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dmanbro Asked March 2016

Any suggestions on dealing with night time urination issues?

During the waking hours everything is OK. Mom will go, let me know, we do a changing and everything is relatively normal.


Mom usually turns in for the night between 9-10 pm most evenings, then spends a few hours tossing and turning before falling asleep. I usually let her sleep until 9am, later if she's especially tired. The problem I'm facing right now is with the nighttime urination. She goes a LOT during the night. Despite the Depends, she will be totally soaked by morning, I mean from her knees to the middle of her back. Her blankets, the absorbent pads, the sheets, everything is literally drenched. I tried using two adult diapers on her for bedtime, it worked at first but now it's no different than using one. This alone is accounting for a solid 50% of the workload. The cleaning, the laundry, it's a real mess every day.


She doesn't drink a whole lot of liquids after dinner, maybe a cup of no-caffeine tea or juice and an eight oz. cup of water for the overnight. Does anyone have any helpful advice to offer here?

ladylee1115 Mar 2016
It sounds like her body is still producing urine at night either because she is not sleeping soundly or because it is not working correctly. Consult her Doc and ask about something to help her sleep instead of tossing and turning for several hours.
Perhaps a potty run at 11pm before you turn in? If she has been awake or dozing her body has been producing urine since she went to bed at 9.
Good Luck.

Rainmom Mar 2016
Does your mother have any cognitive impairment? If so, not completely emptying her bladder could be part of the problem. An autism specialist explained to me that often people with cognative impairment can misinterprete bladder signals in the brain. She said often they will only go enough to relieve the urge feeling. She recommended that once the person has finished peeing, leave them in place and count to 30. Then encourage them to try to go again. This will take monitoring on your part but if it helps, right? Also if you know mom is tossing and turning for a few hours, try getting her up one last time for a final try. My son has autism and bed wetting was a huge problem- he managed to soak everything on his bed, sometimes even his pillows! Extra Depends and pads were just wasted money. What finally worked was a combo of using the 30 second technique, getting him up for one more try if he's still awake when I go to bed and limiting liquids after 6pm. Best of luck - I know how miserable washing pee soaked bedding can be!

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paradox2 Mar 2016
Some medications contribute to nocturnal enuresis; check with your pharmacist and/or physician to find out if this could be part of the problem.

dmanbro Mar 2016
I'm using the actual Depends but I'm definitely going to try other brands. So far though they've been the best ones I've used. Also cutting back on fluids before bed, in fact I already have but it hasn't helped yet. You obviously expect SOME urination during the overnight but this is beyond the pale. And not only is the quantity a problem, but lately Mom has taken to wrapping herself in her blankets during the night, like a mummy, so they end up getting drenched too, which makes even more laundry. And she has the annoying habit of stuffing handkerchiefs and tissues under her at night so it's even more of a mess. I mean I expect some mess in the morning, just not an absolute swamp.

assandache7 Mar 2016
Oops it's Tranquility.. With a "Q" not "G"..

assandache7 Mar 2016
My Mom uses Tranguility Overnight pullups .. They hold a lot of liquid.. I buy them on Amazon.. Read the reviews..

freqflyer Mar 2016
My suggestion would be zero water/tea/juice after dinner. Only enough sips of water for her to take any night time meds. See if that makes a difference.

cwillie Mar 2016
Are you really using Depends or are you just using that term generically? There are other brands that are way more absorbent, sorry I don't have any specific brands in mind but I know this has been covered in the forum before, and there are comparisons on line if you do a search.

There are also booster pads that can be put inside the underwear, they absorb like pads but have no liner so excess can soak through to the underwear.

I was also surprised to discover that some places sell the bed pads in different thicknesses as well, I guess I wasn't paying attention when I bought ours.

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