When bed-wetting becomes a problem in your home, what do you do?

Often times when a child is wetting his or her bed, the reason is due either to an undiagnosed medical condition or due to psychological effects. As a parent, you will want to find out what is happening with your child so that he or she can stop bedwetting.

Bedwetting occurs at night, and often in children who have no trouble or little trouble controlling their bladder during the day, which is not a rare problem.

The older children get, the less likely they are to wet the bed, as children outgrow
the problem at a rate of roughly 15% per year. However, this means that 1% of older teenagers, and 20% of children between the ages of six and five will still wet their bed regularly.

Bedwetting creates stress for the entire family. Parents may be frustrated and fatigued by the washing of sheets, drying of mattresses, and reassurances that follow each incident of bedwetting.

Enuresis is the medical term for bedwetting and it is a serious subject for medical research. Researchers have found that a few basic causes of bedwetting seem to be the culprit for most sufferers of Enuresis. Among medical causes, ailments such as urinary tract infections, allergies, diabetes, cell anemia and sleep disorders are often the culprit.

In addition, researchers have found that psychological reasons such as stress, upset, and
trauma often contribute to bedwetting.

Children who wet the bed for any reason often suffer needlessly, and this suffering is the best reason to get your child help for Enuresis. Children who wet the bed often suffer from low self-esteem, withdrawal, stress, fear, and other problems. These children may suffer from sleeplessness because they fear or are embarrassed by what happens when they sleep.

A child with Enuresis is often teased by others and may feel dirty by the smell of urine about them. The child may even avoid others out of fear of ridicule. At the very least, fun childhood activities such as camp, sleep overs, and camping may be made into traumatic rather than happy events for the bedwetting child.

Here are some tips you will want to adopt right away in order to deal with bedwetting in your household.

1. Work on Sensitivity

One of the biggest impacts of bedwetting on your child is an emotional one, so you should work on making sure that your household is sensitive to your child’s situation.

2. Watch your own sensitivity levels

It is not just siblings and other children that need to be considered. Parents often inadvertently are insensitive to their child’s bedwetting.

3. Educate Yourself

If you have several children, you need to be aware that siblings will often tease a brother or sister who “still wets the bed.” Letting these children know that Enuresis is a condition can help them be more sensitive towards their sibling while measures are taken to prevent bedwetting.

4. Educate your child

For the child affected by Enuresis, being told the facts about bedwetting can be a big help. Children often hear misconceptions about bedwetting from other children.

5. Visit a Doctor

Since some bedwetting is caused by undiagnosed medical conditions such as diabetes or allergies, it makes sense to take your child to a doctor to be checked out. If there is a doctor in your area who is known for treating children with Enuresis, so much the better.

6. Evaluate

Evaluate how much of a problem bedwetting is in your family and how often it happens. Frequent bedwetting that causes many tears and embarrassment or even arguments in your household may need more aggressive treatment than bedwetting that occurs once in a while and results in only some extra laundry.

7. Different types of bedwetting demand different approaches

Also, be sure to differentiate between primary and secondary Enuresis. Primary nocturnal Enuresis is almost never caused by an underlying medical problem. Secondary nocturnal Enuresis means that a child has had control of his or her bladder but has begun wetting the bed.

8. Make it less stressful

Putting special sheets on your child’s bed, for example, can make clean-up much easier. Keeping extra sheets and blankets by your child’s room can also make clean-up much faster, especially in a busy household. 

9: Reality Check

Although we often expect kids to grow up fast today, the fact is that occasional bedwetting up to age three is still considered “normal” by most experts - children at this age are still simply learning to do basic things like use the washroom and control their bladder.

10. Once you have calmed down, take action

Parents should not just allow themselves to be placated into taking no action at all. The fact is, bedwetting can still be a nuisance and a problem for your child, and there are many solutions out there.

11. Don’t let it become a big deal

Be careful that you desire to help does not come across as a sign that there is something wrong. Don’t make bedwetting - an un-dangerous condition - become a big issue at your house.

12. Keep things low-key

Make sure that the approach to bedwetting is a low-key one. Point out that it is not a child’s fault and that it usually means that a child simply needs to keep growing up - there is nothing abnormal about it. It oftenhelps if the child knows that others in the family have experienced bedwetting and have grown out of it.

13. Let the child tell you when he or she has wet the bed

If your child wets the bed, make sure that siblings or other well-intentioned members of the household don’t announce “Johnny wet the bed -again.” This just leads to shaming.

Instead, it is often helpful to have a quiet time in the morning when your child can tell you himself or herself. Having a system (such as a calendar where the child marks wet and dry nights) can make it easier for the child to approach you, as there is a routine for sharing this information.

14. Let the child help

If it will help your child feel less embarrassed, let him or her help clean up. He or she can tidy up the pillows or fold the sheets. In some cases, this can make the child feel less inept and babyish, if they can be entrusted with a grownup chore. Plus, if they can help clean the bed they may feel in control of a small part of their bedwetting.

15. Stay alert for bigger problems

If your child shows any of the following symptoms, he or she may be struggling more than you know and should be taken to a doctor or pediatrician to get help sorting out the emotions he or she could be felling:

•Sudden and big changes in appetite (eats a lot less or far more)
•Fearful or withdrawn with others
•Does not show interest in regular activities
•Does not spend time with others and does not want to spend time with others
•Cries, gets angry or is very quiet often
•Mood swings
•Trouble sleeping
•Loss of control of bladder during the day
•Grades dramatically worsen