Bed-Wetting Issues

In a comment from the post about protein in Ryan's urine, someone anonymously asked, "How's Ryan doing? He has been in my prayers since you posted this, and I'd love an update."

First of all, THANK YOU for praying for him. That was so encouraging to hear and put a huge smile on my face. Bless you, Ms. Anonymous!

After that post, we went back to the doctor the next day with a urine sample (that Ryan did NOT dump back into the toilet) and all was clear. No protein. Weird, huh? They said that's why they wanted to re-test it with the first pee of the day. It was just a fluke and we are completely relieved.

This whole thing started when I mentioned at Ryan's 6 year well check that he's started having night time accidents again. I think it was only once or twice a week, but couldn't be sure because Ryan had found a package of Pull Ups and had started wearing them again so he wouldn't wake up in wet sheets at midnight.


Ryan has had (seemingly) random issues with bed-wetting forever. It never really concerned me because he has not one, but two friends who are almost a year older than him who still wear Pull Ups at night. I used them as my gauge. When he was four and they were five, even though Kaylin was two and 100% potty trained, it was helpful to know the friends were still peeing at night, just like Ryan. Then he was five and they were six, now he is six and they are seven.

Last summer, my psychologist aunt in KC suggested that I take Ryan out of Pull Ups at night and wake him up to go to the bathroom when I got up (I was pregnant and getting up multiple times). It worked for months, and I continued waking him at night after Jason was born because I was awake nursing him, anyway.

We eventually got to the point where we could wake Ryan just before we went to bed around 10pm and he would stay dry until morning. Most of those nights, we were dragging a sleep-walking five year old into the bathroom and trying to convince him to stand by the toilet and relax. Sometimes, he would lay down next to the toilet and fall back to sleep, other times he would go to the bathroom easily, but occasionally, he'd stand there and cry hysterically, half-asleep and completely disoriented. And on those nights, I'd put him back to bed without fighting him to go to the bathroom.

I can't remember when I stopped the 10pm bathroom break. Sometime in the spring, maybe? I think he had huge tantrums 2-3 nights in a row and I threw in the towel, only to find him dry the following mornings.

But this summer, the accidents started up again. It took me a few weeks to see a pattern, but I realized that the nights he had accidents were nights he had basketball practice or after we'd swam all day. (I figured out he was so tired and slept so hard that he didn't get up to take himself to the bathroom.)

So when I mentioned all of this to our new pediatrician (before she tested his urine and found protein in it that first time), she made a few suggestions.

First, she recommended that I get rid of the Pull Ups. I have to admit that if I were wearing a diaper and had to pee at 2am, I might just let loose and fall back to sleep, too!

Second, she said to make him drink a full glass of water with breakfast, making sure he's hydrated early in the day instead of needing lots of liquids at the end of the day. Also, she suggested sending him to school with a water bottle to keep at his desk to hydrate throughout the day, which we already do because in Arizona, you need a water bottle with you at all times. Because "it's a dry heat." (If you've never been to Phoenix, you might not get that...)

Third, she gave the standard suggestion of cutting off liquids after X o'clock. For us, since Ryan goes to bed at 7:00, she said he could have a small, four ounce cup of water at dinner, then nothing else to drink for the rest of the night. This has been very difficult in the past, but I think following rule #2 and hydrating him first thing every day would help.

Last, she told me to do a "double void" at nighttime. (Apparently a "void" is when you empty your bladder.) She said to have him go potty before stories and prayers, then again as the VERY last thing before he gets in bed. I guess most kids rush through going potty the first time, too excited for stories, and they don't completely empty their bladder. She said to ideally space the two "voids" 15 minutes apart.

If those tricks didn't work after a month or two, she wanted me to call her.

Sure enough, he hasn't had a nighttime accident since the appointment and that was over two weeks ago. I've even heard him get up to go to the bathroom every day during the 5am hour, which is a bummer because I don't think he ever falls back to sleep after that, but at least he's waking up to pee!

I know this is an issue that lots of mom deal with, but not many moms talk about, so I wanted to share what we've tried and what's been suggested to us. An update on our two 7 year old friends who were wearing Pull Ups: one has gone two weeks without an accident and attributes it to being in 2nd grade, the other one still fills his Pull Up every night to capacity, sometimes even soaking the sheets, too. He gets cut off from liquids at 4:00 and still has trouble all night long.

One thing that seems consistent with all three of our boys is that when they have to go, they have to go NOW. They don't give much warning and if the car isn't pulled over ASAP, there's an accident. One mom even noticed that when her son pees, it's only a tiny bit, so she's going to check with the doctor regarding the possibility of an unusually small bladder.

I don't claim to have all of the answers, just some possibilities for you to try if your child is having nighttime accidents. I seem to be past the daily sheet/comforter laundry marathons, but I don't know that I'm out of the woods forever. Yet. Everyone says that kids outgrow this, so we'll see how long it takes my kid!

Does anyone else have tips or tricks for concerned and frustrated moms out there?