In can be incredibly frustrating and disheartening when you feel like you have tried it all and still your child continues to wet at night. While medical causes of bedwetting are less common it is important that you do meet with a pediatrician to rule these out. Unfortunately Minirin does not work with all children; this is generally viewed as a form of management rather than treatment as children commonly return to wetting once they stop taking the medication. With respect to the conditioning alarm, it is not uncommon for children not to wake in response to the alarm. Children who are particularly sound sleepers like your daughter usually require their parents to respond to the alarm first then wake them so that they can turn it off. It can mean lots of broken nights sleep for both you and her but it is certainly worth the effort. It may be helpful to get your daughter to practice setting the alarm off during the day (with a drop of water) so that way she will become familiar to the sound of the alarm. Some alarms have different settings that allow you to vary the sound – sometimes a louder alarm will raise a particularly deep sleeper. Others include a vibration option, which your daughter may respond to more easily. The time it takes for children to achieve dryness can be anything from a few weeks to a few months with about 10-15% of children experiencing some relapse – when this happens you need to reintroduce the alarm treatment although you will find that she will become dry much quicker the second time around. There are some more alternative methods that have met with different degrees of success. Please keep in mind however that these have not received the same level of research support as conditioning alarms or medications. Hypnotherapy has been successfully used to help children either hold their urine overnight or wake up and go to the toilet. This can be used on its own or in combination with the conditioning alarm. Your best point of contact for hypnotherapy is the Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association http://www.ahahypnotherapy.org.au/, which has branches in each state and territory. In the meantime reassure your daughter that none of this is her fault, promoting self-confidence and positive self-esteem is particularly important at this time. All the best.

Regards,
Dr Cathrine

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