If you were a bedwetter as a kid, how was it managed?

[Little Sherri]

If you were a bedwetter as a kid, how was it managed? I have had conversations with many people on this topic, both here and in real life, and I am fascinated by the different approaches to it, even within my own family. 

I grew up in the 1980's, and pull-ups didn't exist, so I wore disposable diapers to bed until I outgrew needing them. However, I have met people whose parents were dead set against that, and they used waterproof mattress covers and just dealt with the laundry, plus all sorts of no-beverages-after-dinner protocols and setting alarms to get up and pee, even bedwetting sensors. I've met a couple of people who were put in cloth diapers, and a good number of people, younger than me, who wore pull-ups as kids. It seems like bedwetting and "nighttime underpants" are a lot more accepted now, at least judging by the giant aisle in every grocery store and pharmacy, whereas when I was a kid, my bedtime underwear came in a box with a picture of a baby on the front, and they were a terrible secret, and as far as most of us knew, we were the only ones. 

I have two kids, and one was potty trained day and night by the time she was two and a half, and the other - we are still buying her pull-ups, to this day. But her and her friends don't seem to harbour any shame about it, which I think is a good thing, and very different from my childhood. 

My sister's older son was a bedwetter for a good part of his childhood, but because of her memories of me wearing diapers until I was 10, she did not put him in pull-ups - they used all sorts of techniques to try to get him to wake up and pee, and they used a mattress protector and did a lot of laundry. 

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

I only did twice. Once about a year ago in surgery and one when I was 10. Nothing was said although In second named case, I wonder what would have have been done. That wasa one-off

[Alyeskabird]

I really wish my folks would have put me back in diapers, would have been better than dealing with wet bedding all the time. When I was 10 I tried to save money up to try and get one of thoes cloth bed wetter diapers in the sears catalog. 

[Pampertimmy]

I wet the bed until I was around 10 years old. I was diapered every night before bed. I have become a bedwetter again for several years after going diapered full-time. 

[Diaperedkevo]

My parents bought those horrible belted pads for me as a preteen. I moved around so much when skeeping it was almost as bad as not wearing anything. I got them to buy me depend diapers eventually, after they realized I was still having to wash my bedding almost every night. I mostly stopped wetting the bed at around 16, maybe once a month. I'm my 20s i started wetting more again and even now in my late 30s I wet the bed about once a week. I'm in much better diapers now

[rubbersheetmike]

When I was young it wasn't common to use much other than mattress protection for bedwetting. That where my nickname rubbersheetmike originates. My father felt that using diaper for overage bedwetting just encouraged it to continue. So it was peed sheets and pjs every morning until my early teens. By then though I was attached to it and had developed a fixation on keeping the rubber sheet on my bed. Its still a fixation for me although I moved on to a vinyl mattress cover.

[AbabeBill]

I wet the bed till about 6, or 7. No diapers, which would have been cloth. My mom thought, if I wore diapers, it wouldn’t encourage me to stop, and kinda crazy, but she didn’t want to have to wash diapers anymore. I say it seems crazy cause, she had to wash my pajamas, and sheets when I wet. But again, maybe she thought it would encourage me to wet them every night. I didn’t wet the bed every night. I went through the usual stuff, no drinks before bed, make sure you go to the bathroom before bed. I had to suffer along with a plastic mattress cover, was all the protection there was for me. And, that only saved the mattress. The odd dynamic for me was, I had an idea I liked plastic pants even back then, but was afraid of actually being put back in diapers and plastic pants. They were for babies! And I guess, no little kid wanted to be thought of as, still a baby! 

[ken2988]

I am sure just like others I have discussed this in the past, but it is nice every once in a while to bring back the old discussion.  I mostly stopped when I was 12, prior to that it was every day, with the occasional bed wetting after that was first maybe once or twice at most in a week that went down to once or twice a month after about a year and slowly faded away as a teenager. My full time bed wetting came back in my early 50's, along with 24/7 diapers a year or two later due to prostate and continuous  leakage issues.

I remember that my mom put a full time plastic sheet on my bed and that I mostly wore cloth diapers which switched to disposable near the end of when I needed diapers. While adult diapers did not exist, it helped that I was really small while growing up. I am currently just under 5'4" tall which is the shortest in my family with a sister and mom who are both taller than me, which was an advantage for being able to fit in diapers all the way up to the age of 12. I can look at my old growth charts as a kid and I was only about 4'4" tall and around 65 pounds when I turned 12, and didn't break 5' tall until I was 16.

My family didn't try to hide that I wore diapers which I had to put on just after dinner time and would stay in until morning when I was changed. I still remember my younger sister, who is 5 years younger and her friends would make fun of me when they stayed over, and they would try to walk in when my mom was changing me which happened a few times.

[LGGrace]

I answered no baby pants, since I was potty trained during the day right before I turned 4, but wore pull-ups until I was 6 almost 7 at night.  Between 7 and 9 there was about a 50-50 chance I would wet the bed, then it slowly tapered off until I was 14 and a freshman in high school.  I remember the last time I wet the bed was the fall semester of freshman year it was on a Thursday night/Friday morning because it was the weekend that I was going to my dad's and I just made up my wet bed for my mom to discover over the weekend because I didn't want my siblings to find out.

@ken2988, I find it interesting that we were around the same height until we were in our early teens, but as adults, we have totally different heights.  I don't remember my growth charts, but I was almost always the shortest in my grade.  I definitely was always the smallest because I was very skinny. I know I started high school at 65lbs and 4'9" tall because they weighed and measured everyone in gym class.  I am still skinny at only around 135lbs, but I am 6' 1/4" tall.  I grew a lot between the ages of 16 and 19.  It took me until my early 20s to get "used" to being tall.

[Little Sherri]

On 10/11/2024 at 12:56 AM, ken2988 said:

My family didn't try to hide that I wore diapers which I had to put on just after dinner time and would stay in until morning when I was changed. I still remember my younger sister, who is 5 years younger and her friends would make fun of me when they stayed over, and they would try to walk in when my mom was changing me which happened a few times.

My family didn't hide it, either. My parents were pretty matter-of-fact about it - the treated it like I needed a bandage or, I don't know, cough syrup - it wasn't about punishment, but it also wasn't treated like a big secret, inside of the house. My sister (4 years older) and brother (3 years younger) know I was in diapers - I used to get changed on my brother's bed, because he had the lower bunk. Once they started letting me stay up later than him, I had to be diapered before he went to bed, so I spent many a night sitting on the couch in Pampers, watching the 7-9 PM TV shows. (The alternative was to be diapered in the living room, which happened sometimes for whatever reason, but was much less preferable to me. Away from the house, my parents showed a bit more discretion, but there was no negotiation, it didn't matter if I was having a panic attack about my cousins seeing or hearing something, the diapers went on at the appointed hour. 

[drynot]

I was fortunate enough to have parents that didn't see using diapers for bedwetting as a stigma or anything like that.  I suspect now it was because my mom got tired of dealing with wet sheets all the time.  I can't blame her at all for that.

I do remember resenting having to use diapers when I was a kid BUT I also remember getting to the point where I appreciated them.  As some of us can attest to...waking up in a wet diaper is far more preferable than waking up in a cold, wet bed.....

Your poll doesn't go far enough though.  I didn't stop wetting the bed until I was in my 30's.  To this day I have a much smaller bladder capacity than my peers.

[Nyte Kitsune]

Never stopped wetting the bed, my parents had the "You'll grow out of it " approach, yeah, thanks mom and dad, could have just kept me in diapers,  but I was too afraid to say that.

[rusty pins]

With cloth diapers and plastic pants every night before going to bed, until I stopped bedwetting shortly before turning 6 years old.

[rubbersheetmike]

On 12/7/2024 at 9:48 PM, Nyte Kitsune said:

Never stopped wetting the bed, my parents had the "You'll grow out of it " approach, yeah, thanks mom and dad, could have just kept me in diapers,  but I was too afraid to say that.

I think the 'you'll grow out of it" approach is most common with parents today. Decades ago that wasnt always the case. When I was growing up overage bedwetting was viewed as a discipline issue.

[Little Sherri]

On 12/12/2024 at 2:52 PM, rubbersheetmike said:

When I was growing up overage bedwetting was viewed as a discipline issue.

My parents did not view it as a behavioural issue, but I ran into this as a kid - I remember one of my neighbour's dad's commenting about another kid that lived on our street, who wet the bed, and he said something to the effect that he would have "Brought that to an end in a fast hurry, by tanning her bottom, and making her hand wash the linens in the kitchen sink." That really stuck with me, first of all because I had to ask my mom what "tanning her bottom" meant, and second, the idea of washing the sheets in the sink seemed crazy. But that guy didn't know I wore diapers to bed when he said that, so in my head I was thinking, Thank God you're not my dad..." 

[Jinai]

Was a bit of a mix as I remember, my bed wetting came and went until around age 12-13 as I remember always had a mattress protector but it tended to be wet PJ's/sheets a few times and then diapers if it carried on for more than a night or two, back in the 80's so pre pullups disposable diapers. Situations were wetting might have been more of a problem like hotels I wore diapers even without having accidents.

[rubbersheetmike]

On 1/24/2025 at 4:51 PM, Little Sherri said:

My parents did not view it as a behavioural issue, but I ran into this as a kid - I remember one of my neighbour's dad's commenting about another kid that lived on our street, who wet the bed, and he said something to the effect that he would have "Brought that to an end in a fast hurry, by tanning her bottom, and making her hand wash the linens in the kitchen sink." That really stuck with me, first of all because I had to ask my mom what "tanning her bottom" meant, and second, the idea of washing the sheets in the sink seemed crazy. But that guy didn't know I wore diapers to bed when he said that, so in my head I was thinking, Thank God you're not my dad..." 

Punishment for bedwetting was fairly common decades ago. These days I suspect its not. I still remember the nightly drills though that were mentioned by somebody else on this topic, like not being allowed to drink any liquids after dinner, with my mom saying "you know what will happen dear" if I drank even a glass of water (which I eventually had to do to take meds that were prescribed to me), having to pee before going to bed and, worst of all, being awakened at 4:30 in every morning to go to the bathroom. Peeing on demand is not as easy as some people might think it is.

16 hours ago, Jinai said:

Was a bit of a mix as I remember, my bed wetting came and went until around age 12-13 as I remember always had a mattress protector but it tended to be wet PJ's/sheets a few times and then diapers if it carried on for more than a night or two, back in the 80's so pre pullups disposable diapers. Situations were wetting might have been more of a problem like hotels I wore diapers even without having accidents.

Your comment about disposable products not being available back in the 80s is interesting. I believed they weren't available back in the 60s when I was a kid or in the 70s when I was a teen but somebody on this site sent me a copy of an ad showing that they were. My parents sure didnt use them for me or my brothers.

[Jinai]

On 1/29/2025 at 9:26 PM, rubbersheetmike said:

Your comment about disposable products not being available back in the 80s is interesting. I believed they weren't available back in the 60s when I was a kid or in the 70s when I was a teen but somebody on this site sent me a copy of an ad showing that they were. My parents sure didnt use them for me or my brothers.

I meant pullup pants style disposables, the only option was full on tape up disposable diapers.

[rusty pins]

Per a "Jeopardy" question on the show this past week, Pampers were supposedly invented in 1961, however I don't remember them being in stores until the late 1960's.  Yes, disposable baby and toddler diapers were available in the 1960's and 1970's, but I doubt any older child above the age of 6 or 7 would be able to fit in them.  Goodnites and Pull-ups came out later in the 1980's or 1990's. 

[foreverdl]

My mom or I did the laundry our beds didn't have any protection but the mattress on them were used ones dad got from people that replaced there's , so didn't matter to them. After 5th grade we were tossed to our dad and stepmother and a flip flop, we did all the work around the house like slaves..laundry , chop wood, clean the house they were drunks... but dad was gone at work with 2 jobs a lot, it was a drunk house, we got the left over booze when they all passed out, then we got drunk at 8-11 yrs old..

[LittleLetitiaMarula]

When I was 9 or 10, my mother took me to a specialist weekly about it. My mother was also taken to a specialist around that age and they needed to insert a balloon into her bladder apparently to stretch it. It was day surgery in like, the 70s.

(I will add that I am in Canada so the specialist was free.)

For me in the late 90s, I had to measure my pee in one of those plastic medical bowls that get inserted into the toilet. The goal was naturally stretching my bladder because apparently the balloon thing doesn't work and sometimes makes it worse.

Or rather, my mother did after I went pee, which was super embarrassing. And once, she spent one of the early weeks panicking about my "clear pee" being a health concern. The specialist had to teach my mother that the more yellow your pee is, the more dehydrated you are.

At nighttime, I never wore pull-ups or anything because of money and I think because of the "don't want to encourage it" factor. Plastic sheets and lots of laundry. The specialist had me wear this device with a sensor on my panties and a cord that went up under my nightie to the collar of the nightie. The part on my collar would beep loudly when I started peeing. The goal was me learning to wake up when I started peeing at nighttime.

I am a sound sleeper so that beep woke up my parents, not me. They would wake me up but by that point, I had wet the bed. So everyone was cranky about being awake instead of me just sleeping in wet sheets until morning.

I had a sticker book and I got a sticker every time I didn't pee the bed. That was part of the specialist's instructions.

I remember my mother had a rule for no drinks before bed but my father didn't. He had heard a story in the news about an abused child seriously dehydrating in the middle of the night. So he was a bit paranoid and preferred a wet bed over a hospital visit.

[jen1234]

I was a teen shortly after disposables were invented.  As a bed wetter until my early teens there weren't too many choices.  I wasn't diapered, last time I remember being diapered was probably when I was 4-5 ish.  Grew up with a rubber sheet on my bed and daily drying of sheets.  My dad was a bed wetter, but not my siblings.  Parents tried a bed wetting alarm once, didn't really help.  Finally dried up in early teens.  prior to drying up I did try making my own cloth diapers and at the time you could still get toddler large Gerber plastic pants that would fit.  I believe my parents thought that I would dry up quicker having to deal with the daily mess than if I were put back into cloth diapers.

[CooperBrooks]

When I was a kid, my parents used plastic sheets and nighttime pull-ups to manage my bedwetting. It was embarrassing at first, but they were very patient and never made me feel ashamed. Eventually, I grew out of it, but their supportive approach really made a difference in how I handled the whole experience emotionally.

[rubbersheetmike]

On 2/21/2025 at 9:39 AM, rusty pins said:

Per a "Jeopardy" question on the show this past week, Pampers were supposedly invented in 1961, however I don't remember them being in stores until the late 1960's.  Yes, disposable baby and toddler diapers were available in the 1960's and 1970's, but I doubt any older child above the age of 6 or 7 would be able to fit in them.  Goodnites and Pull-ups came out later in the 1980's or 1990's. 

Ive had discussions with people about this. After my parents took my older brother and me out of cloth diapers at about 7 or 8 we just wet our pjs and sheets although there was a rubber sheet and absorbing pad on each of our twin beds. I cant recall that disposable products were available at the time although others have since then told me there were. Back then bedwetting meant actually wetting the bed for most overage bedwetters I knew of and the the laundry was probably a big chore for a lot of parents - well mostly moms as was the experience in our house.

[JacksonMorris]

On 4/3/2025 at 11:17 AM, CooperBrooks said:

When I was a kid, my parents used plastic sheets and nighttime pull-ups to manage my bedwetting. It was embarrassing at first, but they were very patient and never made me feel ashamed. Eventually, I grew out of it, but their supportive approach really made a difference in how I handled the whole experience emotionally.

I agree with you.