6 Year Old Wets Himself

SW writes, "hi my son is almost 6 and wets himself most nights..we have tried lifting, waking him up etc still doesn't make much difference..he comes into us just after he has wet or gets up himself and just changes his bottoms and goes back to bed.. i've read that juice can trigger bedwetting too..I also wet the bed as a child...i am wondering about the alarm system but have his small sister next door and don't want to wake her..also he moves around his bed during the night sometimes so how can i be sure alarm will work?? thanks"

Your son is exactly the type of child that bedwetting alarms work so well for. You don't have to wait for years for his brain and bladder to make that connection. The alarm will sense the wetness and alert him and you that the wetting is occurring. Help him get up and walk to the bathroom, even though initially, most of the urine will come out in the bed. (Washable, waterproof overlays that lie on top of the sheet are very helpful at this stage).

Over time, his body will begin to stop the flow of urine at the sound of the alarm and he will have urine left to empty in the toilet. Eventually, his body will alert him before the wetting occurs and he will wake up to urinate in the toilet or hold it until morning.

Juice may trigger bedwetting in some children. The book, Seven Steps to Nighttime Dryness, that comes with the Treatment Kit (along with the alarm and overlays), has a complete list of foods that may affect the frequency and amount wetting. Temporarily stopping the juice and restarting after a couple of weeks of using the alarm will help you see if it makes any difference in how frequently the alarm sounds.

Parents worry that the bedwetting alarm sound will wake siblings but this usually is not the case. Siblings quickly learn that the alarm is of no concern to them so they roll over and go back to sleep if they do hear it at all. The wearable and wireless alarms all stay attached to your child's underwear so move as he moves in the nighttime.

I would not recommend a pad type alarm because he could roll off of the pad and the urine wouldn't be detected. I would recommend our Malem Ultimate alarm, with sound and vibration, or the Malem Wireless alarm, if he prefers not to have the sound come from the unit on his shoulder. The sound comes from a receiver that can be placed on his dresser. Both attach to the outside of his own underwear with a durable easy-clip sensor.