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Bedwetting - My 8 Year Old Son Has Never Been Dry At Night

by Heidi
(Naperville, IL, USA)

Please help! My son is 8 and has never been able to control his bladder while asleep. He is a deep sleeper. He does not snore, so I am pretty sure he does not have sleep apnea. He is not drowsy or waking up tired.


Like another parent, he has had maybe 4 nights in a row when he was dry. Otherwise the dry nights are very few. He wears the Good Night pants.

His little brother has not had an issue ever, even as a baby he would have dry diapers at night. But my sons have different fathers and I do not have any contact with his biological father. I am sure this is a medical issue in which he inherited.

My son has anxiety and self-esteem issues, which are worsened by this. I am very forward and real with him, as far as, letting him know there are many other kids out there going through this as well. I apologize for getting upset when I smell, discover the state of his bed when he has forgotten to put on the Good Night.

We have tried all the pediatrician's recommendations of limiting liquids and none at night, and even making a chart of when he uses the toilet. We have tried the SLEEP ALARM. That was a disaster. It would go off in the middle of the night and he would start screaming, trying to stop it, turn it off. The way I know that the SLEEP ALARM will not work with him is that the morning after an alarm-screaming episode, and me trying to get him to go and changing his underwear, he wakes up with absolutely NO recollection of these events at all.

What can or should I do? Put him on hormones? I really feel I get nowhere with the pediatrician and the pedriatic urologist.

Thank you, please help.

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