Bedwetting Tips: Buying a Bed Wetting Alarm

My friend’s six-year-old son still can’t seem to get through the week without at least 2 bed wetting incidents. She’s got rubber sheets on the bed, and he wears pull-ups, but these do nothing to actually stop the problem. She figures part of it is her fault. She intends to rouse him every night to use the toilet, but it’s such a struggle to wake him up! They say that being a sound sleeper is a major factor in bed wetting at this age, and I believe it. Her story isn’t much different from mine.

I’ve been looking for ideas and have tried reward charts, nighttime reminders (listen for your bladder!), and occasionally waking him up before I go to bed.

But I’ve gotten to the point where I think something more dramatic is called for. I’ve been to the doctor and am pretty certain that it’s nothing medically related. Besides, they say it’s hereditary and some of our relatives wet the bed, too. Well, I don’t want these boys to have to deal with this when they’re twelve. They’re about the age when they start to get invited on overnights, and this is an issue!

So I’m on the search for bet wetting alarms, and there is a huge discrepancy in price.

I’ve found cheap $20 dollar devices that clip at the shoulder, and a cord runs down to the pants. I also found underpants with an invisible thread that only require a clip on the pants themselves. I really liked this version because the bed wet alarm was a remote device, so he can’t turn it off and go back to sleep. Of course, that one goes for over $100.

I also read about some that require the child to attach something like a mini-pad, but that just seems cumbersome and downright cruel when the poor little guy is already embarrassed about bedwetting. Then there is a Malem bed wetting alarm that can both sound and vibrate at the first sign of wetness. Decisions, decisions…

I think I feel better just taking any sort of action right now.

I read a statistic that said if nothing is done 85% of children will still be wetting the bed a year from now. One article I read said that we will need to use the bed wet alarm for 12 weeks for it to really work. At first I thought, “12 weeks- three whole months!” but then I got real and decided that 12 weeks is a whole lot better than a year, or 6 years. 

So my strategy is to keep doing some of the things we have been doing. I’ll remind him nightly to “listen to his bladder,” we may start another reward chart, and we will add in the bet wetting alarm. I’m also trying to prepare myself mentally for the fact that this won’t be an overnight cure. My nights of changing sheets and comforting my wet and shivering son are not yet over. But we’re taking decisive action, and I think that will make both of us feel better.