Posts Tagged ‘parents’

New!! Dual Alarms for Child and Parents Rooms

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

My son is a very sound sleeper and I’m afraid that he won’t hear any alarm on his own. I’ve read enough to know that I’ll have to help him, especially in the beginning. My concern is that I won’t be able to hear his bedwetting alarm. His room is at the other end of the house. What alarm is the best choice for my situation?

You’re not alone with this situation. Other parents also report that they sleep soundly, with their door closed or a distance from their child. We’re happy to have a NEW solution. The Malem Wireless Alarm System is now available with two receivers, one for your son’s room and one for your room.

Once the sensor, which is fastened to his underwear, detects moisture, it transmits wirelessly to both receivers (up to 50 feet). Both are programmed to receive the same frequency. You can turn your receiver off while getting out of bed to make sure your son is waking up and walking to the bathroom. It is important that one of the receivers be in your son’s room. He has to begin to make the association that the sound happens when his bladder is full and he needs to get up to use the bathroom. This is sometimes a subconscious response. Once he no longer needs your help, you can stop turning the second receiver on. It’s important to turn the receivers off when you’re not using them to preserve the battery life.

The Rodger wireless alarm can also be ordered with two receivers, one for the child’s room and one for the parent’s room. This alarm comes with two pair of specialized briefs, with built in moisture sensors. The two receivers use the same frequency so both sound at the same time and can transmit up to 50 feet. When the wetness is detected on the special underwear, both the parent and child are alerted.

Other solutions are to use a baby monitor in your child’s room or to temporarily have your son sleep closer to your room. As you begin to see his response to his bedwetting alarm, you can decide when to move him back to his own room.

8 Year-Old Heavy Sleeper

Monday, June 7th, 2010

My 8 year old son is a very heavy sleeper. We’ve been using the alarm for just 3 days and it seems to be going down hill. The first day was great, he woke-up on his own with the alarm and it stopped an accident. He woke dry for the first time in his life. Last night, he disconnected the alarm in his sleep and slept in a wet bed all night! He doesn’t remember doing it. Besides doubling-up on his underwear so he can’t get to it, is there anything else I should be doing?

What you are describing is perfectly normal in the beginning. In the first night or two, the alarm is new and your son may not have been sleeping as soundly. It’s quite common for the kids to sleep through the alarm and have no memory of what happened when morning comes. You should go to his room when you hear the alarm sound and make sure he is turning it off, then walking to the bathroom, even though it looks like all the urine has been wet out in the bed. If you can’t hear the alarm from your room, put a baby monitor in his room. After a couple of weeks of consistently doing the right response, his brain and bladder begin to make that association and work more independently. Making it more difficult to turn off in his sleep, by doubling up on the underwear or the shirts is also a good strategy for right now.

Scared of Alarm

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

RT writes about her 6 year old daughter who thinks that a bedwetting alarm will scare her. She wonders if we have heard that from other families.

Children are all so different in their response to new situations, new sounds, and new feelings. I want to offer you some tips if the loud sound is a concern to your daughter.

• Describe the bedwetting alarm in a different way, perhaps a bedwetting alert or a bedwetting reminder.
• Let her listen to the sounds, both on-line as well as when you receive it.
• Play with the alarm, turning it on and off many times, so that she can get used to the sound it makes. Have her hold it in her hand and turn it off and on herself.
• Attach the alarm to a dry pair of panties. The alarm is silent. Then attach it to wet panties. Let her observe how the alarm works to let her know in the nighttime that wetting is occurring.

When she uses her bedwetting alarm:

If the loud sound is still a concern, you can offer the turn down the volume (on the wireless alarms) or position the alarm further from her ear (with the wearable models).

Her actual response in the nighttime has to do with the time in her sleep cycle that the alarm sounds. Early wettings, within a couple of hours of going to sleep, are common when first starting an alarm. During this phase of sleep, it’s common for kids (as well as some adults) to be disoriented, possibly combative, say things that don’t make sense, cry or not know the way to the bathroom. Many of the kids have no memory of this in the morning. If she remembers this as being scared, remind her that it’s just a sound and her brain isn’t quite used to that noise yet. After using the alarm for a few nights, her brain begins to figure it out.

In my practice, I see that wetting early in the sleep cycle usually stops after a few weeks. When the wetting takes place later in the sleep cycle, a much different response is observed. Closer to morning, your daughter most likely will know what the sound means, know what to do next or at least be able to reason with you.

Anticipate her nighttime response and reassure her that you will be there to help her if she can’t remember what to do when the alarm sounds. If your reassurance isn’t enough right now, maybe this is not the right time to begin using the alarm. Let her know that you and her bedwetting reminder will be ready to start when she is.

• « Older Entries