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I didn't have that problem but do have a few suggestions.
1) Make sure he drinks most liquids early in the day, and hardly any in the evenings.
2) Make sure he's not being sexually abused by anyone, Ask him, and listen to what he says.
If he's being sexually abused, he might be trying to make himself unattractive to whoever's the abuser.
3) Whenever you find he's left something laying around, have him put it where it should be immediately.
If he doesn't get up and do it right away, then immediately guide him to the place and have him do it the right way.
Our 7 year old was a bedwetter. Was a persistent problem in which he would wet himself every night at 3AM. He was upset about it, would help change himself and change the bed and then go right back to bed.
I started waking him at 11PM (when I would go to bed) to take him to go, and that would help. This went on for almost a year, in which I tried to wean off taking him to the bathroom at night. Was hit or miss. Almost seems like he was just getting comfortable with the routine. Sometimes he would wake up and go himself and sometimes he would wet the bed.
The big change occurred when his same age step-brother decided to start making fun of him for it. One particular day he gave it to him pretty good. We tried to discourage it, and stopped it when it occurred in our presence, but I could tell it got under his skin. Long story short, other than a few incidents, he got much better at it. It's been 6 mos and I've stopped taking him and he's now getting up on his own.
I'm not advocating making fun of the poor kid for it all. Just sharing our experience. It was definitely frustrating at times and made for many tired days at work due to interrupted sleep schedules. Good luck to you.
I would stop the pullups, sounds like he's using them as a crutch. I can understanding wetting the bed while asleep and not realizing it but laying in bed at 8 years old and deciding to wet yourself doesn't seem normal.
My son is 6, we had a few incidents at school when he was 4 and 5 when he wet his pants. He was at a catholic school and they could only go to the bathroom at certain times...the teacher would take them all together and it was very much frowned upon for someone to have to go when it wasn't part of the group time. My DH and I thought this was ridiculous and spoke to the principal about it. We did think our son was peeing a lot in general...so we took him to the dr and he was tested for diabetes. He didn't have them. To this day he still has an active bladder. Sometimes when we're in the car we have to pull over for him, he can be playing outside in the yard and all of a sudden says I have to go to the bathroom and goes in the yard...we've told him it's always best to go in the bathroom in private.
I would imagine the pullup is enabling your son. Just take it away...it could be a rough few nights with a wet bed...i would get a plastic sheet to put over mattress. Make sure he goes to the bathroom before bed and i'd say no liquids after 6pm.
My advice is probably not going to be popular, but just the fact that he's going in his pull-ups before he goes to sleep tells me this is not the normal type of nighttime bed wetting. I'd not allow him to use the pull-ups any longer and let him pee on himself. Get a quality waterproof cover for his mattress and then get several sheet sets. I'd let him sleep in pee until he has had enough of it just as you have.
This method is going to be a little work, but he needs to be uncomfortable and those pull-ups and enabling his behavior.
I was thinking it's time to ditch the pull-ups and get him waterproof covers. When he wets his bed, HE has to change it and wash the bedding. He'll get sick of that quickly. The parents still need to check his bedding every morning. It sounds like he's lazy and has been allowed to be lazy in a pullup - at least he thinks he can be lazy.
Yes we used to do that, but it’s been a while. I used to get him up when I would go to bed, usually a couple hours after he went to bed. He never really woke up for this though. I would pretty much have to do everything for him. If his pull-up was already wet I wouput a new one on him. Didn’t seem to help much.
That bold line is the problem. You are doing everything for him. He needs to learn responsibility. If he doesn't learn it now, you're in for a nightmare when he's a teenager and young adult.
It is totally normal for an 8 yr old to wet the bed, especially a boy. Usually, a parent or an aunt or uncle was a bedwetter, too. It's because of such deep sleep patterns that the person doesn't wake up to the sensation of a full bladder.
Do NOT take away the pullups, and just let him sleep in wet sheets. Do NOT shame him and abuse him. HELP him!
The bedwetting, he will outgrow. He's probably too young to be motivated to use a bedwetting alarm. They usually get motivated at about age 11 or so. But the shaming and abuse will scar him for life.
Try to limit fluids after dinner, but if he is really thirsty, let him drink. Supervise bedtime, have him pee before bed, and if he lies in bed reading, have him get up to pee again after 30 minutes. The body makes more pee while lying down.
Establish a reward system for putting his pullup right in the trash when he wakes up, and goes to pee as soon as he gets up. Reward the routine of he wakes up, goes to bathroom to pee, puts pullup in the trash, and GETS DRESSED right away - he is NOT going to pee in his clothing watching TV in the morning on the couch, that's for sure! The reward could be little toys if he still likes those, or points he can cash in later in the day for screen time, or a food treat, or a game together, or any other thing he might like. You're going to have to supervise walking him through the steps of the routine for a while, until it's totally ingrained in him.
Positive rewards work better than punishment, plus you don't create a miserable, anxious child with poor self-esteem who hates himself and the world.
The reality is, he may wet the bed until his teens. But the psychological damage that you would do to him with the punitive techniques will cause damage that will last a lifetime.
He is lazy! To pee in a diapers while awake is pure laziness.
That's what my wife says. It's only after she refuses to bring me another beer that I begrudgingly make the trek to the lavatory. Next thing you know, she's going to want me to come to the kitchen table to eat.
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