Bed Wetting in Children

Bed Wetting in Children

How to help child with their bed wetting?

Bed wetting is common problem and is challenging for many school-aged children and their families. It’s a subject that children are often embarrassed to discuss; it’s a very distressing for some families and can cause considerable anxiety, especially around school camps.

Many parents don’t know or appreciate how common bed wetting is, and that it can be successfully treated by simple measures. We often find that parents, uncles or cousins might also have been bed wetters when they were younger. It’s a huge relief to many kids to find out that Mum or Dad did it too! In fact, about 15% of five-year –old’s, 10% of six-year-old’s and 5% of 10-year-old’s still wet the bed.

Wetting the bed at night is more common in adults than you might think. It affects about one person in every hundred, mainly men.

So why do children wet the bed?

Most bed wetters are very deep sleepers and just don’t wake when they need to go to the toilet. Their kidneys may also produce more urine overnight, and they may also have “an over-active” bladder. This means the bladder doesn’t hold as much urine as it should overnight.

When should you be worried if your child is still wetting the bed?

If the bed wetting is causing distress to your child, then you should see a doctor for advice and support. Doctors usually don’t treat bed wetting until a child is over 6 or 7 years old as it often gets better on its own. However, If the child also wets and/or does poo in their pants during the day, or they have been dry and suddenly they start wetting at night, then you should see a doctor earlier. Sometimes, there are other physical causes that need to be ruled cut. Even if treatment is deferred, it’s worth having your child seen by a Paediatrician.

How is bed wetting treated?

The first step is to ensure that your child drinks enough throughout the day. It is recommended that kids have at least five to six drinks a day, spread out evenly over theday. This helps to train the bladder to hold more urine during the day and at night. Ti is not necessary to limit drinks before bedtime as this does not make bed wetting an less likely to happen, and may be limiting your child’s fluid intake.

Does medication help?

Medical treatment usually works well as one of the causes for these children is less production of hormones at night. Based on the assessment a doctor may prescribe medication to help child’s body retain fluid and produce less urine overnight.

Medicines if started are usually taken for three months before trying to stay dry without them. Some children only use the medication for sleepovers or school camps to make sure they stay dry.

Using a bed wetting alarm:

If the child is over 10 years it may be time to try an alarm. It is very important that your child is keen to give this a try and that everyone is positive and motivated to help make it work. There are two types of alarm:

  • A small alarm that clips to your child’s pyjamas with a wire that is connected to a sensor that sits between two pairs of underpants. This alarm needs to be purchased, it is not cumbersome and is usually well tolerated by kids.
  • A mat that the child sleeps on is connected to an alarm box that is placed at the end of the bed or on the other side of the room.

The idea is that when your child wets, the alarm will sound and your child needs to turn it off. They need to be properly awake, turn it off themselves and then go to finish urination on the toilet.

Is there a link between bed wetting and constipation?

It is important for your doctor to work out if the child only wets at night or whether they have daytime symptoms too, such as wetting and poos in their underpants or passing ofhard poos irregularly.

Constipation is vey commonly associated with wetting as the bowel sits so close to the bladder. If the rectum is full of poo and pushing on the bladder, it makes the bladder more “twitchy” and unable to hold as much urine. Often parents aren’t aware that tear child is constipated because they may go daily, but in reality they ate only passing smallamounts or the stool is very hard.

Try to remind onself that the child is not being naughty by wetting the bed and, as hard as it to wash all those sheets, it is so important not to get angry with them or blame them . A variety of mattress protectors and pull ups or pads are available if one is waiting to get the treatment started, or the child is too young for any sort of treatment.

Bed wetting and other continence issues can be very disabling foe a child, so support them to deal with it and seek help if you think it is time.