One step forward, two steps back

Just when I feel that we’re making headway with Zach and his bed-wetting problem, we seem to take two steps back. He had done so well for about a month. He was staying dry every night, and even admitted that he was able to tell that he had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (even if he wasn’t willing to get up to go). That in itself was a huge admission. It’s what we’ve been struggling with. Certainly it’s the biggest part of the problem: his body hasn’t been mature enough to be able to tell his brain that he has to go. SO hearing him tell us this, unprompted, was a sure sign of progress on the maturity front. Yes, he’s still taking medicine. Without it, I think there would be a bigger mess than we already have. And I still wake him up before I go to bed. My hope has been that eventually his body will produce an internal clock that will allow him to start waking up on his own around the same time I wake him up every night. That hasn’t yet happened, but I’m still hopeful.

For the past week, though, he’s woken up wet every morning, regardless of any of the other measures. We can’t increase his medicine because he’s already at the max. And, short of me setting my alarm and waking him every couple of hours, I’m not sure what else can be done. I’ve been contemplating talking to his doctor and seeing if we shouldn’t do some sort of physical measure of his bladder. In other words, I’ve been wondering if we should do an x-ray or something like that to see if it’s smaller than normal. I don’t know that anything can be done if it is, but maybe there is something that I’m missing, like a way to grow his bladder and make it bigger (not sure that can be done, but it’s worth looking into).

I really feel bad for the kid. His self-esteem isn’t very high to begin with and I can always see just how dejected he is when he wakes up in the morning wet. He’ll cry and tell me he’s sorry, as if there is something he can do about it. I reassure him that it’s ok and that it’s not his fault. But short of a breakthrough where he stops wetting the bed for good, I’m not sure what else to do for him. I’ve considered putting him back in pull-ups for bed time, but I don’t think that will help him at all (other than he won’t wake up wet). I think when Alex finally stopped wetting the bed and had his plastic mattress taken off, it hit Zach pretty hard. Nothing really seems to console him. I know he’s getting to the age (just a month away from turning 9) where friends will start wanting to sleep over, or want him to sleep over and I worry that it will still be too soon for Zach. I don’t want him to be embarrassed by it because it’s not anything he can help. But I’m running out of options to help him. I realize that with each year older he gets, the probability of him growing out of the problem increases. It’s just really frustrating to not see that kind of progress, or in our case, to see it, embrace it, then see regression.

Anyone else had this problem and have any suggestions that we can try? Please keep in mind the monitor is NOT an option for us because of dh’s work schedule.