Bed Wetting

Ok, ok, I admit it I was one of those parents who was slightly judgmental about the whole idea of bed wetting. It is just one of those things I never understood. Quite frankly I still don't understand it, but low and behold... I have a bed wetter!

Now maybe some of you out there have bed wetters too. Maybe your little one wets the bed every night, in which case you can get a book to teach you how to train your child not to wet the bed, you can wake up every night and make your child pee, or you can just put the kid in Pull-Ups. My little guy however is only an occasional bed wetter. He will be accident free for 6-9 months and then all the sudden he will wet the bed 2-3 times in a matter of a couple weeks. It is all very frustrating!!!

Personally I am of the opinion that most children just grow out of it. For some children it just seems to take a lot longer...

You can try to limit drinks in the evening and remind them to use the restroom before bed, but regardless of what you do they will still have an occasional accident, and you will have a nice pee soaked bed to deal with...

While things like Pull-Ups work great for little toddlers, once your child is in grade school wearing a Pull-Up is more humiliating than you could imagine and trying to force it while only result in a LOT of tears.
They do make GoodNites underwear which might be a great idea for sleep overs or trips to grandma's house, but when your child only wets the bed a few times a year it really just doesn't make economical sense.
You can try getting a water proof mattress protector, but I have found that they are a horrible pain to wash since they repel liquid so well that when they are going through the wash cycle the water gets stuck inbetween the cushion layer and the water proof layer resulting in a gallon or 2 of water weighing down your mattress protector fresh out of the spin cycle. You then have to try to wring and squeeze out the excess water, with limited success, only to toss it in the dryer through 3-4 dry cycles. While this is going to save your child's mattress from getting pee stained and ruined, it is more effort than it is worth.

I have finally found the perfect solution to our bed wetting problem! GoodNites makes a product similar to those little absorbent pads they use at the doctor's office and at hospitals. They are called Disposable Bed Mats.The beauty of this product is that each corner of the pad has a sticker that you can use to keep the pad in place. They are highly absorbent and do a great job keeping the pee out of the mattress. One pad can last you for months if not used, and once used you can just unstick it, fold it up and throw away the mess. There is no embarrassing pull-up, no ruined mattress, and they are virtually unnoticeable. (They do make a slight crinkly noise when climbed on). I like to stick one on the mattress pad under the sheets so that you cant see it, but so that I dont have to wash the mattress pad every time he wets the bed. Yes I do still have to wash his sheets and usually his blankets, but it is a heck of a lot better than absorbing the pee out of the mattress, or dealing with those horrible water proof mattress pads!!!

Now if your child has already wet the bed and soaked through the mattress one of the best ways to absorb the pee out of the mattress is to spray the area with a good carpet/upholstery cleaner and let it soak in for a good 10-15 minutes, than coat the whole area really well with Baking Soda, cover and seal with plastic (I would tape down a large garbage bag over the area), and let dry for several hours (I would try to do a good 12-24 hours). The Baking Soda should pull the carpet cleaner and pee right up out of the mattress. Then just vacuum all of the Baking Soda up off the mattress. You will usually still have a pee stain on the outside layer, but a simple combination of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and Dawn dish soap can eliminate the stain.

Good luck to all you parents of Bed Wetters, may our children grow out of this problem quickly!!!