Occasional Wetting in Older Boy

KK writes, "My son is 11.5 years old. His father wet the bed until he was approximately 12 years old. The bedwetting has improved, but he still wets about 3-5 nights a week on average. In the last 6 weeks we have stopped using Goodnites, and keep a waterproof cover on the bed. My son can go 4-5 nights without wetting and he does seem to wake up usually as soon as he is wet. My question is, since he usually wakes up when he is wet, will he benefit from the use of an alarm? He has a week long overnight school trip coming in March, and I am really concerned about this.

I see many older children like your son who are having some dry nights but not dependably dry yet. I use bedwetting alarms with success in these kids. I often use the Rodger wireless alarm because it is so easy to hook up. Your son would just wear the specialized briefs each night. Once the briefs detect even a small amount of moisture, the transmitter causes the receiver plugged into the wall to sound. Your son has to get out of bed to turn the alarm off and can go to the bathroom while he is up. He will be alerted more quickly than he is now so has the opportunity to learn precisely when the wetting is occurring and get up before the flood occurs. Over time, his body will learn to wake him before the wetting occurs. If he starts with this soon, he should be dependably dry before his trip in March.