What to do if Your Child is Experiencing Bedwetting

By Eliu Cordova

Most children who experience bedwetting have at least one parent or first degree relative who also had a problem with bedwetting. Knowing this often helps the child feel less stressed about the situation.

Roughly 20% of children still wet their beds at age 5, only 5% do so by age 10, and 2% by age 15. An unfortunate 1 out of 100 childhood bedwetters continues to have a problem into adulthood.

Some common causes of bedwetting are usually simply. For example, one cause is due to a delay in the maturation of the part of the nervous system that controls bladder function. Or bedwetting may sometimes be due to either psychological problems or medical disorders, such as a urinary tract infection, urinary tract abnormalities, or diabetes.

Do not worry about bedwetting in children before the age of 6, unless they were previously well toilet trained and the bedwetting is now a new symptom. Do not punish a child who wets his or her bed. This problem is not caused by laziness or rebelliousness. Shaming a child for wetting the bed can lead to poor self-esteem and feelings of low self-worth.

Reassure, encourage, and express confidence in your child. You can also have your child take an active part in cleaning up from the bedwetting. For example, have them help with stripping the bed, putting the sheets in the laundry. This'll show your child that you are not angry, and that it is something that can be dealt with in a calm manner.

Withholding bedtime drinks may be helpful in some children because it decreases the volume of urine in the bladder. However, this does not prevent the problem completely. Avoiding caffeine-containing drinks, such as many types of soda, can also help decrease the amount of urine in the bladder since caffeine increases urine production.

See your health care provider to consider the use of alarm systems. Some alarm systems include Wet-stop and Enuretone. You may also speak to your health care provider about drug alternatives such as DDAVP, a simple nasal spray that can be delivered right before bedtime. DDAVP stops bed wetting in 60-75% of children while taking the drug, but is not a permanent cure. Once the medication is stopped, the bedwetting tends to recur.

Call your health care provider if there have been repeated episodes of bed wetting after the age of 6, especially if your child complains that it hurts when he/she urinates, or if your child has been drinking excessive amounts of fluids, or if your child has been exhibiting strange behavioral changes (such as a normally outgoing child becoming withdrawn or a child suddenly behaving in a sexually suggestive manner).

Dealing with your child's bedwetting doesn't have to be traumatic for them, or for you. It's something that can be dealt with delicately, and with understanding. It doesn't have to affect their maturation and growth.

About the author: E. Cordova is a health writer. He has created a website, http://stop-bed-wetting, to help parents deal with their children's bedwetting.