Remove the pull ups!

BEDWETTING AND PULL UPS!!

 

Frequently, we receive enquires from parents with young children (aged between 3 and 5) who want to know what the first steps are they can do to help their child have dry beds.

 

The following is just one of the many email responses we receive when I offer the advice from last weeks blog, that is, read the Boss of the Bladder book with your child and remove pull-ups or nappies.

 

A couple of months after emailing the advice, I sent the following:

Hi There,

Just a quick email to check in with you and see how your daughter was
going with achieving dry beds at night. When you emailed me almost a
couple of months ago now,  she was tired of the pull ups and I advised to take her out of them and see whether she had any success being dry on 
her own. You also enquired about our program and the costs involved, 
were you still interested in possibly going on our program.
 Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Warm regards,

Rebecca Gilmour
Psychologist M.A.P.S
Boss of the Bladder Manager

 

To which I received the following response:

 Hi Rebecca
 Thank you for following us up.
We took Miss 6 out of the pullups and she was dry straight away. In her 
first two week period she only had one wet night. We than went on 
holidays and stayed at several different places. She went pretty well
whilst we were away however she did have several wet nights. I put this
down to late nights different locations and a change in routine.
We have been back from holidays for 3 weeks and she has only had one wet
night!!!
After reading the Boss of the bladder book we started getting her to find her way,  in the dark, to the toilet with a torch, prior to going to sleep. She now is very confident in getting up and going to the toilet and does so most nights.

At this stage we will not need the program. Since we have started talking to other parents about her wetting we have discovered other parents with the same difficulty and we have been suggesting they start with the boss of the bladder book. They seem to be like us and doing all the wrong things like getting her up to go to the toilet and restricting drinks.

 

Once again thanks for your help and giving me the confidence to remove
the dreaded pullup.
Regards.

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is Power:  The benefits of reading How You Can Be Boss of the Bladder.

 

 Dear Dr. Janet Hall,
I am the mother of a five year old who is still in night nappies. I have been told conflicting advice, but have left him in nappies because he has only had  one dry night that I can recall and I thought wet beds every night would not be fun!
I am writing to request information about the resources and services you offer. I live in rural Victoria, north of Shepparton, about 3 hours from  Melbourne, and am able to come to Melbourne for a consultation. I would appreciate your thoughts on useful ways for me to proceed.
Thank you for your time.

Shepparton Mum.

Response:

Thanks for your email.

My name is Rebecca Gilmour and I manage the Boss of the Bladder program.

Have you and your son read Dr Janet Hall's book "How You Can Be Boss of the Bladder"?  If you  haven't, then this is the first step you need to take (you can purchase the book from our website or from most good book shops).  The book is an excellent resource for parents and kids, helping to dimiss the myths about bedwetting and allowing children to see that they are not the only ones who do it, and it can be something that they can control. There is a specific section for children to read.

 

The next step is to remove the nappies/pull-ups/dry nites and see whether he can obtain some dry nights on his own.  as he may never learn to be dry. I've treated 14 year old boys who have been wearing pull-ups, whilst they are in nappies, they may never learn to be dry at night.  Nappies/pull-ups act as a security for children and it is a much different sensation to wetting in a nappy as opposed to a wet bed.  You need to remove nappies for at least a few weeks to see whether there is some chance that your son can achieve dryness on his own.

 

 I know obviously it is very difficult though dealing with up to 3 wet beds per night every night. We have a couple of contacts here in Melbourne who have websites and have developed a special absorbent mat to put on children's beds to assist them in achieving dryness on their own without resorting to pull ups and nappies. Their websites are www.conni.com.au .and www.slumberdry.com.au

 

A month passed, so we followed up with this email:

Just emailing to check in and see how your 5 year old was getting on with achieving dry nights!!! You emailed us in early September, and I recommended taking him out of pull ups and reading Dr Janet Hall's book How You Can Be Boss of the Bladder as the first step.
Look forward to hearing from you. 

 

And the response back was fantastic news!!

What great service and we haven't even been to your clinic yet! Thank you for following me up. We got a copy of Janet's book, we borrowed it from the
library,it's a fairly old copy, so I don't know if it's been updated or not.

Anyway, we read it and that night he decided
he would try to be "Boss of the bladder" and have no nappy (we had recently put him back in cloth nappies, which can't have been very comfortable). Anyway, that night he woke up at 2.30am and did a wee and had a dry night, the next night he woke up at 9.30pm for a wee and had another dry night (we were So amazed!). The next 2 nights he wet his bed and was discouraged so the two nights after that he wanted to wear a nappy
again. I let him, because of that thing 'he has to want to be dry', after that he decided that he would do 'one night nappy, next night no nappy', but it hasn't worked out like that and he hasn't been back in a nappy. Last night was dry, and he was happy with himself. He said "you know what I think is really helping me is reading that book about being boss of
the bladder!!!". Before last night he'd been wet about 4 nights in a row. If he wets his bed he never wakes up, he just keeps sleeping.
Well, what a long winded answer! The language we are using with him if he's feeling discouraged is that his brain is still learning to wake him up when his bladder tells it it needs to go to the toilet, and sometimes it doesn't manage to wake him up, that just
means it needs more practice and will get really good at it soon enough, and that it takes time to learn something new.
I don't know if we'll need to come and see you or not, we'll see how it goes.
Thanks again for your email, I have been recommending your clinic and Janet's books all over the place!!!!

 

After 6 months we followed up again and received this great response:

Hi Rebecca,
I have been really thankful for your advice 6 months ago and I have recommended "Boss of the Bladder" to so many parents and children (most who have been dissatified by the response from doctors and maternal and child health nurses who say there's nothing to do for a five year old who hasn't had a dry night, and to they'll look into it when the child is 8 or 9). I tell them my story and your advice. Our son is now permanently dry, he'll wet the bed occasionally- when he's particularly tired or something. He sometimes
gets up to go to the toilet but mostly hangs on. After a few months of being dry he wet the bed a couple of nights in a row and he initiated reading "boss of the
bladder" again.

 

My 4 year old daughter has just stopped wearing night nappies in the past few weeks
and is pretty happy telling everyone she is "Boss of the Bladder!" So there's no nappies in our household for the first time in 6 years!!! We are so pleased and grateful for all your help.