Bedwetting is more common problem among children above the age of 5 than you might think. Though they are grown up enough to remain dry throughout the night, they are still wetting the bed. By the time they are 10 most children stop bedwetting.
Don’t conclude that the child is too lazy to get up in the night to go to the washroom. It may be true for a very small percentage of lazy kids, but in most cases they have small bladder that can’t hold enough urine. The child doesn’t even know during the night when this excess urine wets the bed.
Until the child is 5 years, you really do not notice the bedwetting, particularly if the child is still in diapers. However, when the child grows above 5 years, ithe bedwetting gets noticed. There is no need to panic, but your aim should be to resolve the issue of wetting the bed within the next few years.
1. What Causes Bedwetting ?
There are two distinct conditions that causes bedwetting.
Primary Enuresis is caused by the delay in maturation of the bladder control mechanism. The child under these circumstances will always wet the bed. This is a genetic condition and usually gets resolved by the time the child passes the age of 6 years or turns 10 at the max, the child remains dry after that.
The other cause of bedwetting is defined as Secondary Enuresis. This type of bedwetting occurs infrequently and usually when child was dry for more than a year or so. Psychological stress, trauma or infection can be the underlying causes. The child needs counseling and treatment from a qualified medical practitioner.
It is an irony that most parents don’t understand the underlying reasons for bedwetting. In fact the moms who usually talk about the diapers during the diaper age children stop talking about such things after the child is above 4 years of age.
Most unaware parents make the child feel guilty by punishing them. It puts the child in psychological problems leading to more bedwetting.
Instead of punishing or shaming the child, the parents should get themselves educated about the condition, and help the child, who is already embarrassed by the condition and feels helpless, by motivating and education.
When you explain your child that your brain is not sending the signal yet to hold the urine during the night that is why the bed's getting wet. As you grow older and brain starts sending the signals, you will be waking up dry.
Once the child realizes that it is not his or her fault, he/she feels psychologically strong. This strong feeling itself can help curing the bedwetting problems fast.
2. Precautionary Measures to Reduce bedwetting
If we use certain common sense techniques then the problem can be reduced to manageable levels.
- Build a habit to empty the bladder before going to bed. This by itself will reduce pressure on the bladder.
- Drink fewer liquids after evening. Less fluid intake means less elimination. The bladder which is still small in size may be able to hold the lesser amount of urine produced during the night.
- Stop taking substances that act natural diuretics. All caffeinated beverages are the prime suspects.Stop taking coffee, tea and colas. Certain herbs such as ginger, beetroot and even citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons shouldn’t be consumed after lunch hours.
- Constipation can lead to bedwetting. The accumulated poop inside the lower body pressurizes the bladder. As a result the bladder loses its stability leading to bedwetting. If you notice that your child is not having a daily bowel movement or is having a hard stool, then increase his dietary fiber intake. Also give him more liquids during the day to ensure regular bowel movement
Once you take all the precautionary measure, then you can prepare the child psychologically to stop wetting the bed.
You can design an incentive plans based on the past track record of the child’s bedwetting. Be creative, be innovative and design a plan that motivates your child to stop bedwetting. The objective is to make it slightly difficult to achieve yet achievable with little extra effort.
You can work on your child's will power by motivating him/her to teach auto suggestions. For example, you hang a large one month calendar on the wall. Paste or draw a star for all the dry days. Give him some gift on slab basis, knowing that occasionally he will fail. You may give him a small gift if the child has 5 dry days out of 15 days, another better toy if he has 10 dry days out of 15 days and even better toy if he gets 7 consecutive dry days etc. etc.
Motivate the child but never punish.
3.Measures to Improve the Hygiene with Bedwetting
With all the above precaution and incentives, your child may still wet the bed. Therefore, you need to ensure that the mattress on which the child sleeps remain dry and hygienic it is also a social responsibility, if you are vesting a relative and staying with them overnight or you are a guest in a hotel.
There are three easy ways to ensure that the general hygiene is maintained.
Diaper – Continue use of large size diapers to stop wetting the matters. This may be inconvenient, the child may resist it, but it is a good way to protect the mattresses and avoids the psychological pressure the child has to undergo, if he wets the bed.
Rubber Sheets for Bedwetting – A rubber sheet is spread under the bed sheet to protect the bed (mattress) from wetting. This is more of trying to protect the mattress and managing hygiene by washing the rubber sheets on daily morning. Child still undergoes psychological stress knowing that he/she has made the bed wet.
Bedwetting Alarm – A bed wetting alarm is inserted into child’s pajamas. The alarm rings as soon as it senses moisture. The child wakes up and goes to the washroom for urination. It takes some time before a child gets used to this electronic bed wetting alarm. This method works on active children but the lazy child may still be taking action. This works well as the laziness to get up and go for urination at night is not the main cause of bedwetting. In fact percentage of bedwetting due to laziness is very low. There is one more aspect which cannot be overlooked particularly if the bedwetting is caused by secondary enuresis.
This is not a preferable solution for the primary enuresis for children. However infection if any causing the secondary enuresis has to be treated under medical supervision.
Overall, it is important to understand that the bedwetting is a neurological condition, which requires patience and commitment to help your child to stop bedwetting without feeling guilty and worrying about punishment. Educate the child on why it is happening and explain that it is normal for many children whose bladders are not fully matured to urinate in the night without consciously be aware of it. Motivate him/her to work with you to solve the problem and feel good about the process of solving the problem.