bed wetting problem While most youngsters age five and older have sufficiently grown physically so that they no longer wet their beds ("nocturnal enuresis"), about twenty percent of children still suffer from this mortifying condition. While relatively simple in nature, it's not well-understood, leading to "solutions" that harm the children physically and emotionally and have a negative impact on the families as well.
A child who wets the bed more than twice a month is considered to have this condition.
Most youngsters develop the capacity to control their bladders by around age five, but some simply haven't yet It's simply a matter of physical development, which happens faster in some children than in others, and is beyond anyone's control, yet delayed development is by far the most common reason for bedwetting. Other causes of bedwetting can be disease, infection, hormone insufficiency, physical abnormality, caffeine, alcohol, sleep apnea, ADHD and psychological problems. Children can't control any of these causes, and parents and caregivers have only limited control over a couple of them.Heavy sleeping, room temperature, strain, allergies, toilet training techniques and dandelions (reputedly a strong diuretic) have also been claimed to be causes of bedwetting, but these reasons haven't been proven yet.
If neither parent was a bedwetter, the chances are slim (15%) that their child will be, but if both parents were, then the chances are great (77%) that the child will be a bedwetter, demonstrating that genetics plays a key role in bedwetting.
Bedwetting is a problem that leads to other problems. Obviously, the night's sleep has been disrupted. Other problems arise, though: bedwetters are frequently shamed or punished, leading to low self-esteem, which can then be further damaged by other factors such as how the child is treated by his peers, if parents react negatively, and how long the bedwetting's been going on. There are financial considerations for the families of bedwetters (things like laundry, protective underwear, protection for mattresses, etc.), and bedwetters themselves, depending on the level of shame they're made to feel, might display behavioral problems later in life.
Parents can try behavioral approaches to helping their children overcome bedwetting, like positive reinforcement, or they can consult a medical professional for clinical approaches. Punishing a child for bedwetting is useless because the causes are beyond the child's control. Those who punish youngsters for bedwetting, in fact, usually cause even more problems. children need the love of good parents and the reassurance that what they're going through is normal.
Waiting is the most effective solution to bedwetting, surprising as that may sound. The fact is, most children will simply outgrow the problem.Most doctors won't recommend medical treatment for bedwetting until age seven at the earliest for this reason - the incidence of bedwetting reduces by more than half (from 20% to 7%) by age seven.
Of course, parents can try to manage their youngsters's bedwetting via some commonsense measures like putting a protective cover on the mattress, giving them special absorbent underwear at night, reducing their liquid intake during the evening before bedtime, and ensuring use of the toilet just before bedtime. If a child is still a bedwetter at age seven, medical treatments are available based on a doctor's diagnosis of the cause. Specialized medications are among the treatments available, as well as special "bedwetting alarms" which are triggered by moisture.
While frustrating, bedwetting is a problem that will usually simply go away if you wait it out, but too often children who suffer from this condition are punished or shamed, leading to hosts of other problems that can linger for years.
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