dry nights
jan is advanced in many ways — in speech, in reasoning, in gross motor skills, in maths — but if there’s one aspect where we’re still struggling, it’s potty training. he refused diapers early and he’s mastered number 2 long ago. and although he had a backslide when we first moved to singapore, he’s dry during daytime. but embarrassing though it may be to admit, at the age of five, he’s still bedwetting. 
it’s been his achilles’ heel, and even as a toddler, his teachers in the daycare he used to attend in germany have already noted it. they believe it’s just something unimportant to him, relative to all the other interesting things he’d rather learn, and that his bodily functions are way down in the list of things he want to master. i’ve read up a lot on potty training for boys and tried several tricks including dr. phil’s strategy, restricted liquid intake in the evenings, sticker calendars, and various forms of coaxing, threats and emotional blackmailing, hehe… all to no avail. we’re even starting to think it’s a physiological or medical issue. according to dr greene, there are two things that are common among children with what is medically referred to as primary nocturnal enuresis, the most common form of bed-wetting:
Children who wet the bed at night both need to urinate at night and do not wake up when their bladders are full. These are the only children who wet the bed.
it’s either their bladders are too small or they produce too much urine in the night. and they are deep sleepers than other kids. the latter in particular applies to jan. he doesn’t even recognize he’s wet!
on the other hand, some nights are better than others. there are times he’d be dry several nights in a row and just last night, he woke me up twice to tell me has to go to the toilet, which i think is a major leap. i just hope it’d be dry nights from now on…. until the baby comes, at least.
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6 Responses to “dry nights”
February 14th, 2008 at
don’t lose hope. my ten year old daughter just stopped last year i think.
to me 5 yr old who bed wets is still ok.
February 14th, 2008 at
waking up at night for that purpose is already i good start. i’m crossing my fingers for you
February 14th, 2008 at
i also hope its nothing medical, hopefully tuloy tuloy na ang dry nights niyo. good luck ruth (and jan) !
February 15th, 2008 at
Many medical professionals misinform patients when they blame a small bladder for the bedwetting. A small bladder is actually the direct result—or symptom—of the bedwetting. Restricting fluids just causes further underdevelopment of the bladder. For 32 years, the Enuresis Treatment Center has successfully treated thousands of people from around the world who thought there was no hope. The Enuresis Treatment Center works with bedwetters to eliminate the underlying problem: The deep sleep disorder. Increasing the bladder capacity is one aspect of their comprehensive program. The Enuresis Treatment Center has put together an informative guide to understanding and treating bedwetting. This free bedwetting guide is available to download at http://www.freebedwettingguide.com
February 16th, 2008 at
Up until 2 months ago, nagsusuot pa ng nighttime diaper si Steven. Tapos all of a sudden, biglang dry na siya. Tapos ngayon kahit anong himbing ng tulog gumigising sya sa madaling araw para mag-weewee. Nakakatuwa nga eh.
Back in October, when he had the well baby check-up, tinanong ako ng pedia kung nagwee-wee pa sya sa gabi, sabi ko OO. She recommended meds(pill) na pwedeng i-take to control night time potty. Pero hindi ko na ginawa kasi isip ko, when the kid is ready, kusa na lang darating yun. And I was right.
Goodluck kay Jan!!
February 17th, 2008 at
thanks for the vote of confidence, moms! meeya, it seems like it is indeed a medical problem, but one that hopefully would resolve by itself…
rhada, nabasa ko nga yang therapies na yan, but they say the condition may go away on its own until age 7. so let’s see. we just try to make light of the situation as much as possible to minimize possible emotional effects if ever…