Hi Kathleen – It is quite common for parents of children who wet the bed to comment on how heavy a sleeper their child is. Children who are particularly deep sleepers fail to wake in response to the message sent by their bladder to their brain saying it is full and requires emptying. The good news is that most children your son’s age do outgrow bedwetting on their own. In the meantime we need to think about how best to manage his bedwetting so that it has minimal impact on both you and him. Sleepovers can be tricky for children who wet the bed – it is often a good idea to hold them at your house first as children tend to feel more confident and self-assured in a familiar environment. Help him to devise ways he can disguise his DryNites, that way his friends never need to know. Keep reasurring him that this is perfectly normal and that there is probably at least one or two other children in his class whom also wet the bed at night. You could certainly look into introducing more formal treatment measures, keeping in mind that many doctors discourage treatment until children are a little older due to the high spontaneous cure rate up to the age of 6 or 7 years. A conditioning alarm would be the best way to go, however it is important that you first have him checked by your GP as the more guidance you receive the better the outcome. The success of the alarm is very dependent on how motivated your son is to become dry, with bedwetting often being less of a concern among younger children. Alarms can take up to 6 months to work so patience is the key. Even after children become dry it not unusual for them to experience one or two relapses. When this occurs you just need to reintroduce the alarm, following the same procedures as before.

Regards,
Dr Cathrine

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