The Browne Family
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Bedwetting Mum Bloggers
Julia is 7 years old, she was toilet trained in a couple of days at 2 years and 5 months, and dry at night by the time she was 3. She first wet the bed in the January after starting school, just once. Then again a few weeks later, and continued to wet the bed occasionally over the next few months.
Week 1
Julia was excited to be taking part in the bedwetting campaign. Monday began full of enthusiasm, with a new bladder diary to keep track of what Julia was drinking and assess her bladder function during the day, the aim being to ensure Julia understands the sensation of having a full bladder and emptying it properly. So, before school, Julia drank a glass of apple juice with her breakfast and a glass of milk afterwards. She went to the toilet before she left for school at 8.30am, double peeing (as requested by her paediatrician), whereby she empties her bladder, washes her hands, and then goes to the toilet again, and left with the instructions to ensure she goes to the toilet every two hours in school. I have already spoken to her teacher about this and we have agreed on suitable, unnoticeable times for Julia to make a trip to the toilet, double-peeing each time.
Julia returned home from school at 3.30pm, with an empty beaker. She had a drink of milk with her dinner, followed by a glass of water which included Movicol, a treatment for constipation. At 5.30pm she had her ‘last drink’ of milk.
Julia went to bed at 8.30pm, going to the toilet beforehand, then brushing her teeth and emptying her bladder for a final time immediately after this. She was asleep by 8.50pm.
On Tuesday morning, there was great excitement, as Julia was dry! I wondered if the new sense of responsibility would be the thing to finally sort out the problem for once and for all! However, the odd dry night does occur, so I was not going to get my hopes up just yet!
We repeated Monday’s activities exactly on Tuesday, but on Wednesday morning we were disappointed as Julia was wet. She had her shower and began her day as usual.
Thursday morning, wet again. Julia was very disappointed. She’s even wondering why, even when she does the exact same thing every day, sometimes she can be dry and sometimes she’s wet.
The disappointment continues on Friday and Saturday, when Julia is wet on waking both mornings.
Sunday is a ‘special occasion’, at which Julia is allowed a fizzy drink. We also forgot to include her Movicol in the day's routine. Sunday was a busy day, during which Julia went swimming and played tennis, so timing when she went to the toilet and recording her fluid intake went by the wayside. She had a late night, watching a movie until 10pm, (bank holiday tomorrow!) but went to the toilet before she went to sleep, not holding out much hope for a dry night. But on Monday morning, she was dry!!!
With a new sense of determination, and the knowledge that she will use a bedwetting alarm tonight, we are ready to face a new week.
Week 2
Ready and excited to be starting a new, possible solution to Julia’s ‘problem’, Monday began as usual, plenty of drinks throughout the day, complete emptying of the bladder every couple of hours, and no drinks after 5pm. Bedtime was amusing for Julia, as we fitted the alarm and she went to bed at 8.30pm. At 1am, the alarm went off, and Julia went to the bathroom, changed her bottoms and went back to bed and back to sleep, whilst I settled her little brother, who was woken by the alarm. There wasn’t a peep until morning, when Julia awoke dry and delighted.
New plan for Tuesday, Julia’s dad is sleeping in her room and her little brother is moving beds! The alarm is loud, and he is a very light sleeper and a nightmare to get back to sleep. So, with the alarm fitted, Julia went to sleep and woke up dry on Wednesday morning, without the alarm going off at all. She was thrilled.
On Wednesday night, her alarm sounded at 3am. It’s super-sensitive as there was no evidence! However, she changed her bottoms and went back to sleep, waking dry on Thursday morning again.
On Friday morning, she woke dry, without the alarm sounding during the night, and on Friday night it sounded at 3.30am, again Julia changed and went back to sleep.
Julia attended a birthday party on Saturday, so had fizzy drinks and goodies and the routine of toileting was forgotten. She also stayed up late, going to the toilet at 10pm before bed, but was dry on Sunday morning.
On Sunday night her alarm sounded at 12.10am. Julia changed and went back to sleep and was dry on Monday morning.
With seven consecutive dry nights, Julia is thrilled at how the bedwetting alarm is working, although it gives her a fright when it’s set off. But she is really seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Week 3
This week began fantastically well, with no alarm sounding and completely dry mornings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
On Thursday night, Julia’s alarm sounded at 1am and she went to the toilet, changed her pyjamas and went back to sleep. However, we obviously attached the alarm incorrectly, as Julia woke on Friday morning wet and disheartened.
On Friday night the alarm sounded twice, around midnight and again at 2.30am. This followed a movie night in a friend’s house, which included pizza and late drinks. However, after changing both times, Julia woke dry and feeling better. There were no alarm disturbances on Saturday or Sunday night and Julia had two full dry nights.
Whilst the alarm has given Julia a new sense of hope, she would be very reluctant to use it during a sleepover, even to her Grandmas, so we are excited to try the medication next week.
Week 4
After a great two weeks whilst using the bedwetting alarm, Julia was confident about going to bed, relying this time on a tablet prescribed by our GP that replaces a low supply of the naturally occurring hormone vasopressin with a synthetic version to help stop the bladder overfilling at night. So this week Julia started taking the tablet, and we continued with her daily routine of ensuring an empty bladder throughout the day and going to the toilet (twice!) before bed. Thankfully Julia got off to a great start, she was dry on both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
However, with no routine change, she woke wet on Thursday morning, and again on Friday morning. Feeling defeated, Julia went for a sleepover (to her Grandmas) on Friday night, bringing along her tablet and pyjama pants. On Saturday morning she was dry! This was despite forgetting to take her medication and I can’t guarantee she kept to her bladder ‘schedule’ as she would have at home.
On Saturday, we returned to normal and Julia took her medication before bed, but woke up wet on Sunday. She was disappointed and wanted the alarm back, so on Sunday night we combined her medication and her bedwetting alarm, resulting in a final dry night for the week.
Having tried a number of solutions for Julia's bedwetting this week, both Julia and I agree that the use of the alarm has been the most effective treatment that we have experimented with so far. From reading the other mum's bedwetting blogs it is obvious that different methods work for different children so it is well worthwhile trying them all until you find something that works for you and your child. We will continue to use the bedwetting alarm until we are both confident that dry nights are forever.
