Works for Me Wednesday: A Bedwetting Solution for Parents

Even though my son is in elementary school, we still have a problem with nighttime accidents. He was wearing underwear to bed and waking up in the night to use the restroom, but something happened about six months ago and he started wetting again.

The accidents were happening almost every night and it was really hard to keep up with the laundry not to mention tiring! Everyone was crabby and tired the next day, especially me because once I'm awake, it's really hard to get to sleep again.

I needed a faster way to take care of the bedding at night without digging through the linen closet for clean sheets and turning on all the lights so I could see what I was doing. So, I came up with a layering technique.

First, I bought a waterproof mattress cover.

Next, I bought another cover, but this one is a quilted mattress cover to give the bed some softness. That goes over the plastic cover. I went to Wal Mart and bought three sets of the exact same fitted sheets. 

I also dug up the small rectangular mattress protector pads we used when my son was still in a crib. I put a sheet on top of the quilted cover, then a crib protector, a sheet, crib protector, a last fitted sheet then the top sheet and quilt.

When he has an accident, now I don't need any light besides his night light. While he's changing into dry PJ's, I peel off a layer and straighten the top sheet and quilt over the new dry layer. If by chance he wet the top sheet or quilt too, I just cover him with one of the blankets we keep draped over the rocking chair.


This layering system has helped SO much! It's fast and not needing to turn on the lights means everyone can get back to bed while they're still groggy and fall back to sleep faster.


I think this system has also helped him take charge of the situation and not feel as embarrassed about it. If he wakes up and doesn't need help, he can peel a layer himself without waking us up. We told our son many times that bedwetting isn't he fault and he shouldn't feel bad about it. Some kids just need extra time for their bodies to adjust. I hope this is something the will work for your family, too. 

What has helped at your house? Do you have your own system?

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