(Do you need the Spring Ahead printout? Here it is: Spring Ahead printout.)
I have felt almost FRANTIC to talk to you lately. Nearly every day for what feels like FOREVER there’s been SOMETHING that makes it difficult or impossible. One thing is that I had a burst of anxiety-fueled bravery and made a bunch of appointments that needed to be made (nothing interesting: things like Rob’s wisdom tooth evaluation and Edward’s vision exam), so it seems I am always sitting in one waiting room or another. Another thing is that the kids, one after another, got sick—a mild illness, but with a fever so they couldn’t go to school. (They rejoiced. That is the BEST kind of illness: when you’re sick enough to stay home, but not too sick to play video games.) (Now I’m having a flashback to a Peanuts comic strip that said the same thing, but about being not too sick to watch television. A child, probably Charlie Brown, was in bed with the television on his stomach, which bothered me a little as a child. Seemed uncomfortable/impractical.)
Anyway, with all that pent-up talking to do, it may be a little surprising that today’s topic is bed-wetting. Specifically, bed-wetting that happens in late childhood, or into adolescence.
I am going to talk very GENERALLY about this topic. I wasn’t sure I could discuss it at all, but it seems to me it falls into that category of Parenting Topics that Get Sorely and Sadly Neglected Online. If I want empathy and ideas about potty-training a toddler, I can find ENDLESS discussion on ENDLESS blogs. If I’m worried and frustrated about a early elementary-school-aged child who is still wetting the bed at night, I can find plenty of companionship and know I’m not the only one handling it. But when kids get older, we get understandably squirrelly about discussing their personal and potentially embarrassing issues. Which leaves us all stranded, feeling like we’re the only ones going through all these things. That’s not good either.
So here is the thing. I have access to some information on a topic that I think falls into that category of topics that parents shouldn’t need to feel stranded about. Who even knows WHY I have this information? It could be because I’m parenting a kid with this issue; it could be because it was something I personally dealt with as a child; it could be that a friend is going through it with her kid; it could be that I have been trying to get out and about more and so I attended an informational talk at the library; it could be that a book on the topic caught my eye; it could be that I have a friend who works in an office that deals with this issue. Whatever the reason, I have some information, from a doctor who treats this issue. And here it is:
1. Later bed-wetting is much more common than you’d think. (Unless you already knew it was this common. In which case it’s as common as you’d think.) This is another of the downfalls of not talking about it: it feels RARE, when actually it is not at all rare. Kids who have it tend not to discuss it. They tend not to go to camps or other places where it would be discovered, especially when they’re too big to wear pull-ups. Their parents tend not to discuss it.
2. It doesn’t have anything to do with potty-training. That is, many parents think they screwed up the potty-training and that’s why the child is still wet at night. Maybe they should have been stricter, tried harder, been less laid-back about it, started earlier/later, used a different training philosophy. But no, that is not why it happened.
3. It isn’t yet certain why it DOES happen. There seems to be a large genetic component: if one parent has some family history of later-childhood bed-wetting, the children have a 40% chance of having that issue; if both parents have some family history, the chance goes to 80%. But because of the aforementioned “not talking about it” thing (an even bigger issue in families than in blogging), people may not know they have a family history. It’s understandable if no one told you your cousin or grandpa or uncle wet the bed until age 16.
4. Another likely contributor is the thingie that makes the hormone that stops people from peeing in their sleep. It’s supposed to kick in during the potty-training years, but it doesn’t always, or doesn’t always make enough of the hormone. If it doesn’t, that is a SIGNIFICANT LIKELY CONTRIBUTING FACTOR, as you might guess.
5. Another possible contributor is constipation. The doctor said about 50% of his patients have it, and about 95% think they don’t have it; it’s not always obvious, if it’s not causing discomfort. The bowel presses on the bladder and also causes muscle contractions; during the day, it’s not an issue, but at night it is.
6. Many people think a contributor is deep sleep, and almost all parents report that the child is a deep sleeper and has trouble waking up. But it’s not a likely factor: in a room of sleeping children, half bed-wetters and half not, attempting to wake them up wouldn’t give you information about which of them were the bed-wetters. However, there DOES seem to be a correlation between a certain KIND of sleep and bed-wetting: the same kind of sleep that leads people to sleepwalk, talk in their sleep, turn off their alarms in their sleep, etc. That kind of sleep activity indicates that the “You are asleep, so don’t move or do anything” situation is inadequate covered.
7. MOST cases resolve in adolescence: a big batch at around 11-12, and another big batch at around 16. Something about puberty seems to reset the brain for most people. If adolescence doesn’t do it, college usually does. It’s possible that the change in schedule/circumstances contributes. Or maybe it’s just that some people have a little more adolescencing to do, and this is when it happens, and then the brain gets reset and everything’s okay.
8. Almost never is anything WRONG. That is, if you are worried that the kidneys are deformed or there’s something wrong with the bladder or whatever, that’s generally not a concern if the accidental wetting is only at night and if the daytime peeing seems normal in other ways. If it’s only at night (and has ALWAYS been that way—that is, it’s not that the child was night-trained but then started wetting again), it’s usually that hormone thing, or constipation, or an unknown-but-self-resolving delay.
9. Almost never does it Not Go Away by adulthood. It DOES go away. Like teething and colic and everything else that seems like it’ll never go away.
10. Suggested treatment is going to vary depending on the person/situation/doctor. The doctor I encountered is not keen on medication in general, but approves of desmopressin for situations where he thinks the likely cause is lack-of-hormone as opposed to constipation or some other unknown delay; it can be used even long-term, and then discontinued when no longer needed. (If he thinks the likely cause is constipation, he instead begins by treating that.) Other possible tools are hypnotism and guided thinking (“Imagine an alarm clock attached to your bladder”), acupuncture, bladder-stretching exercises (drinking more water and waiting longer to pee); there are also more medications to try.
11. It’s not anyone’s fault. It just happens to some people for some reason, and there are things that can be done to improve the situation.
My husband, his 3 brothers and his father were all late bed wetters. Seems an obvious genetic component. My husband was the latest to stop wetting the bed (he was the oldest and still wet the bed later than his brothers who were younger) He is also an incredibly deep sleeper but I do get that not all deep sleepers wet the bed. What worked for him was one of those pads that a buzzer goes off when the first drop of urine touches it. Do they still make those? Did the doctor say that it’s more frequently boys? From my husband’s family experience (one sister who was not a late bed wetter) and from others I have heard about that seems to be the case.
How are Edward’s eyes? PM me if you have any questions (I’m one of the Optometrists who responded to your previous post about it)
Yes, more often boys.
It was Henry’s eyes last time (SO MANY BOYS). Edward’s are okay, he just is due for an update to his eyeglass prescription. I’m heeding your advice and switching optometrists, so Edward will be the first to try out the new one, and then if that goes well I hope to bring Henry there next time, perhaps with better results.
Our pediatrician recommends most of these things and also waking up the child to go the bathroom when you go to bed (ie. around 11 or 12). Kind of another way to get the brain and body to subconsciously work together. He also uses one of his children as an illustration of someone who grew out of it, which I’m sure said child is THRILLED about.
We wake up my son too around midnight, and it does seem to help. Though I’ve been wondering if we might be preventing him from developing that sense when you start to go and then wake up and stop yourself? Like, does he need practice in waking up now that he’s starting to get there (he’s almost 9), or is it purely a matter of development? I remember our pediatrician telling us that not putting him in a pull up while he still needs it wasn’t going to accomplish anything but create more laundry. Maybe that’s the case with waking him up one last time before we go to bed too.
No advice to add, but I am reading every one single one of these comments! :-)
My son is in high school & at this point, parents REALLY start to wonder how much longer?
As you note, it’s an issue that is not openly talked about at the bus stop, etc. The pediatrician tells us it’s common but when no one talks about it, you can certainly feel very alone.
I just want to say – you are such a kind person, Swistle.
I was of the late bed wetter type and it runs in my family. I get militantly pissed off at people who try to shame my niece for still bed wetting. It just does NO good to be a jerk to a little kid. Ever. Ugh… I need to get some canned asshole responses ready for if this is an issue with my kids (who are 4 and 1 now).
I am highly grateful for this topic. I have an almost-9-year old who wets the bed every night. We use pullups because I just cannot deal with laundry every day. I’ve done some reading and know that it’s not a big deal, but it is very heartening to read this post. I didn’t realize that a big batch resolve around 11-12.
Chiming in to say that they do make alarms that go off when the underwear first gets wet (it’s a tape-like sensor that you stick to the underwear) and they do seem to work. My nine-year-old was still using pull-ups because who wants to do that much laundry. But a couple of months with the alarm and he was fine. He’s now ten, and can finally go on sleepovers with friends, etc.
You are just so kind to share this topic for the Internets. I hope it will help someone who’s Googling it right now.
My almost 9 year old still wets 95% of the nights. It’s disheartening (and expensive). We’ve tried everything but always go back to pull-ups. She’s going to sleep away camp this summer and I”m an anxious wreck over it. Thanks so much for this post.
I was a sleep-away camp counselor for 5th and 6th graders when I was in high school. The camp I worked at had a whole set of training for the counselors on how to help kids who were bed-wetters. We had spare sleeping bags and had training on how to reassure and calm the camper, and we had spare empty shampoo bottles that we could pretend had spilled open in the middle of the night if they wanted a cover story for the other kids in the cabin.
Long story short, the sleepaway camps know that late bed-wetting is common, and they want to help the camper, too :)
Thank you for this! There was info on it in the registration materials so I know it’s a common issue…but mom-worry and all.
We’ve been trying the GoodNites TRU-FIT Underwear (which are actual cotton undies with a disposable insert) out at home and I think I will send enough of them pre-stuffed with her. They’re pretty close to regular undies and should be easy to take care of in the morning rather than dealing with new sheets/sleeping bag.
My son is a bedwetter and finally finally finally, at almost 16, it seems to have resolved. We talked to a couple of doctors, most said, oh when he turns 13, he’ll probably stop, but 13 came and went and he was still having trouble. My dad wet the bed and he stopped at about 13 so we kind of hung our hats on that 13 number and it was disheartening for him more than anyone when it was still happening. He didn’t wet the bed every night, but it was at least twice a week. But right now, it’s been several weeks without an issue and I’m almost ready to think we’ve come past it. He goes to Scout camp, but will always turn down a sleepover.
I did know all of these things, but we’ve been dealing with it all for YEARS.
We are at age 11 here, with a father who didn’t stop until he was 14. Definite genetics. Definite other issues. We’ve done everything except the meds with varying success, but nothing has ever stuck permanently. We are actually starting meds this weekend to try and hold us over until he finally outgrows it because dealing with a lake of pee every morning is becoming hard for all of us to handle.
I talked about in on my blog when he was younger but definitely not recently. Thanks for mentioning it!
My sisters and I were late bed-wetters. I think I was probably 12 or 13 when it resolved finally. It was awful. You feel terrible about yourself, and you don’t want to go/stay anywhere because of it, although you still want to participate in all those “normal” things. I didn’t wet every night, but it was often enough. I’m not sure if my mom talked to my friend’s mom about it or not – I did spend a lot of time there, so they had to have known (although I never brought it up…like they wouldn’t notice?).
My son is 5 and wets ocassionally at night – we find that limiting water/liquid intake and making sure he uses the bathroom before bed helps a lot, but sometimes you can’t do that (babysitters if we forget to mention/when we are hanging out and “all the kids” are having something, etc). I hope he grows out of it, but if he doesn’t I am going to do my best to not make him feel like there is something wrong with him. Not that my parents did that intentionally, but they also didn’t make a point of telling me it WASN’T my fault, you know?
Ugh. I still feel awful about it. I considered going anon for this comment, but like you said – it’s very common, and no one talks about it. And they should.
My ped told me when my son was very young that it is not at all unusual for kids, mostly boys he said, to have bedwetting at night until they were in middle school. I remember my son was like two at the time and I thought holy crap that seems far away. But it’s been very comforting to me over the years, when various children have gone a little long on bedwetting, or when it kicked up again with my five year old who was starting Kindergarten and was, I guess, nervous about it, it’s comforting that sometimes it just happens and it doesn’t have anything to do with my rotten parenting. My son sleeps in a pull up and he’s almost 10 but he also has autism and incredible sensory issues so I don’t know when he ever won’t, because I am not willing to wake up any of my kids, ever.
It makes me think about Lice, late bedwetting. Like my daughter got lice two years ago and she gave it to every other person in the house, every person with hair anyway, and it was awful but the worst part of it was that people were so freaked out about it and secretive but everyone I told said either that they had it in their family or that they knew someone who did. I mean, it seemed like everyone I knew had had it but I didn’t know it at the TIME they had it, which is when it would have been helpful! The lady I finally took my kids to to get combed out said that she sees a LOT of drama in her place, moms crying and apologizing, swearing they are good housekeepers, etc. Anyway, my long winded point is that I have had that same thought, that if it’s so common, how come we can’t just talk about it like another childhood thing?
thanks for this! My 8 year old has had 1 dry night in his life and my husband actually gets irritated at him. First, I’m the one doing the laundry. Wait, no, First, it’s not his fault, second, it effects my husband not at all. And I’ve read enough to know it’s pretty common, but it still is very validating to read this. And potentially helpful – I’ll look into that constipation thing for sure.
Constipation was the key for my now 8.5 year old. He would also sometimes have day time accidents and have absolutely no idea when he may have peed his pants. We just could not understand until the ped. said let’s put him on pedia-lax and see if it helps. Not only did it take care of the day time issue, he has been able to stay dry at night too.
My now 11.5 yr old daughter wanted to try an alarm right after her 9th birthday, she was tired of turning down sleepover invitations. It worked for her and she was fully dry within a few months. She still has accidents, maybe 3/year and same for the 8.5 yr old. THe awesomeness of not having to buy pull-ups anymore=amazing.
I was a bedwetter until I was at least eight years old. My mother was a bedwetter until even older and my step-son wet the bed until he was about 14. All of this to say I was not at all surprised that both of my daughters (12 and 8) wet the bed. The twelve year old stopped around nine and the eight year old is still in pull ups. I feel like they got lucky in that neither I nor my husband ever make a big deal out of it. It’s not their fault, they’ll outgrow it, it’s just a little extra laundry.
Of course, my eight year old also has a diagnosis of 5p- syndrome, which means her bed wedding might just last longer than even her half brother’s did. We’ll see. But again, she’ll always know it’s not her fault and no one will ever be mad at her over this.
If I remember correctly, there is a good chapter about this in the Ferber sleep book that gets into the biology of it, I think. Well, at least it is very clear that it isn’t anyone’s fault.
Being that there is a genetic component, do you think the spectrum swings the other way as well? Both my kids have been dry overnight much earlier than I would have expected. I still put Ryan in diapers, but he wakes up dry nearly every morning and has for a while now, maybe a year? And he’s nowhere near potty training during the day. It just makes me feel more and more like There’s Nothing To Be Done about either way.
No matter how often I hear that it’s common (even from the pediatrician!) there is always this little, awful nagging voice that tells me, “Surely there is SOMETHING you could be doing to help this process along.” So this comment thread and this post is so helpful. Mine is 8, wets preeeeetty much every night and we’re still using pull-ups. He’s a deep sleeper who sleeps in the top bunk, which makes it super hard to wake him up when we go to bed to get him to try again. (YOU try making a half-asleep, comfy warm kid climb down a ladder in the dark.)
Our pediatrician DID recommend the alarm system, but my kid is VERY afraid of strange noises (panics if a toy goes off in his closet in the middle of the day even if the sound is familiar) and I can’t imagine a buzzer or alarm doing anything but making him anxious to the point of being unable to sleep with it. SO. We’re just waiting. It seems harder for ME than it is for him at this point, frankly. Thank you all for throwing in your two cents, it really does help.
And a big XO for you Swistle.
Others in this comment section mention success with it, but if it makes you feel better (it made me feel better), the specialist referred to in this post says he doesn’t recommend the bed alarms because of their extremely low success rate, and that many children who are wet at night learn to turn the alarm off in their sleep, and/or sleep through it as the REST of the family is awakened.
The Wet Stop alarm does have a vibrate mode as well. You can put it in either vibrate, noise or both mode.
There was a late bedding wetting child in my life (his resolved on its own right around 13) and one tip I would share is teaching the older kids to do their own laundry. That way, if he wet the bed, he could strip it and wash his sheets and didn’t have to deal with the embarrassment of having to tell other folks in the house about it.
Yes. I would add that in my family, it also seems to be associated with the sleep walkers, meaning those of us that sleep walk (me) also did the adolescent bed wetting (ahem).
I don’t know if it helps, but my family has dealt with this for generations, quite literally. I’m happy to email with you.
There is no genetic component to my son’s (now past, yay him!) bedwetting. None, on either side. Our Dr gave us a prescription, which he used for a few years and worked well, that he no longer needs. I still have a bottle of it in the drawer, just in case, but I sincerely doubt he’ll need it again. He still does have the VERY occasional accident (he’s 10) but it’s rare enough that we don’t worry about it happening – particularly somewhere potentially embarrassing! There was never anything wrong with his bladder or kidneys, or anything like that, it really was just a case of his body not being mature enough… probably the hormone or whatever, you mentioned. I just chalked it up to “one of those things,” and never made a big deal about it, so he didn’t really worry much either. Just made sure he had his meds before sleepovers, and off he went. Generally, if mom and dad don’t make a big deal of it, kids seem to be more mellow themselves.
It’s such a common thing, that I think if we all learned to relax about it, kids would feel less insecure about it themselves. Every person is different, and they’ll all get there, in their own time. So no worries, mamas!! :-)
Neither one of my kids dealt with this so I am really only commenting to say that places like this (oh, Swistle readership/commenters) warm my heart and make me believe in the good of humanity. I am so glad we have Teh Internet where we all learn that we are never, ever alone in what we are going through. {Big, happy sigh.}
My 9 year old son is still wetting the bed pretty much every night. He’s on des oppression, but it only seems to work about 1 in every 4 nights. One thing that has saved us lots of pull-up money is Super Undies. They are like cloth diapers, but designed for big kids. These have really cut down on the laundry, as far as sheets and pajamas go. At around $30 per pair, it felt like a big initial investment but it’s been totally worth it.
When my son was 9 to 14, we took a friend’s son along on our camping trips. This was a long time ago, and there were no pull-ups. He had cloth materials used at night. Our solution was to have him take the responsibility to wash and hang to dry his cloth (diapers) each day. No judgement was passed, just him taking care of a problem. It worked fine for him and us. We have many pleasant memories of camping and hiking together with “T”.
I am glad everyone on here is so nice. I have seven children and none of them were dry at night until four months ago when my 10 year old boy learned to stay dry. I would say it was the sleep alarm that helped him, but probably it was the promise of a new mountain bike if he was dry for six months. That boy will do anything for a reward. Now my 8 year old daughter has been dry for 20 nights in a row (hallelujah) because we promised her a hedgehog if she could stay dry for six months. (Don’t judge–I know I shouldn’t be bribing but use your imagination and really picture my laundry situation with SEVEN CHILDREN plus bedwetting problems. Also, I knew it was genetic so we didn’t make any big efforts to stay dry until recently when I gauged they were more physically ready.)
My six year old son has been dry several nights now. I thought he would get past the bedwetting sooner than the others from some physical signs and his desire to do what the older kids do.
Sadly, the bedwetter I’m most concerned about isn’t making much progress. She sleeps through the alarm or refuses to wear it (wearing it is always voluntary and we just try to be supportive of any action the child chooses) and boy howdy, the smell. She’s almost 12. I think I’ll be looking into the constipated thing because maybe that would explain the smell? Or the little accidents during the day she still has–rarely, but still.
I know it is genetic (which is fortunate,= because all the cousins have dealt with it or know it is normal so there is absolutely no stigma), but sometimes it is a very challenging problem to handle.
I understand totally genetic as it runs in both my husbands and my families and cousins as well as 3 of ours 5 are regular bedwetters. Alarms are used when it is felt that the child is ready for the alarm. There are 5 alarms that get used by members of both families and get passed on to someone else.
As we all faced this problem, sometime ago we had a discussion on what was the best way to handle it. Due to the large number of bedwetters at that time 9 I think it was decided to try using cloth diapers and plastic pants as the cost of disposable products for multiple bedwetters in a house was way high. So we moms went and took the kids measurements and put in a large order to a company when this was done we all had talks with our kids about the use of protection at night and how it would make them feel better about getting a good nights sleep without having to change wet bedding in the middle of the night. Some readily agreed some reluctantly agreed and some just plain did not want cloth diapers and plastic pants. We let each child make up their minds and everyone respected the decisions that were made.
The shipment arrived in 2 large boxes and we moms got together and sorted out what we needed and went home to see how things would work out. The first few nights there was not much sleeping as the wearing of nighttime protection was new to everyone but as the days turned into weeks and things settled down some of the reluctant ones saw that the protection worked and the wearers were okay with having them on and they were getting an uninterrupted nights sleep and asked to try them. They were allowed trial runs and accepted the fact that they and their siblings were able to wake up in dry beds with only their diapers being wet.
We moms were happy with the smaller wash loads and the better moods of those who wore the diapers. Over time some adjustments were made to better accommodate the older wetters such as the folding a diaper into thirds and placing it inside the underwear and the plastic pants went on over everything. Today there are still wetters and the diapers and plastic pants are still used and we moms have worked at keeping everything secret so that it does not get outside of the house, no mean feat either.
To 6’s mommy-We also had bedwetters in our families as well and the cloth diapers and plastic pants were used on them also!There were 9 kids total in 4 families,7 girls and two boys and they were all between the ages of 9 and 13.The two boys did not like having to wear the cloth diapers and rubberpants,but all 7 girls were ok with them.They even had pastel colored and babyprint rubberpants that they wore and every so often they would have a slumber party and us moms would supervise.Usually at the slumber parties,the 7 girls would have their diapers and rubberpants put on them early in the evening and would run around being silly and watch movies,etc.The two boys put up with the diapers and rubberpants,but did not have sleep overs.
This is only a problem for us during my son’s growth spurts. He will be dry for months and months, but then will mysteriously wet the bed 2-3 times in a week, then dry again. I was suggested to us that his body was producing the right amount of the hormone that stops him from peeing in his sleep for his size, but when he got a little bigger quite fast there wasn’t quite enough to stop him from peeing anymore. It seems to take about a week for the hormone secretion to catch up.
This is the theory at least, and it seems to fit what actually happens.
Thank you—this is what I think is happening with my daughter..if you read this (it’s been years I’ve seen) tell me if it all worked out
Genetics is strong in our family. I was a bed wetter until age 13, my husband until 16, our kids are screwed (HA!). :)
Actually, our daughter has been dry for about 4 months and she’ll be 10 in two weeks, YAY for her! Our son really wants to be dry, but it just isn’t happening for him yet. It will. I’m not worried a bit.
And I can’t tell you ALL how encouraging it is to read your stories. I’m always sad to hear there are people who still think bedwetting is for kids with Problems. Right?
But I have a question for the Swistledom…
I have a son who is built like his sweet Daddy. And by that I mean, he’s built like a brick s**t house. The boys in this family are defensive linemen. And try as I have, I can’t find any nighttime underthings that will fit him, without loss of circulation! The Pull Ups go to about 70lbs, SuperUndies only go up to about 85 lbs…and my boy passed that two years ago…
Has any one found something that works and is built for older/bigger kids?
You can read my comment to Shawna above. We have bigger one who wear the diapers and plastic pants and also the SuperUndies now have larger sizes.
So my niece is 16 and stopped wetting the bed two years ago. One of my sisters, had seen her throw back the covers (while wide awake) and pee on herself in bed when she was about 9 years old. So I had an inkling she was in charge of what was going on but waited until she moved into my house a few years later to see if I could fix it. Once she was living with me (age 13), she continued to wet the bed, but not during family holidays where I had warned her if she ruined the hotel’s bed, she’d be buying them a new one. So again, I’m thinking she is in control and doing this because she gets some kind of payoff for it (no idea what!). Making her strip her own bed and wash it wasn’t a deterrent. Then I thought I’d try a different tactic, ‘what if boys wont date you because you and your clothes always smell like pee?’ That one garnered some thought but wasn’t deterrent enough to stop it. Ok what else do teenage girls value? Ahh-clothes! So that morning, she got up and dumped her wet clothes (she had worn her favourite denim shorts under her nightie that night-too lazy to take them off) on her bedroom floor. I threw them in the rubbish while she was at school. When she got home, I said, “I threw out your wet washing today. I’m done washing pee covered clothes. From now on, anything that gets pee on it, I’m throwing it out.” And that was the end of the bed wetting.
I am only sharing this story to show that sometimes, bed wetting isn’t a physical problem at all. She was CHOOSING to pee and in full control. The only way to stop it was to find something that had a worse ‘negative payoff’ than the positive payoff the peeing was giving her.
Our daughter is 15 and a half and still bedwetting from her puberty! She started puberty before 12 and we put her into cloth diapers and plastic pants every night and she has been wearing them ever since.Our doctor says its rare for girls to bedwet once they are done with puberty,but he said it does happen! When the daughter has a friend or friends sleep over,they wear some of her diapers and plastic pants also to show their support for her and so she isnt the odd girl out! I think it is so sweet of her friends to do this for her!
We have two daughters,ages 14 and 12,who are both bedwetters due to genetics and puberty issues.They both wear cloth and disposable diapers with rubberpants over them alternately.I buy the size 8 pampers cruisers diapers for them and also the cloth pin on diapers.They wear the adult size rubberpants over both kinds of their diapers.One night,i will put the pampers with the rubberpants on them,then the next night it will be the cloth diapers and the rubberpants.I have found this system works well,as they dont get rashes from wearing just one style of diaper!Since they are both ‘girly’ girls they have their rubberpants in pastel colors as well as some with babyprints and for holidays and special occassions,they each have ruffled rubberpants.Their rubberpants fit them blousy for comfort and it is cute seeing them both walking around in their nightgowns and hearing their rubberpants crinkling under their gowns.