10.4.17

let's talk about bed-wetting

Last year our youngest was potty trained, but only recently has she been dry at night also. It's so surreal being completely done with diapers! I wrote a long FAQ about overnight potty training, if you're interested. But today I wanted to broach the subject of bed-wetting. Even after our kids are potty-trained, day and night, accidents are still normal, but with three kids all within the normal age for nighttime accidents, it can feel like we are doing a whole lot of laundry.


The Mayo Health Clinic says that bed-wetting is common for children under age seven (all of our kids), and is more common in boys. Obvious ways to limit accidents are to offer the last drink of the day at dinnertime, not bedtime, and to have your child use the bathroom right before going to sleep. But sometimes there's still no avoiding an accident, and everything I've read online has insisted that there's nothing unusual about frequent bed-wetting under age seven.

Something we are adamant about is not letting our kids see us frustrated that they've had an accident. It is SO ANNOYING having to wake from a dead sleep to change wet pajamas and sheets, but it's 100% not their fault, and I would hate for them to feel guilty or embarrassed about something they have no control over. In the night (Funny enough, their accidents are usually at 11pm or 5:30am) when one of our kids has had an accident, we quickly change them, and instead of changing all of their bedding right then, we just lay down a heavy blanket or thick beach towel over the wetness, so they can quickly get back to sleep (and so we don't wake the other two).

It's rare that more than one of our kids will have an accident in the same night, but I would say there are at least two accidents per week at our house, sometimes more. When you've got three kids under age seven, chances are at least one of them will have an accident each week. It's tiring, and sometimes brings me back to the newborn days - except this time instead of waking in the night for feedings, it's for nightmares and accidents. Oof!

I'd love to hear your experiences with bed-wetting. When did your kids outgrow it? Any tricks to limit the mess and laundry? I've thought about getting these disposable mats, has anyone tried them?

7 comments:

  1. I have no tricks for you as I'm still battling the problem with one of my twins. The only thing I can say is they outgrow it.

    Regarding the disposable bedmats, I used them for a while and then ditched the idea because 1) they were just too expensive for the frequency of use 2) my girl is a very acrobatic sleeper so half the time she wiggled off the mat before her accident and the mat did not save me from changing sheets in the middle of the night.

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    1. Thankful that they will outgrow it!

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  2. We've used the peapod (http://www.peapodmats.com) and it's fabulous. I just take it off when there's an accident and she falls back asleep. It was a bit pricey but it got a serious workout in the early days and has held up well. It doesn't shift in the bed and she's not bothered by sleeping directly on it.

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    1. Those look wonderful! But alas, too expensive :(

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  3. i'm not at that stage yet, but a friend of mine layers a waterproof mattress cover, bed sheet, waterproof mattress cover, bed sheet on her child's mattress. in the event of an accident, the top sheet and mattress cover comes off and into the laundry and there's a dry sheet and cover ready to go underneath.

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