Cheers & Jeers: We Got the Dude a Pager

I have been blessed with four wonderful sleepers. That's probably a big reason why we have so many of them! (Sidebar: if you have not been blessed with good sleepers, please continue reading. I promise that this isn't one of those posts where I tell you everything you're doing wrong. There's a method to my madness, stick with me!) My children will sleep through anything, literally. The smoke detector has gone off in the middle of the night before & no one wakes up. Uh, scary right? The other downside to a heavy sleeper, besides safety, is bed wetting.

Bed Wetting

Ugh, I can barely type it without cringing. One of my children, who will remain nameless in hopes that someday my blog may be cool enough for him & his friends to actually read it, is was a perpetual bed wetter. Potty trained super early (barely two), I had high hopes that we could shelf the diapers soon. I kept waiting, buying pull-ups, washing sheets DAILY when the pull-ups started to fail. Year after year, I discussed this with my pediatrician & year after year, I was told "it's normal, he'll grow out of it. Give it more time." This year, maybe it was finally long enough or maybe it was my look of desperation, he finally gave me a brochure for an item that changed my life: the Potty Pager. 

Cheers to: the Potty Pager

                                                          http://www.pottypager.com/

This little device actually looks/feels like the pagers of old. The idea is that the pager has sensors that pick up any sign of moisture. Once the moisture is present, the pager lets off a series of vibrations that wake your child up & alert him to the need to use the restroom. The vibrations are strong & don't stop until the pager is removed from the moisture. It contains a lithium battery so there is no danger of battery acid leakage. 

Our nights went like this: underwear with the Potty Pager clipped inside plus a pull-up on top for sheet protection. He would go to bed like normal & then, when he started to urinate the pager would vibrate & wake him up. I'd meet him in the bathroom where we'd change & rinse everything. Then, I'd send him back to bed, redressed & ready for round 2. This went on for weeks, it was a bit like having a newborn all over again except with much less wake-time (except, of course, those nights when I couldn't go back to sleep, ugh). This went on for about a month before he started getting up on his own to use the restroom- hallelujah! Then, the impossible happened: he started staying dry all. night. long. Seriously, after YEARS of daily changing smelly, wet sheets I can now say that he is nearly cured. I say nearly because though Potty Pager recommends using the pager for a few weeks after your child stays dry, I decided that he didn't need it after he stayed dry for a week. I was wrong (I know, write it down) so we're back on the pager for the allotted time to ensure that he is, in fact, cured. It's okay with me.

The Potty Pager is a bit pricey, around $75 plus a lithium battery, tax & shipping. They do offer a 30 money-back guarantee if the pager fails to wake your child, the essential piece of the puzzle. If it doesn't wake up your heavy sleeper, it's not going to work. They stand behind their product. While expensive, the math works when you figure how much you're spending on pull-ups, new sheets/mattress pads, daily washings, etc. It was also worth it to me to prevent the social stigma of bed wetting. My son wasn't embarrassed, yet, but it was only a matter of time before his self-esteem was affected, which, makes this product priceless. 

And while we're at it...

Jeers to: Bed Wetting

Dear Bed Wetting,

You are smelly, gross, expensive, embarrassing & a disgrace to human kind. You are the worst kind of bully, the kind that won't go away without some serious intervention. You hurt families & encourage others to be mean. Go Away! You are no longer welcome in our house. 

                                                                                    

There, that should do it. 

Do you have Cheers & Jeers for this week? Share them with me!

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