Many parents call asking why their child does not wake up to the sound of the bedwetting alarm during or after bedwetting. The fact that children do not wake up to the sound of the bedwetting alarm is quite normal at first. By default, children who pee in their beds sleep very deeply and thus do not wake up. You could set off a fire alarm without waking them up. Children who pee in their beds sleep so deeply that they also don't even wake up to the sound of the bedwetting alarm. The question is how is that possible?
How come my child doesn't wake up from the bedwetting alarm?
Dryly potty training is based on the idea that we make the signal stronger from the bladder to the brain. In children who urinate in their beds, a signal goes to the brain when the bladder is full, but the brain does not translate this signal into the behavior of getting up and going to the bathroom and thus they do not wake up. With the Dryly bedwetting alarm, we train your child that when they hear the sound, a response must occur; namely, going to the bathroom. This process takes time and goes in steps, that they do not wake up in the beginning is quite normal. Waking up to the bedwetting alarm is the first step to potty training.
Step 1 of potty training
So that children don't wake up is quite normal but the first step your child is going to take is to wake up to the sound of the Dryly bedwetting alarm; this takes an average of 3 weeks. How does this work? Every night before bedtime you follow the Dryly nighttime ritual. It is really very important to consistently follow the Dryly night ritual in the mobile application every night. Consistency is key. When your child is in bed, you play the sound of Wizzu (the bedwetting alarm) through the app. Then together you say out loud; "if I hear this sound I will wake up tonight. Repeat this at least three times.
It is important that your child realizes that when that particular sound occurs an action is expected. The first step to potty training is having your child wake up to the sound of the bedwetting alarm. Even then, it is perfectly normal for your child to have done a full pee in bed. Reward your child when he/she wakes up and ignore the pee in the bed.
Mobile Dryly app helps with waking up bedwetting alarm
The mobile application that comes with the Dryly bedwetting alarm also sends you a message when your child wets the bed. We do this for two reasons; the first reason is that you can get up at night to support your child and wake your child up from the bedwetting alarm. Note that there is always a delay depending on your network connection up to 30 seconds before you receive the message. The reason for this is that your child must primarily learn to wake up by himself. If that really fails you can wake up your child as a parent.
The second reason we send you, as parents, a message is that it allows you to see in the dashboard how the potty training is going. This way you can see if your child is making progress.
Step 2 of potty training
When your child wakes up from the bedwetting alarm, the key is to start working toward peeing in the toilet instead of in bed. Again, this does not happen right away. Step two of potty training is that your child will wake up from the bedwetting alarm and urinate a large portion of the pee in the toilet. So the alarm will go off and the pants will be wet, only your child will stop peeing upon hearing the bedwetting alarm. This should be the case after about 5 weeks. There are always exceptions and if in doubt you can always visit your doctor.
The final stage
Now that your child wakes up from the bedwetting alarm and urinates on the toilet, your child must learn to go to the toilet before the bedwetting alarm goes off. This is possible only as the signal from the bladder to the brain has become strong enough through training. So in the final stage, the bedwetting alarm will no longer go off, because your child will feel on his/her own that he/she needs to go to the toilet. When your child has achieved this, it really is a very big milestone. This should really be celebrated. When you have reached this stage, we advise you to continue using the bedwetting alarm for at least three more weeks to prevent a relapse.
