Potty Pager to Wake Child Up

What is the best kind of potty pager for my 9 year old son? My pediatrician says alarms that sense wetness and wake up the child are the best cure for bedwetting.

Your pediatrician is correct. Research demonstrates that children who use a bedwetting alarm are 13 times more likely to become dry compared to those that do nothing.

The most important thing for you to know is that most children sleep through the loud sound and/or vibration of the alarm in the beginning. Your job as a parent is to go to his room when you hear the alarm and remind him to turn off the alarm and walk to the bathroom.

Over a few nights to weeks, he will get the hang of doing this himself. The average child takes 8-12 weeks to become completely dry. Compared to the many years that he has already wet, this is actually pretty amazing.

There are many bedwetting alarms available, with different prices and different features.

Here are some things to consider: Can you hear the alarm from your room?

The alarm should have a strong, loud sound. A vibrating only alarm will not be enough to alert parents as well as child. If your room is far away, choose a wireless alarm with two receivers, one for the child and one for the parents. A baby monitor in your child's room is another option.

Is it comfortable for your child to wear?

Some wireless alarms come with special underwear and other alarms are designed to be used with your child's own underwear. One alarm can be used withdisposables but most are designed to be used with cloth underwear.

Can he hook it up himself?

The best alarms have clip on sensors that attach to the underwear in the spot that wetness would first be detected. Tape on sensors come off too easily. In most wearable alarms, the alarm that sounds is clipped on the shoulder of the t-shirt or pajama top.

As an easy-to-use alternative, the specialized underwear with the wireless alarms has the sensor threads sewn in, so no clip on sensor is required. These pull-on underwear are no different than regular underwear so even the youngest user can put them on. The child does not need to wear a shirt since the sound unit is plugged into the wall, not located on the shoulder.

Is it durable? Since it will take a few weeks for your child to become dry, you want an alarm that will last. The least expensive alarms, with thinner plastic sensors, may not last long enough. There is no reason to wait for your son to magically begin staying dry at night when a bedwetting alarm can solve his problem in a few weeks.