Fingers crossed - stroppycow

Fingers crossed

Tonight we are experimenting in order to resolve the not so much dry at night as sleeping in a puddle situation.
A combination of:
tumble drier giving up the ghost after 10 years of loyal services making the almost daily bedding washing exercise somewhat more of a chore (ie it's not possible to strip the bed first thing in the morning, put the washing machine on before leaving the house for work and drying it all on returning in the evening, istead there is bedding on clothes horses all over the house in various states of dyness)
an impending residential school trip which The Boy really, really, really, really want to go on, please, please, please mummy let's remortgage the house and sell one of your kidneys so I can go. I asume it would be rather problematic if his classmates found out about his not quite having mastered night time dryness .
the blergh making me less able to handle the "not making the child feel guilty about it" part of dealing with nocturnal enuresis , because knowing that while he'll probably grow out of it there's a chance he might be like 5% of 10 year olds and 1% of 15 year olds and take that little bit longer to do so. It's one thing to know it's not the child's fault, it's another keeping your calm and composure when faced with the never ending washing for years.
The Boy minds that having to wash his bedding everyday means he is contributing to a huge waste in electricity and water and the precarious housing conditions of penguins and polar bears (he watches too many animal programmes and I blame David Attenborough ).
nappies were coming close to being an appealing if costly and counter productive solution whether we chose disposdable or washables.
... made me resort to the pavlovian training solution (I couldn't get the game to work but you might get the bell to ring) .
I have purchased a bedwetting alarm after discussing the option with The Boy.

I feel like I might have puchased snake oil in the shape of a plastic box with a loud ring. Still according to the information available it is the most effective treatment with a success rate of 60 to 90% depending on which study results are quoted and a lower relapse rate (around 40%) than drug based treatments (with a relapse rate on stopping the treatment well into the 80% the already unappealing option of drug based treatment become a non starter, especially since the main one on offer is used as an antidepressent in adults so does not scream side effects free to me). It can take up to 6 months for the alarm to work its magic but some parents on discussion boards report fast results so I am hoping we will be part of the lucky batch.
The alarm was delivered tonight, and we followed the instructions and did the little role play on the accompanying leaflet. 5 times I dipped the sensor in the glass of warm water, 5 times the alarm rang next to The Boy's ear and he disconnected it and walked to the toilet and reset the alarm so that hopefully when it goes off in the middle of the night he knows what he is supposed to do.
It's hard to type with crossed fingers but I wonder if it will mean I made less typos than usual (fat chance :-) )

8.12.06 23:08

Permalink

To date 2 Comment(s) TrackBack-URL

laputain / Website (9.12.06 14:41)
i remember my brother having those. well, the same idea. we all called them his 'radio pants' as if they played music! I distinctly remember them which i guess means we were trying not to make a big deal out of it, but I don't remember them being around for all that long.

my brother had a friend who still wore nappies at night till he was about eight or nine. I guess it helped that he was a skinny wee mite.

Good luck.

geoff@geofftech.co.uko / Website (10.12.06 14:57)
Give it several years, and you'll be clearing up wet dream mess instead ... then you'll dream about the halycon days off pee! :-)

HENRI'S WORLD