Now, know that in all honesty, I'm not that worried. Maybe I should be, but I figure that she will eventually grow out of this phase. If I think about it long and hard, I'm truly scared. I'm scared that she will be invited to a sleep over and not be able to attend. I'm scared that someone may find out and make fun of her at school. My tough as nails on the outside, but tenderhearted little girl would be devastated if someone were to find out. Within our family, it's not secret. Actually, it's a family issue. Grammy had bed-wetting issues, as did my own Mom. I never had issues, but know of a couple others who continued to wet the bed long after they were "potty trained".
I also think she is a bit ashamed of having to put on a diaper at night. Now, I've never said anything to make her feel this way. Quite the opposite actually. I've reassured her that her bladder may not have grown large enough to hold all her "peepee". I've reminded her that this happens to loads of kids and she's not alone in this "secret". She's done really well at dealing with it so far, but I've overheard her say to her brother that she wishes she could go to bed without a diaper on.
Before someone goes and jumps on the call the doctor bandwagon, we have spoken with the doctor on numerous occasions. She agrees that a number of factors are making it difficult for A to stay dry at night.
- First of all, it is a family thing. I didn't know until recently that bed-wetting runs in families. So if you or your husband (or another close relative) had a bed-wetting issue, there's a greater chance your children may as well.
- A is a very, very heavy sleeper. She always has been. Maybe it's from being the oldest and always having to share a room, but she's taught herself to block out any noises at night. This makes it hard for her to realize she is wetting the bed.
- Her pediatrician suggested that her bladder may not have grown quite big enough yet, as I mentioned above. I'm not sure about that, but I do know that when she says she has to go, she has to go right then! There isn't any holding it for her.
- Some of it may be reliance on the GoodNite diaper. She's so used to wearing her back-up at night that she's just begun to rely on it.
We've tried various methods to help her with this issue. We don't give her anything to drink past a certain time in the evening to help stave off a soggy diaper in the morning. We also try to wake her up at least once a night to get her to use the potty. Both of our efforts are helping, but not as much as we thought they would.
Do you have a bedwetter? What types of suggestions do you have for helping? I'm hoping she grows out of it soon, but then again, maybe I'm hoping she doesn't. I'm not so sure I'm ready to send her off on her first sleepover just yet. :)
