Over the past few years, I’ve had many, many, messages from parents looking for training pants for their older kids, most often in the 7-10 age range. They come to me because let’s face it, training pants are only really meant for toddlers. Which, unless your kid is thin or small for their age, they outgrow the training pants before they outgrow nighttime bedwetting.
Nocturnal Enuresis
Nighttime bedwetting beyond the age of 5 also goes by the fancy name, nocturnal enuresis. Something that – despite said fancy, scientificky name – is actually quite common.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia writes on their website that, “Experts estimate that 15 to 20 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 7 wet their beds at least occasionally. The numbers drop steadily as children age, down to about 2 percent at age 16.”
Development
As a parent, I know how frustrating it can feel when our kids still do things that we feel they “should” have outgrown already.
What I want to know is who the heck is writing these invisible rules about children’s development!?
It took me two years to potty train my daughter and it wasn’t without effort. We did everything. M&Ms, stickers, routine, training pants, regular underwear, several mattress protectors… Until one day, she magically decided that she was ready. The end. Although, she also magically decided that daddy would wipe her butt until she was 21, but luckily for daddy she outgrew that too.
Kids learn and grow at their own pace and most of the time, as parents, there’s nothing we can do about it but be patient, compassionate, and skip the blame-shame game.
Most children outgrow bedwetting, some on their own, some with a little help from their doctor. If you’re ever concerned, don’t hesitate to talk to your child’s physician. While nocturnal enuresis is not completely understood, there are a handful of factors that can cause it.
Causes of Bedwetting
1. Genetics
Let’s face it, there are sooo many unpleasant things we inherit through our parents’ genetics. (Although good things too!) So if you were a late bedwetter and now your kid is one, take a deep breath. After all, it could just be genetics. If you outgrew it, your kid can too.
2. Sound Sleeper
I get this one a lot from people messaging me about products.
“My son sleeps like the dead. He just doesn’t wake up when he has to go.”
Sometimes kids sleep so deeply that their brains don’t get the signal to go to the bathroom in time…wha-la! Wet bed.
3. Small Bladders
This is really a thing! The bladder develops just like everything else in the body. Some children’s bladders just haven’t grown enough to hold the urine produced overnight.
4. Not enough vasopressin
Yay for our bodies and their hormones! Vasopressin is a hormone that tells our bodies to cut back on the urine production while we sleep. If there’s not enough of this lovely little hormone, then the kidneys will produce more urine than they should at night.
5. Stress and Change (even positive!)
If you’ve ever been so excited, you peed your pants a little, then if your kid pees the bed before an exciting vacation (or stays up all night…) you get it. If you’ve never been so excited that you peed your pants a little, maybe that’s a life experience to add to your bucket list. Seriously. Do we really get so jaded as adults?
Anyway, negative changes like divorce, a move, new baby, COVID…can also trigger nighttime wetting.
6. Other
Of course, many children wet the bed because of other issues like developmental delays, medication, surgery, illness. Factors like ADHD, UTIs, diabetes, and sleep apnea can increase the risk of night time wetting.
What to Do
At the end of the day, the best thing you can do is to be compassionate and supportive of your child. Talk to them about how they feel about nighttime wetting. Let them know this phase of their life will not last forever. The last thing you want to do is shame them, even subtly.
Life is full of challenges that we can’t protect our kids from, but we can teach them to problem solve and to learn that they have the power and ability to overcome hard moments in life.
In the meantime, buy them some colorful, fun overnight underwear, because, as many of my customers tell me, “if I have to wear them, they might as well be fun!”
If you’d like to learn how to sew super soft and absorbent cloth diapers for your older child, I will help you every step of the way! Just sign up for my VIP Pattern Waitlist to receive free tutorials and exclusive discounts on a variety of upcoming patterns for older children and adults. You can also download your free adult/big kid cloth diaper insert pattern.
Lastly, what are some brands or products that you’ve found to be helpful (or not so helpful)? Comment or send me a message, I would love to know 🙂
Related articles:
How to Sew Adult Cloth Diaper Inserts
7 Reasons Why You Should Sew Your Own Adult Reusable Diapers and Leakproof Underwear
8 Best Youth Pocket and AIO Diapers for 2022
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bed-wetting/symptoms-causes/syc-20366685
Alecia
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