www.incontinentsupport.org

Hi everyone,

I'm asking this question on behalf of a friend of mine, She has two sons (ages 8 and 9) who wet the bed. She's tried the usual products such as "Goodnites" but unfortunately they've leaked. I have a bedwetting problem and I suggested she try safety pin style cloth diapers covered with a pair of plastic pants. She's also going to purchase disposable briefs with tape tabs for the children to wear on some nights. As far as cloth diapers and plastic pants are concerned, I recommended the "Leakmaster Deluxe" plastic pants sold by Adultclothdiaper.com as well as their prefold youth size nighttime diapers. I also suggested she buy some Gerber brand prefold and flat fold baby diapers to line the cloth diapers. Speaking personally I find this combo to work great at protecting the bed - very rarely do I have leaks and when I do they've been minor. I was told by a customer service rep from Adultclothdiaper.com as well as the owner of Changing Times Diaper Company (another place I told my friend about) that children in that age group may need to have their parents diaper them (at least at first) in order for the children to get an appropriate fit. The children don't have any cognitive or physical difficulties that would prevent them from pinning the diapers on themselves, still I was told that kids that age may need their parents assistance applying their diapers. I realize that as children get older they become more modest about parents or other relatives being involved in private matters such as this, but at the same time the children need to be able to fasten their diapers correctly. Plus there is a safety issue to consider - parents who have used pin-on style diapers on their babies have sometimes stuck both their baby and themselves with the safety pin and younger children may do the same. I know that in some cases incontinent adults sometimes need help fastening their diapers so I suppose in this case it would be okay if their mother helps them as long as it's done in a discreet manner. I'd like people on the forum to weigh in on this - are children who are 8 and 9 too old to be diapered by their parents? If not is there a way to go about this that maintains the children's dignity. One way I thought that this might be done is to have the children fold the diaper around themselves on their own then call their mother in to do the pinning. Any thoughts on the matter?

Check out the thread on pocket diapers, or perhaps they might try wearing multiple cloth pullup style diapers.

There is definitely a learning curve to diapering yourself.

Hi, Co678, and welcome to the forum. I have never used diapers for my childhood or adult bedwetting (I currently use Abena Abri-Flex pull-ups, together with washable or disposable surface bedpads and a waterproof mattress cover), but I've heard of a cloth diaper fastener called Snappi. Hopefully someone here can provide some input on them.

Wetters

Co678,

Welcome.

Our society is rightly hyper-vigilant about child abuse, which make this one delicate subject. However, these boys do need to become skilled in their own incontinence management. They need to be taught that cleanliness is imperative (uncommon for boys that age), to lubricate their pins with bar soap, if Snappi or Velcro are not used, to assist with laundry, and to apply their own skin protection, such as Desitin or Calmoseptine. It is not impossible, but it does need to be handled carefully.

Good luck.

Getting them a proper fitting taped disposable diaper might be the easiest way for them to manage the diapers by them selves, if they underwear over the diaper then plastic pants that should help with the leaking. Also get them some washable absorbant pads for the top off the sheets so if they do leak they can change both thier diaper and pad so they will be sleeping on both dry sheets and new pad.

I have 4 pads so I can quickly change them after I change. Get an over sized one that way the sheets will be protected and will still be dry.

Like Patrick said they need to learn how to deal with this issue on their own so they can handle changes and swapping out the bed pads with out having to wake thier mom and dad.

Bed wetting at any age is a pain but with proper care and management it will become no issue at all. Hopefully their issue clears up soon.

I would hope the first step would be consulting their pediatrician, then I would suggest the use of multiple pull on cloth diapers? Maybe a prefolded one with Velcro so it is easy to self administer? Or some disposable pull-ups? Or a general disposable diaper? Just a thought, no judgment here.

_________________
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Marcus Aurelius

Howdy and welcome to the forum.

I would suggest talking with their pediatrician.
As far as cloth diapers, they might be able to handle cloth diapers with Velcro fasteners.
They wont have to handle pins they way.
They could put extra ones on or use an insert if they are heavy wetters.

Angelfluff Diaper Company has velcro cloth pre-folds that work pretty good.
http://www.angelfluff.com/adultclothdiapers.htm

I'm not sure if they have a size small enough for the kids, but its an idea.

Schoppy

Welcome,
I would have a talk with the pediatrician about what is going on with there bladders. If modesty is a issue,use pull ups, then add boosters, that will up the capacity and may give them the protection they need . There are booster from North Shore, with different sizes and capacities. I use the boosters and have had great success with them.

Our daughter had daytime wetting issues (never nighttime) from ages 6 to just about 12. There were multiple issues driving the wetting and the problems were quite sporadic. She maybe needed 12-18 diapers a year. Because the wetting issues were so sporadic, she never had the chance to develop the skill to diaper herself, get the tapes tight, etc so my wife and I did it for her. Because we were somewhat open about the human body (not nudists, just open) our daughter wasn't embarrassed about being seen naked and she was a logical enough kid to see the need for the diapers. If she had been bothered by the nudity then my wife would have been the only one to diaper her but as I said, the nudity wasn't an issue so I was involved.

We used Tranquility brand briefs for her.

G

Well ... that has me scratching my head. If she only needed a diaper once or twice a month, how did you possibly know when that would be?