, DS2 gets a delivery of 3 packs every month. He's still in nappies during the day and at night, so your thread is interesting, it's a glimpse into the future for me, although I've got no advice.

My 8 yr old son has only started being consistently dry this year and still has the odd accident which is normal for boys.

Caroline73_2

When I was school nursing we didn't advocating lifting children as they aren't learning the signals. You should try to wake them gently, in the dark, don't chat, take them to the loo and then walk them back.

Limiting drinks is ok but don't cut them out completely after teatime as many parents do, as this can irritate the bladder. Stick to water if poss.

To the OP - your son is still young so don't worry too much. Speak to the school nurse who will be trained in such things, you'll be surprised at how common this is.

sooz

Mado wrote: »

The dry nites come in quite big sizes. But they are expensive...

thank you. I'd only ever seen the dry nights up to 27kg. It seems like he needs the ones for up to 57kg (hmm I could almost wear them too ). But OMG how much???? £5.37 for 9 pants :eek: I hope they are on bogof often!

Indie_Kid

I'm sure someone (not on here?) said they were able to get their son's nappies free via their health visitor. Have you asked them yet, if your son has one?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

An ex did this until he was 14. In the end he was given medication. It never mattered whether he had a drink or not, was woken up or not, whether there was an alarm or not - it just happens to some people. He could go to sleep on a washing line in a hurricane, though!

It happens, I don't see the need to try and make him dry at night. The referral will probably help, though as there may be a physical reason why this is happening.

Mind you, I would have quite happily said with the daytime situation 'maybe we were trying a bit too hard. Shall we use the pull ups again for a couple of weeks and try again?'

The people I know with ASDs (including my brother) would find the logic behind that quite reasonable and not be upset about it. In fact, I'd probably try and approach it now as an experiment for him, something to find out about and see what happens, not as something to fail.

That way, if he feels that it is an experiment to see if taking them off actually makes a difference this week (not permanently, just for a week at a time?), it's information, rather than failure.

Mado

sooz wrote: »

thank you. I'd only ever seen the dry nights up to 27kg. It seems like he needs the ones for up to 57kg (hmm I could almost wear them too ). But OMG how much???? £5.37 for 9 pants :eek: I hope they are on bogof often!

I have never seen them on BOGOF.
But regularly you can get 2 packs for £8, or 25% sometimes...
Still a rather dear problem.:eek:

karen24_2

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Mind you, I would have quite happily said with the daytime situation 'maybe we were trying a bit too hard. Shall we use the pull ups again for a couple of weeks and try again?'

The people I know with ASDs (including my brother) would find the logic behind that quite reasonable and not be upset about it. In fact, I'd probably try and approach it now as an experiment for him, something to find out about and see what happens, not as something to fail.

That way, if he feels that it is an experiment to see if taking them off actually makes a difference this week (not permanently, just for a week at a time?), it's information, rather than failure.

That sounds like a good idea about trying it as an experiment, someone else suggested trying for a weekend and maybe we'll do that, however I still want to get the official advice from the school nurse. When I made the decision to train him during the day we weren't aware that his behaviour was a medical condition and I just thought I was a bad mother. In hindsight I wish I'd listened to my instincts and held off a few more months. Sadly I was put under pressure as he was due to start nursery at school, and although I was told they allow them to go in pullups I could tell it was frowned upon. I was also pregnant with his baby brother so I thought I wouldn't be able to give him enough attention to tackle it later as I was struggling with him anyway. As it was summer, so less clothes I tried. If you add the fact that he used to go upstairs to poo and then smear it everywhere, you can probably understand my reasons.
I've had a look online about the alarms, they're also something I'm considering but I am reluctant to spend money on a gadget just yet.

rainbow81

Hi there

my son is on the autistic spectrum and your post has struck a chord. He is 6 and still in pull up nappies at night (I just can't afford the pyjama pants and don't really see what the difference is). I remember the daytime toilet training was so painful, he didn't "get it" that he should use the toilet until I completely took his nappies away in the day (he was 4!!).

I would say, as with all things don't rush him. I agree that he is feeling ready because of the signs of taking off the nappy etc so go with whatever he feels. Have you heard of Social Stories at all? They are used with children on the autistic spectrum (and are useful for any children with similar traits) and they can have a little picture with sentences explaining what will happen if he wets the bed etc. I used it with my son to stop him pooing in his nappy at night and laying in it all night. It helped explain that I would be pleased if he told me when he needed to go. I must try it with the weeing, come to think of it!

Also, my school nurse made an interesting point that if children don't drink enough in the day then they will make up for it in the evening and then wee/poo in the night too. My son doesn't drink enough at school so I don't want to restrict his fluids in the evening.

Well, that was long! Sorry about that, don't really know if it's any help but google Social Stories, they really do help reduce the anxiety around the issue which may be most of the problem.

R x