Child bedwetting is common. Child bedwetting causes stress, distress, anxiety and in some cases intolerance in the family. Boys tend to wet the bed more than girls. Some children have accidents now and then until the age of seven to eight. A child cannot control bedwetting.
Child bedwetting usually decreases gradually and then stops all together on its own. This usually happens latest when the child is seven or eight. It is very rare for an adult to wet the bed. Most of the children who do wet the bed do not have other health problems. Nor do they have delayed development.
Child bedwetting
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Child bedwetting can cause stress, distress, anxiety and in some cases intolerance in the family. These feelings can cause the child to have further behavioural problems. Their self-esteem may become low. They may become withdrawn. They may miss out on the activities, such as camping or sleepovers, because they are afraid that other children notice their bedwetting. Other children may tease the child. A child will worry that something is wrong.
For parent’s peace of mind, it might be good idea to visit a urologist to determine if there is a medical or neurological reasons for child bedwetting, although this is very rare.
Child bedwetting has biological reasons:
- Child bedwetting tends to run in families.
- Hormonal imbalances permit excess urine to accumulate during the night.
- The child’s muscular responses are not fully developed.
- The child’s bladder is too small to hold all the urine whilst asleep.
- The child’s brain and the bladder are not adequately communicating, so the child is not waking up when needing to urinate.
- The child sleeps so deeply that the brain is unable to awaken the child.
- A full rectum can push against the bladder and causes the bladder to empty.
Child bedwetting has external reasons : of various kinds
- Sleep deprivation.
- Drinking fluids just before going to bed.
- Not going to the toilet before the bed.
- High salt diet.
- Psychological stress can cause the child bedwetting to start again, such as when something dramatic happens in a family, such as divorce, moving house or a birth of a new sibling.
- Negative reactions from the parents lead to anxiety and stress. Stress hormone gives a feedback for the body to secrete more urine.
How can you help your bedwetting child:
- Reduce the stress around the child bedwetting. When the child senses anger, frustration and stress in the family because of the child bedwetting, it might cause the bedwetting to last longer.
- Do not blame or punish your child. Your child is not lazy, rebellious, young for his age or behaving badly.
- Be supportive of your child and make sure that they know it is not their fault.
- Normalise the child bedwetting. Let the child know that it is mostly genetic, either one of the parents, uncles or aunts wetted the bed when young. Let the child know that other children wet beds too.
- Encourage the child to go to the toilet just before going to bed.
- Leave a small night light on so that it is easier to the child to go to the toilet at night.
- It is better not to use diapers on an older child, this tends to prolong the child bedwetting. A child’s brain needs the feedback of the uncomfortable feeling of having wet pyjamas. This then causes the brain to make neural changes to stop the child bedwetting.
- When child bedwetting occurs, the child needs to take responsibility of cleaning up as much as possible. The cleaning up needs to become accepted routine. This gives the child a sense of control, they are tackling the problem and they have sense of handling it independently. This helps to overcome the embarrassment, stress and burden of this condition.
It helps considerably for a child to attend therapy to assist overcoming emotional impact of child bedwetting. This then helps the child to relax and be happy and confident child. This may lead to a bladder control as well.
Contact Maarit Rivers now for an initial free consultation for your child maaritr28@gmail.com or call me NOW on 0417 462115
