Changing linens every time a child wets the bed is a huge hassle. These tips make it much easier for mom to handle a bedwetting child.
Your pediatrician may have assured you that your child will eventually outgrow their bedwetting issue, but how do you manage until that happens? Once your child outgrows pull-ups, or refuses to wear them, wet beds can seem to take over your life. It’s not something people tend to speak to about with their friends. (Not because it’s embarrassing or uncommon, but, rightfully, to protect their child’s privacy.)
Therefore, I’ll (anonymously) share these tips and tricks I learned over the course of two children’s experiences with bedwetting that transformed a daily frustration to a minor inconvenience.
These solutions are for help with the actual bed and clean up rather than solutions to help stop bedwetting itself. Your doctor may be able to help you with ideas for that.
- To protect the mattress, a high-quality mattress protector is a must. A mattress cannot be thrown into the washing machine, so you want to prevent it from ever getting wet in the first place. Although this layer does not need changing frequently, be sure to have a backup available.
- Put your regular fitted sheet on top of the protector.
- On top of the sheet place a bed mat. When my children were still wetting the bed several times a night, I used disposable ones like these goodnites Disposable Bed Mats or Parent’s Choice Disposable Bed Mats.
As soon as the midnight changes weren’t as frequent, I switched to washable bed mats. They are more economical, less noisy, and more comfortable for your child. This one comes in several sizes. Choose the size that will best meet your child’s needs to prevent the sheet from getting wet.
Once your child is having only occasional bedwetting incidences, put the mat under the sheet instead of on top. It will require the sheet to be changed along with the mat, but it will afford your child more comfort and privacy.
- The biggest favor I did for myself was switching from my regular duvets to comforters. The Amazon Basics Bed-in-a-Bag worked great for us. They come in lots of fun prints, wash beautifully, and are a perfect weight. As a bonus, they come with two pillowcases for the twin set, which is rare to find.
The hassle of having to strip and wash the duvet and the blanket each day was stressful and time-consuming. There were times I had to run the dryer 2 or 3 times until the blanket was dry. And that was besides the load of linen that had to be washed as well. The comforter allows you to fit the whole bed of bedding and linen in one load with a regular length dryer cycle. And there’s no duvet cover to pull on afterward. Game changer.
- Have a second set of all these items neatly stacked within easy reach of your child.
Once you have all this in place, a wet bed is simple to deal with it. Simply remove the wet mat (and sheet and mattress protector if necessary), pull on a new one, and switch to a dry blanket. By the time they are 7 or 8 years old, most children can do the changeover completely on their own. My children always knew they could knock on my door for help if they needed it, but they rarely did. In the morning, all the wet things, including pajamas, can fit into one load in the washing machine; mine has a comforter setting. Then toss it all into the dryer. It takes about 30 seconds to make the bed once it’s done.
- Wet linen can ruin the stain on a wood floor or stain a carpet. Put the dry parts underneath the wet parts to prevent this from happening.
How to Toilet Train a Child for the Nighttime, plus practical tips and steps to toilet train your toddler.
Bedwetting Does Not Mean a Child Can’t Go to Camp – advice from many of you with experience.
|