Bed wetting
It’s a relief when toddlers are potty-trained and
you’re spared the expense of nappies, but frustrating when your once-dry child
starts wetting the bed again. It’s is called enuresis.
For the
most part, enuresis is a temporary setback so don’t get too hung up about it.
Secondary enuresis (bed wetting after a child has been dry at night) is common
and treatable. Primary enuresis (always needing night-time nappies) needs more
investigating.
Some
children take longer to be potty-trained than others. It’s wise to wait until
your child is dry at night for at least two weeks before you take off the
night-time nappy. Don’t make a big deal of it. This will only make your child
anxious.
Causes of bed wetting:
- Big changes in their little world: going to a new school, a new baby in the house, divorce, death, moving
- Infections: bladder or urinary tract infections, thrush (happens more often in little girls) or an infection on the tip of the penis means that it burns when passing urine. This makes the child reluctant to empty their bladder and they may go to bed with it full
- Pinworm infections cause uncomfortable itching around the anal and/or genital area
- Constipation makes children thoroughly miserable. Impacted faeces could block urinary output so that urine trickles through during the night or it could dull sensation to the urinary sphincter that warns the child when their bladder is full
- Primary enuresis can be caused by severe emotional upsets (especially for adopted children) or urinary-tract abnormalities that may have missed diagnosis. A specialist psychologist or urologist should be consulted.
Tips for parents/caregivers:
Bed wetting
is involuntary. Children don’t do this deliberately. It makes them cold and wet
and uncomfortable and they feel humiliated. Adults get frustrated, but it’s
best to blame it on the ‘naughty wee’ and not the child
Bed wetting
is treatable. Ask your family doctor for help. S/he will check for infections
and underlying medical problems, and may be able to suggest techniques,
treatments or even devices that have been developed to help children stay dry
at night
You may not remember it, but bed wetting
tends to run in families. Most children stop bed wetting on their own at about
the same age their parent did!
Bed wetting after
the age of 3 is quite common today because children are allowed to outgrow their
need for nighttime nappies. This has its pros and cons. Children learn to sleep
without a nappy in their own time and they’re truly ready when they’re
consistently dry at night. But wearing a nighttime nappy can also make them
‘lazy’ and prolong nighttime ‘incontinence.’
Cut down on
liquids in the late afternoon and take your child to the toilet before you go
to bed (sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t)
Leave a
night-light on in the bathroom or passage so that your child is not frightened
to get up and go to the toilet on their own
Don’t make
a big fuss about being wet or dry the next morning. Take each day as it comes.
But when your child has been consistently dry in the mornings for a few weeks,
celebrate or reward your child appropriately.
