bedwetting / ADHD

Megan,
We used a bedwetting alarm with GREAT success several years ago. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the company - it was starchild, star something like that. It was about $40 it clipped to my son’s pajama bottoms with a piece closer to his head. My pediatrician recommended it. If I can find the receipt I”ll post again.

He was 5 at the time, well before we knew he had learning issues. We wouldn’t have done it but he was upset about being wet, and wouldn’t wear a pullup anymore. It worked in 2 nights . Interestingly enough he didn’t get trained to get up with a full bladder, he just started sleeping thru the night. But something about that alarm snapped his internal system into place.

Good luck!!

Bedwetting is also a symptom of sleep apnea, which is sometimes what is actually going on instead of ADHD.

I didn’t know bedwetting went along with sleep apnea-good to know. We never had any bedwetting issues but our pediatrician did recommend a sleep study due to enlarged adenoids before we went to the Child Psych years ago. He wanted to rule that out first. He did have apnea-caused by an allergy to our cat but after the cat went, the apnea went away but the ADHD didn’t. There have been many studies linking apnea to ADHD-like symptoms but in those children the symptoms went away after the apnea issue was addressed. MOst docs are not quick to an ADHD diagnosis like some people would like us to believe.

That’s really awesome. Megan is embarassed about it. Every time she has a play date she has to get rid of all the evidence. I can’t say that I blame her from hiding it (pullups and wipes) so I support her. Little girls don’t keep secrets when they have spats. She feels immature because of the bedwetting even though I tell her that there are other children in her class that have the same problem but don’t talk about it. We’ll wait until the summer to try. I found a new alarm that has sound, lights and vibration to wake the child so that you don’t have to depend on real loud alarms. She wants to start right away but I’m worried about school and lack of sleep. Thanks for the input.

Thanks for that info. Can you not be aware of the apnea? I still check on Megan and I haven’t heard anything odd. She also comes in my bed occasionally and I haven’t noticed anything.

Our doc was quick to diagnose but not treat. I’m going to research who to go to to get a thorough diagnosis. Thanks.

My son would snore constantly. In the sleep study we watched and he would stopped snoring, actually not breathe, and sit straight up, gasp for breathe with his eyes open, and lay back down and go to sleep.. It is easy to understand that doing that would cause a child to show symptoms of ADHD. I know when my kdis were infants and I was sleep deprived, I couldn’t think well enough to remember what I was doing. Unforunately though he was doing it, it wasn’t enough times to result in a change in behavior after the cat and the carpets were removed.

If you sleep with her and you don’t notice anything, it may not be a viable alternative. I know I hoped that was the answer for us…but…..

Where do you get the alarm’s?

We found just watching fluid intake after 6 PM and waking our children up right before we went to bed at 11 usually got them through the night dry.

We’ve done the same thing. We still have to do it for our 6.5 year old. Occasionally, he still wets the bed.

Beth

bedwettingstore.com I forget the name of the model and it hasn’t come in yet but it is the only one with sound, light, and vibration.

My sons both had this problem until they were around 12 and 10 and a half, they both have adhd (one hyper, one inattentive). We made the rounds to the ped, the urologist, did a bladder xray on the older son to rule out any phys. problem (none). Basically, they just had to outgrow it. One thing that helped was the desmopressin tablets (comes in nosespray, the tablets are better), especially for overnites or staying in hotels. I think taking the tablets helped to train their bladders because they both started and basically stopped taking the medicine about the same time. That’s just my opinion and observation, not medical fact.
My oldest especially is a hard sleeper, I don’t think his body was able to detect the signals of a full bladder and wake him up. I also did the no liquids after 7 and made sure they both went to the bathroom before they went to bed. One interesting thing though, I found out after we went through all this, is that one great uncle on dad’s side and a great uncle on my side of the family had this problem until adulthood. Some history I wish I had known when we visited the urologist, sometimes grandmas are less than helpful in giving out these little details in a timely manner.
You might ask around to see if anyone else in the family has had this problem and how long it lasted.
Hope this helps.
Amy