Vibrating Wrist Watches for Nighttime

ST asks, "My 8 year old son can stay dry in the night if my husband or I wake him up 1 or 2 times. If we don't wake him up, he wets.

Can I set the vibrating alarm wrist watch for a couple of times a night so it can help his bet wetting and remind him to wake up?

ST, I do not recommend this for a couple of reasons.

First, how do you know what time your son will need to go to the bathroom? It's difficult to predict when the bladder needs to empty, which can change from one night to the next.

Because you are picking an arbitrary time to alert him, he will not be able to put together the signal of a full bladder and getting up at that precise time. This is also why setting an alarm clock for a specific time each night does not cure bedwetting.

Moisture sensing bedwetting alarms are superior, because the alarm does not sound until your son physiologically needs to go to the bathroom.

The second reason is that a 20 second vibration on the wrist is typically not enough stimulation to wake a soundly sleeping child. Because the vibration stops after 20 seconds, most children will sleep through or ignore it and wake up wet and frustrated in the morning.

Because you have no idea when the watch is vibrating, you cannot be available to help. With a sound making bedwetting alarm, you can be available to alert him when it sounds. Vibrating watches work great to remind children in the daytime when they should be using the bathroom. Because daytime wetting and nighttime wetting have some different causes, different products are best for each condition.