Bed wetting & Using a Bed Wetting Alarm

Bed wetting alarms have a very high success rate and are a great deal safer than are medications. Sometimes they are called moisture alarms or “conditioning” alarm units as they condition the brain to let the sleeping child know that they have to wake up and empty their bladder. Let’s look at some directions that need to be followed in order for the alarm to work properly.

First of make sure your child realizes that the bed wetting alarm will only work if it is used in the way it is supposed to be. Emphasize that its purpose is to wake the child up at the first sign of urine in order that the child can make it into the bathroom to finish wetting and not soak the bed instead. It is essential that the child is tuned into the alarm and responds when it begins to vibrate or ring. Ignoring the alarm, sleeping through it or simply turning it off will defeat the purpose of it entirely.

Practice using the alarm with your child in the daytime so he or she will know what to expect when it rings at night. For example let your child help you when it comes to setting the alarm. Try it out beforehand by having your child gently touch the moisture sensors of the alarm with a finger dabbed in water to hear what the sound the alarm will make. Then have the child practice getting out of bed and quickly making their way to the washroom to finish urinating in the toilet, instead of the bed.

It is a good idea to not have your child sleeping in the pitch black dark, seeing as he will have to jump up in the night (perhaps more than once) to use the bathroom. Having a flashlight near the bed or putting in a strong night-light to help your child find their way to the bathroom is a good idea. Also remember that most people’s minds are a bit fuzzy when they are awakened suddenly and you don’t want your child to stumble and fall and perhaps even hurt himself.

Educate your child on how to “self-awaken” himself during the night when the need to urinate arises. In other words, encourage your child to “beat the buzzer” and recognize the signs of a full bladder before the alarm has a need to let him know. By so doing this should cause no urine to end up being spilled anywhere but where it should be- in the toilet. There may be occasions when your child can “beat the buzzer” and other times he cannot. Be supportive and understanding in these instances. If the child doesn’t know ahead of time and the buzzer does go off to tell him, teach your child how best to wake himself up and then as swiftly as possible leave his bed and go into the bathroom and use the toilet.

The child then needs to return to his bedroom and turn off the alarm. Once all this is done the child should change into dry underwear or a dry pajama bottom and then rest the alarm. As far as the wet fitted sheet goes, it can be decided ahead of time whether it is to be changed in the night or whether a dry towel or pad is to be placed over the spot that is wet and the sheet then changed in the morning.

More Things to Consider about the Bed Wetting Alarm

Keep in mind that even with practice in the daytime the majority of children do not wake up right away when they first begin using a bed wetting alarm. Often children need to be coaxed to hear it and any help that a parent can give them can prove useful. It may mean some more or less sleepless nights for a parent but it would prove beneficial for a parent to go into the child’s room periodically throughout the night and listen for the alarm and/or wake up the child to see if he has to use the bathroom. Children can be disoriented in the night so if the child does need to urinate it would be wise to help your child to the bathroom. Doing this a few nights should get your child into the habit and pave the way for them to help themselves for that point on. Keep in mind that the aim of a bed wetting alarm (or moisture alarm) is to encourage a child to wake him or herself up before the buzzer goes off or to be able to hold in urine throughout the night and be dry upon waking in the morning.

Don’t allow your child to drink fluids right up until it is lights out and turn the radio, television and/or computer off fifteen minutes to a half an hour before the child crawls into bed. Having a bright strong night-light in the child’s bedroom can help facilitate a better response time to the moisture alarm and a safer trip to the washroom.

Keep a special bed wetting calendar for your child to record his or her progress. Every morning when he gets up have him write entries in the calendar according to what kind of a night it was. For example use the word “dry” to describe a night that the child successfully slept through the night and did not wet the bed at all and “wet” to describe a night when he did not get up and also for whatever reason did not hear the alarm or failed to respond to it. Other entries you could use include “dry, woke-up without alarm” and “wet spot” meaning that the child was woke up by the alarm and did get up to go to the bathroom.

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