Need Help Making a Bed Pad for Bedwetter

[QueeTheBean]

My 5-yo still wets the bed many nights each week. The middle of the night bed changing is getting to be a drag & lots of and

I want to sew absorbent bed pads that could go over the fitted sheet at night so that when he pees, we could change his clothes and put on a new bed pad without having to change the sheets. I don't know what materials to use. I have a few prefolds from our CD days, that could maybe be an inside layer? Or maybe towels, if I don't have enough PF? What about the outside layer? Would something like polar fleece work?

Any ideas on materials, construction, etc. would be so appreciated. Maybe this topic has already come up? I searched, but didn't see anything.

Thanks.

[Ruthla]

I'd go with a waterproof layer and an absorbant layer- just as you would a diaper- only this will be a lot bigger and simpler in design. I'd think you'd need something as big as a towel- prefolds just aren't going to cut it. He's going to move around a lot while sleeping and could move completely off of a small pad. You'll also need some way of keeping the pad in place- maybe snaps or velcro on both the pads and the sheet to keep it from slipping? Or maybe a waterproof layer that has straps that go under the mattress, and then absorbant layers that snap into the waterproof layer. I'd still put a waterproof mattress pad under the sheet as an extra precaution. The waterproof layer can be anything you'd use to make diaper covers: felted wool, or polar fleece, or PUL, or even vinyl.

Alternatively, you could do what my Mom did when I was little. Whenever I woke up wet,, she'd put a towel on top of the wet spot, change my pajamas, and put me back to bed on top of the towel- and not deal with the sheets until morning. We had a vinyl mattress pad underneath the sheet.

I wet the bed until I was 7, and I remember waking up at night, changing my pajamas (leaving the wet ones in a designated spot in the bathroom so nothing else got wet) and putting the towel down by myself, without waking anybody up during the night. I'm not sure how old I was when I started doing that.

Washing a towel-sized waterproof pad isn't going to be any less work than washing sheets and a towel in the morning.

[cristeen]

A wool puddle pad should work fairly well. You can make one out of wool felt, you can knit/crochet one up out of wool yarn, you can sew together and felt an old sweater, you can buy a piece of wool fabric and felt it. It'll have to be lanolinized, but it should take care of it.

Or a sandwich of a couple layers of flannel on a layer of PUL would also work. I have one of those I use during AF.

If he's on a twin mattress, a pair of child's suspenders under the mattress coming up on either side is an easy way to hold a pad down on top. Make it wide enough to hang over the sides a bit and you just have to clip it into place.

[Sleepy Owl]

I was going to make one or two for DDs bed, but ended up buying some clear vinal stuff from Walmart that was about $1 a yard. (Doesn't crinkle when she sleeps on it, and she hasn't complained about it.)
Got two yards of that, and wrapped it around the mattress over her sheet. Then I lay a sheet folded up, or a blanket or whatever on top of that. If she wets the bed during her nap (I still put diapers on her at night) then I don't have to change the sheets, I can just quickly swap out the blanket.

And yes, washing a blanket/sheet is just as much work as washing sheets, but changing out that blanket is WAY easier than changing fitted sheets.

It would still be nice to have something with the waterproof layer sewn in, but I coudn't think of anything besides PUL that would stand up to constant washing, and I didn't want to spend that much money. I could have just bought some from the store for that price.

[frogger]

I was just at fabric depot, and they had a roll of the waterproof flannel. You know the kind that is usually sold in a 2 pack for cribs. I got one when ds was born and it was large, I used it in bed to help keep from leaking breastmilk all over the bed. I never had a problem with it leaking through. I wonder if you put it with a fleece top and an absorbent middle if it would help.

[QueeTheBean]

I am not a great seamstress, and my first attempt didn't work.

I have some old PF, and I sewed them together in a strip. Then, I folded a towel over them and sewed that shut. At this point, my sewing maching needle broke. I then sewed a cover out of fleece & put the towel thing inside. I made straps to attach it to the bed. The first time he wet the bed, it still soaked through . . .

Will scrap that idea and try some ideas that were posted here.

[amysuen]

I think you really need a waterproof layer at the bottom.