Posts Tagged ‘girls’

School Wetting

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

EP writes about her 7 year old daughter who will be starting 2nd grade soon. In first grade, there were times that she waited until the last minute and didn’t make it to the bathroom in time. This resulted in wet pants, sometimes requiring a complete change of clothes. She has been checked out by her doctor and there does not seem to be any associated problems. Mom wonders what she can do to prevent this from happening this school year.

Urologists around the country agree that this can be a common and frustrating problem that is best handled by frequent urination on a regular basis. Emptying the bladder regularly eliminates the urgent messages that sometimes result in urine leakage. The difficulty arises when children get busy with other activities and lose track of time. Telling a child to go potty every 2 or 3 hours is a hard concept to grasp. Even remembering to go to the bathroom before lunch or recess can be difficult. A discreet vibrating wrist watch is a reliable tool for providing a reminder to go to the bathroom.

We carry several vibrating wrist watches that are perfect for this purpose. Our top selling watch is the Vibrowatch. Up to 12 specific times can be programmed to coordinate with your daughter’s schedule. The watch vibrates for about 20 seconds and is difficult to ignore. It comes in several different colors and has a durable plastic band. Vibrating watches are generally a little larger than time telling watches to accommodate the larger battery.

Starting the new school year off with a reminder watch is likely to eliminate many of the embarrassing accidents she had last year. You can consult her teacher about the best toileting times and make sure she has free access to the bathroom when her watch reminds her to go.

Girl’s alarms

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

JB writes that her daughter used a potty alarm inserted into her underwear but that it was never in the position to detect the moisture.  Her daughter sleeps on her back and tends to wet the back of her underwear rather than the front.  She asks which alarm(s) are best suited for girls?

JB’s question brings up an important point.  When using a bedwetting alarm, the type of alarm and correct positioning are very important to achieving success.  The type of alarm that she used in the past was as large as a deck of cards and impossible to comfortably position where the urine would most likely begin flowing.

I have successfully used several types of alarms for girls.  One recommendation is the Rodger bedwetting alarm, which comes with two pair of specialized briefs.  These briefs have moisture detecting threads woven from the front to the back of the briefs.  The briefs are comfortable cotton and feel no different to the wearer than their regular underwear. No matter what position your daughter is in when the urination begins, the briefs are there to detect the first drops of moisture.  Once moisture is detected, a small transmitter on the waistband sends a message to the receiver that is plugged into the wall.  The receiver sounds to alert the child and parents that wetting is occurring.  Your daughter (or son) would have to get out of bed and walk over to turn off the alarm.  (If your daughter wets more than once a night or you are not able to get laundry done everyday, I recommend that you purchase extra underwear so that clean, dry pants are always available).

Other recommendations include the Malem alarms: the auditory, Ultimate or wireless models.  The Malem easy-clip sensor is about a half inch wide and an inch long and can be comfortably placed on the outside of underwear in the crotch area.  Because this sensor is small and on the outside of the underwear, the girls can easily position it where they expect the first drops of urine to come through.  The advantage of the Malem alarms with the easy clip sensor is that your daughter can use her own underwear at night. Over time, she would become adept at exactly the right placement for her.  (In girls who have gone through puberty, the correct sensor placment during menses would be beyond the edge of the sanitary napkin.  During this time of the month, the overflow urine would be detected and the teen alerted that she needs to get up).  If you begin using  the right alarm for your 8 year old daughter now, though, I doubt that you will have any worries by the time she’s a teen.