Reverting To Bedwetting

[Angela Bauer]

For any of a thousands reasons people older than 48 months wet while sleeping. Even with healthy children setbacks are to be expected.

Especially on ABDL sites the first reaction is asking what brand of diaper will work best. Usually the first consideration is making sure the wetting is not a symptom of a serious medical problem, because often the first warning is accidental wetting.

Next it is so important to find, buy and use the best possible waterproof sheet or pad to protect the mattress. Way back in the Dark Ages there were substantial rubber sheets which were most uncomfortable. Then came heavy vinyl and other flexible plastic sheets. By the time I was born in 1964 the old Dundee Mills Company was making and selling a whole new style of crib pad and sheet. It consisted of a fairly thin sheet of rubber with cotton flannel laminated to each side. The bottom cotton kept the sheet from slipping on the mattress. The top cotton caught leaks before they puddled and ran down the sides of the sheet. My diaper-friendly family should have bought those Dundee sheets wholesale. I am not sure when my Granny found them and I remember Granny crying when Dundee was bought by Gerber and later those sheets went out of production. Unfortunately rubber sheets are age badly. Years ago my last Dundee sheet started leaking in the wrong places.

Currently the waterproof sheets my entire extended family use are made by Secure, the adult diaper folks. These have some sort of flexible plastic as the barrier, with a soft matt-like material on the outsides. Thus there is ventilation under you in bed. I place my waterproof sheet on the mattress, then cover it with one or two fitten bottom sheets. If my diapers leaks the cotton bottom sheets will get wet, but the mattress is safe. If the leak was not severe it might not be necessary to also change the waterproof sheet immediately. I always have a spare handy. Secure says their sheets can be washed ten times. None of ours have needed that many washings.

When you are sure your mattress will not get soaked, you relax better in bed. This alone seems to reduce diaper leaking. I grew up in pinned gauze diapers with separate vinyl panties, so normally I wear those to bed. Normally over my vinyl panties I wear a cover or Onesies. Supporting your diaper and waterproof panties lets them work much better.

My own experience is that vinyl panties are uncomfortable over disposable diapers. When I think I might be sick enough to make runny poop while sleeping I wear classic poly-plastic disposables. To reduce leaking I wear an older Onesies to hold them in place, and since the Onesies is old I do not cry if it does get poop stained.

Generally cloth-like disposables cling to sheets and blankets, pulling gaps that leak. I always suggest using classic poly-plastic disposables for bed. Cloth-like with Velcro tabs is considered an advantage by some incontinent people while moving around. It is a personal choice.

[dlinmsp]

I was born in the early 50s so while growing up cloth diapers and plastic pants were what we all wore. Even the younger members of the family who were born in the early 60s wore cloth diapers and plastic pants.

My interest in diapers first appeared when I was 5 or 6 but I didn't actually wear diapers until I was 13. Unlike you Angela, my return was for fun and not need. I was hooked from that first diaper I wore and wet. I never had a bedwetting concern but I always pictured myself as a bedwetter and that was why I needed to wear diapers at night.

Now, in my mid 50s, I'm finding that I am becoming a bedwetter. Since last October, I have worn diapers to bed every night. I never know if I will wet in my sleep. There is no pattern, sometimes I will wet three or four nights in a row and then for a week I will not wet. Sometimes it is only for one night and then several that I do not.

I wonder if it's just because I'm becoming more comfortable in diapers. I have moved my office to my home so I now spend most of my days in diapers and plastic pants. I don't wet my diapers every time I have the need but I will wet throughout the day. Then I will give myself a few hours diaper free before I diaper up for bed.

Since I have switched to Tranquility diapers I have had no leaks and I have wet many times at night without knowing. I always wear plastic pants because I like the association of diapers and plastic pants.

The younger AB/DLs have it so much easier than we did when we were growing up. The products available are amazing. Also the awareness is so much greater and the ability to speak with others is only an internet posting away.

Angela, thank you for all the input you have shared with us all. I know I appreciate learning from you experiences.

[badaddy4u]

Hi Angela

A baby girl I've been babysitting on a regular basis for the past several years has had an occasional bedwetting problem all her life. She's often thought about how nice it would be to be a nightly bedwetter thus making diapers manditory and would certainly make her feel like a baby again.

She's never aggressively attempted to make that a reality because she doesn't wear diapers every night nor did she think it would be possible plus the problem of disposables leaking when she did wear them at night.

About a year ago after reading your excellent comments and recommendations of guaze diapers, I ordered some prefold gauze diapers, plastic baby pants and baby diaper pins to put her in while she stayed with me for a week since she had never worn cloth but was very curious about them.

She loved them and wore them nightly from the first night I put her to bed in them. Although she said the sensation was very different from disposables and enjoyed the fact that her bed was almost always dry in the morning.

But what surprised us both was how much more often she was wetting at night and even occasionally during naps which never happened when wearing disposables that began almost immediately.

She's now consistantly wetting 4 nights or more a week and is certain she's wetting more than once in her sleep. But here's the real kicker. When I ask her what is making her wet her cloth diapers so much more then when she wore disposables, her theory is always the same.

It's her belief that just knowing she is getting put into the very same gauze prefold diapers, with the very same baby diaper pins and covered with the very same plastic baby pants that real baby's wear for the very same reason has convinsed her subconsious that she's still a baby.

She thinks the bulk of the diapers and the way they spread her legs plus the pressure on the diapers you talk about from the onezies all make her consiously think as she goes to sleep that she really has become a baby again and will naturally wet. Mind over matter?

[Diaper666]

im a child of the 80's and 90's so i started out in cloth diapers then was well at least attempted to be potty trained at age 5 but since then i was a heavy bed wetter not so much as i am now but i remember for awhile all i had was cloth diapers and plastic panties and hell even today i sleep with a rubber sheet on the bed for those "just incase" moments when im not diapered

[Pollyanna Fleshman]

Angela, I love your very insightful posts. Please keep them coming. Now, I have some questions.

1. Out of curiosity, and you don't have to answer, is your incontinence genetic? What causes it?

2. Because fewer diapers are now polly-plastic, what do you suggest?

I look forward to your responses.

[PowderWhite]

I have found Depends with a baby diaper stuffer is very sufficient for nighttime use. There are also still plastic Attends and a number of other btands out there.

[Pollyanna Fleshman]

The Attends youth are still plastic; However, the smalls are not. The mediums and bigger have plastic, the waist bands, and other nice features. It is almost as if you have to be an average sized adult to get anything catered to you, and I'm totally not averaged size.

I use Luvs size 6, but they are cloth.

Molicares are still plastic backed, but for me, they sag in the crotch because again, my size.

Depends suck terribly. Not to mention, they do not fit me. I stay far from them anyway.

Wings Choice is plastic, also, but I can't stand how they fit or how they feel.

Prevail is also plastic. I've used the before, and they are absorbent.

Tranquility ATN is one I wear often, I'd say about ninety percent of the time, and they are still plastic. I've heard that they are going to continue to keep the plastic make as well as the new cloth, as they take into consideration the needs of bedridden patients and those that prefer plastic. This is awesome. Not to mention, they use sodium polyacrylate as an absorbent material, which I like since it absorbs very well. Some diapers, like Prevail, Molicare and Attends, do not use this absorbent material.

If you can recommend anymore diapers that are poly-plastic and use sodium polyacrylate in youth or adult small sizes, I'll be happy. Thanksso much for answering my question thus far.

[NekoDude18]

I agree that if you suddenly start wetting the bed again, you should see a doctor to get checked out, because a number of medical conditions (serious ones) can result in wetting.

Out of curiosity, badaddy4u, how old is the child? Not to claim I'm an expert on these things, but it sounds as if she's wishing she was a baby again.

If that's the case (and she is much older than 4 years), this might cause her psychological problems later on, such as repressed social development, and an attachment disorder that will cause it for her to not be able to live on her own. I don't normally recommend taking people to see a psychologist or psychiatrist, and I won't really at first in this case either, but maybe you could talk to her (it seems she trusts you) and try and figure out why it is that she wants to be a baby again.

And HENI, ALL CAPS IS NOT NECESSARY. We have bold for that. If you're thinking of putting an entire sentence in all caps, don't and put it in bold instead. (Sorry, an entire post in all caps bugs me... my sister's grammar/spelling rants seem to have worn off on me.)