Bed Wetting Managing Techniques

The ability to control the bladder functions at night matures increases as a child’s body grows and his bed wetting is likely to decrease.

Most children who suffer from bed wetting outgrow it before their preteen years and if not, then by the time they enter their teenage years.

It is estimated that only 1% of adults suffers from the chronic problem of bed wetting.

However until bed wetting becomes a thing of the past it is significant to be supportive of a child who wets the bed.

1. Be sensitive to your child’s concerns and reassure him or her whenever they wish to talk about the problem.
2. Many children are anxious, embarrassed and frightened that their friends will find out that they wet their beds and they will then become the object of ridicule. Make sure your child knows that it is not anything he or she does that causes the bed wetting and that in time it will go away.
3. Do not get angry with your child for wetting his or her bed and do not make too big a deal of it, otherwise it is likely to affect your child’s self esteem. Don’t allow other siblings to laugh at or tease the bedwetting child about his or her problem or this could make the problem seem worse than it is.
4. If your child wants to help you change his sheets when he wets the bed then let him do so. This teaches both a sense of responsibility and also may bring some small comfort by deflecting his embarrassment at the situation.
5. You can manage bed wetting by encouraging your child to not drink a lot of liquids before he goes to bed and to always go to the toilet before turning in for the night.
6. Place a plastic or rubber cover, also known as a sheet protector between the fitted sheet and the mattress of your child’s bed. This helps keep the bed as unaffected by the bed wetting as possible by preventing the wet from being absorbed and also by preventing odor from sinking in and smelling the bed up.
7. Bed wetting alarms are useful, if a child is still wetting the bed upon reaching age seven or eight. Upon being aware of the presence of urine, this bed wetting alarm will make the child aware that he must awaken and go to the bathroom. This helps prevent only the smallest quantity of urine from being spilled onto a child’s bedclothes and sheets. It is necessary that the bed wetting alarm be reset before the child goes back to bed in case the problem begins again in the night.
8. Some doctors suggest bladder-stretching exercises as a way to handle bed wetting. What this means is that during the daytime hours your child stretches out the times when he uses the bathroom in order to encourage the bladder to be able to hold in more urine for longer periods of time. This is believed to help strengthen the bladder muscles. Make sure you carefully follow the instructions laid down by your doctor, if you decided to go this route.