bedwetting

[ima062002]

Ds, almost 5, pees in his sleep at least once a week. He started to poop in the toilet from 18 mo on but refused to fully potty train until he was well over 4. So for a while he still wore a night diaper but then we forgot a few times and he was fine for a while. I'd say for about 2 months. Then he started having night time accidents. Once in a while he'll have an accident during the day but it's usually because he is so engrossed in his play, he doesn't quite make it to the toilet. But that is rare.

Could the night time wetting be a symptom of something or does it just mean that he and his bladder need a bit more time :)?

[Meredith]

At almost 5, I might start to suspect maybe a sensitivity issue, like not being able to feel the urge to go, or not being able to hold it. Have you talked to his ped about it? I might bring it up next time he goes.

[ima062002]

UGH. I just did some research online and it says that it could be connected to VUR, which is Vesicoureteral Reflux (reflux into the ureter due to a faulty valve), something my dd2 has. Since none of the older sibs had UTIs I didn't have them checked. The procedure involves a catheter...

[Sanoraiahsmom]

Oh no. I hope that's not the case. My daughter got her first UTI when she was four months old and we found out that she had urinary reflux. Everytime she had a fever or was vomitting she had to have a cathetar to check to see if she had an infection. She cried a lot the first few times but after a while she just made a little squeal when it was inserted but I don't know how a five yo would handle it. Is he due to see a doc anytime soon? Good luck. Let us know what you find out.

[ima062002]

No his appt. is in August. I am freaking out here because his weight gain was very slow past 12 months and he was dx failure to thrive and now I am reading that this is one of the signs! Damn it. I should have had him tested! He was 3ish when his sister got diagnosed and I thought, well, he's never had a fever... I should have just done it then. Now I won't be able to sleep all night... I will take him in asap tomorrow morning to have his urine tested.

Are you treating her with prophylactic antibiotics? We are. My dh thinks it's bull to do but I try to remember to give it to her every day. Dd2 only had one UTI at 9 mo. She is also very tiny. Is Sarai small for her age?

[GirlsMama]

I had two very close friends growing up who wet the bed into their teens. One was a girl, her doctor thought she was sleeping too heavily and gave her some type of pill to help her wake up when she had to go. She started taking 1/2, then 1, then 1 1/2... It didn't work too well to my knowledge. We had a lot of sleepovers and she had a lot of accidents, it was no big deal to either of us, just part of her life.

The other person was a boy and he had a little thing that is mom snapped into his underwear with some kind of sensor that when it got wet beeped and woke him up so he could go.

This all sounds quite medieval now, so I would imagine things have changed a lot over the last more than 20 years. However, nothing was wrong with either of them that I know of. This wasn't a helpful post really, I just wanted you to know I knew two people who had this problem into their teens, so it's probably not all that uncommon.

[Sanoraiahsmom]

I think that if he had it you would by now, because like you said he didn't have a fever. But I can only speak from my experience with Sarai, and she would scream in her sleep when she peed when she had a UTI, and she didn't want to be moved at all. Also when she had a UTI she had a high fever and we could see it in her eyes. She had a real sickly look in her eyes. Does that make any sense? Sarai is three now and I think at a healthy weight but she doesn't have the reflux anymore, but yes we did have to use prophylactic antibiotics for a little longer than a year. (I was a little worried about it at first and people would always ask if she would be immune to them, but we haven't had to give her antibiotics since then, so I don't know). The doctors said that she should grow out of it in about a year or they would have to do surgery. We took her back to the Children's Hospital after a year and they told us that she out grew it. When we were there though, there was a couple that had 2 kids that had reflux and they found it in the younger one with her pregnancy ultrasounds. When they test your son though they may not have to use a cath because when Sarai got older and was potty trained they made her pee in a contain that went on top of the toilet to catch the urine, and then they collected the urine and tested it that way. But you might just want to get him checked just in case. Sarai had a very high tolerance for pain so at first we didn't even know that she had an infection. We just took her in because she started vomitting. So your son might be like her and has a high tolerance for pain. Has he been (projectile) vomitting at all? Good Luck tomorrow. Let me know what you find out.

[Meredith]

I had two very close friends growing up who wet the bed into their teens. One was a girl, her doctor thought she was sleeping too heavily and gave her some type of pill to help her wake up when she had to go. She started taking 1/2, then 1, then 1 1/2... It didn't work too well to my knowledge. We had a lot of sleepovers and she had a lot of accidents, it was no big deal to either of us, just part of her life.

The other person was a boy and he had a little thing that is mom snapped into his underwear with some kind of sensor that when it got wet beeped and woke him up so he could go.

This all sounds quite medieval now, so I would imagine things have changed a lot over the last more than 20 years. However, nothing was wrong with either of them that I know of. This wasn't a helpful post really, I just wanted you to know I knew two people who had this problem into their teens, so it's probably not all that uncommon.

My brother used both of those (I'm guessing the pill was DDAVP?), and neither one worked for him. He wet the bed into his teens as well. He did have some other delays, though.

I hope you're able to get some answers and treatment, Ima. I hope it's not too serious.

[maksmom]

DD2 is 6 and if we do not take her to the bathroom before we go to bed she will wet the bed. She occasionally wets any way. Her ped is not concerned, but she has never had an UTI either. She has quite a few peers with the same "problem."

[jessiehannan]

My DD will be 7 soon, and she still wets the bed. But only when at home. *sigh* I haven't brought it up to the dr yet, but with her behavioral issues at the moment, I will wait.

[Jacksmommy]

Could he just be in a phase where he's sleeping more deeply?

[ima062002]

Yes he could. But 30% of kids with VUR have a sibling that has it too. I foolishly believed that kids get a fever with UTIs which I now know is not the case...

Everything is closed today, so no appt. with his doc.

[Sputterduck]

Doctors won't even treat bedwetting at that age because it is developmentally normal. I wouldn't get a catheter up my almost 5 year old son for it.

[RaisingThemLeft]

Bedwetting is completely normal at that age. Completely. I doubt the Dr. will want to run tests on an almost 5 yr old who is bedwetting. Our Dr. didn't want to do anything about ds's bedwetting until he was over 8. At that point, we saw a urologist, they did an u/s (no cath, just the same type of u/s you get when you are pg, on top of your stomach- well, pelvis really). She also reccommended a bedwetting alarm. The bedwetting alarm worked like magic and he no longer wets the bed. I bought it online at www.thebedwettingstore.com but I wouldn't even try it on a 5 yr old, I'd give it at least a couple more years.

Really, I would not even waste a second of time worrying about health problems in an almost 5 yr old child if his only "symptom" is bedwetting.

[ima062002]

Bedwetting is completely normal at that age. Completely.

It's also a sign of UTIs. Since his sister has VUG it's a concern (30% of sibs have VUG as well) and I am afraid it might have gone undiagnosed since I've cancelled an appointment to check the older kids a while back. I erroneously thought that UTIs will always present with a fever in kids.

Otherwise I am not bothered by it. I don't care to do extra loads of washes. We have loads of laundry anyway. It's just pee :).

[RaisingThemLeft]

I don't think it would hurt to have him checked in light of the fact that his sister has VUG. However, since 20% of seven year olds still wet the bed, I wouldn't be worried to the point of sleeplessness over a not yet five year old child wetting the bed. My youngest will be 5 in Nov. and is also wetting the bed at least once a week. My oldest wet every night until we did the bedwetting alarm when he was 8.5. Neither had/have any medical issues.

[madelsmama]

Madeline is the same age as your ds. She never had much issue with having accidents at night until we had some major life changes--baby sister was born, moving, etc. It concerned me for a while. I even tested her urine for glucose a few times (it was negative).

Her doc wasn't overly concerned and felt that it would pass. She does not routinely have problems at night but I have noticed that she will have accidents during the night before a planned trip to Grandma's, and even often the first night while we are there. I'm guessing it is her body's way of dealing with low-grade anxiety.

Definitely discuss it with his doc, but perhaps doing some less invasive testing (testing for protein in his urine, maybe a blood chemistry to check renal function) may be a possibility to rule it out before going for the cath test.

[Sputterduck]

If you weren't concerned before, why be now over something that kids his age do normally?

[ima062002]

If you weren't concerned before, why be now over something that kids his age do normally?

Because I didn't know that UTIs can present without fever in kids and because night wetting is one possible symptom of asymptomatic UTIs and the fact that he was FTT for a long time. It just dawned to me yesterday that we might have missed signs with him and now the damage is done. His night wetting has increased; he was dry for a while and now they are very frequent.

[madelsmama]

Do you notice his urine being quite pungent-smelling when changing his sheets? How about color being darker than usual?