Bedwetting and Your Child
Touchette E, et al Archives Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, December, 2005.
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The study
Data was gathered on 1,666 children in Quebec at ages 29, 41 and 53 months on:
- Bedwetting
- Developmental milestones
What the study found
- 10% of children were still bedwetting at 53 months.
- Persistent bedwetting was associated with :
- Slower motor developmental milestones (e.g., sitting up, crawling) in boys.
- Slower language development in boys and girls.
- Increased inattention and hyperactivity in girls.
What the study suggests:
Persistent bedwetting may be due to immaturity of the central nervous system
Dr. P comments
This study helps us understand why bedwetting almost always goes away in time: the connections in the sleeping brain that stop the bladder from emptying are slow to develop. Once they do, the bedwetting stops on its own.
It breaks my heart to see parents get so angry, and then punish and ridicule their bedwetter. It's not his/her fault and all the punishment in the world won't help make those brain-to-bladder connections form. But it will do a good job in increasing the child's shame and lowering his/her self-esteem.
If your child is a persistent bedwetter, have his/her urine checked to be sure there is no medical problem. Try the easy things: restricting fluids after supper and awakening your child to pee before you go to sleep. But don't count on that doing the trick. Similarly, medications like DDAVP can work well when taken (and so are good for sleep-overs or camp), but when stopped the bedwetting comes back.
The most effective treatment for bedwetting - should you and your child want to try to speed the process up - are bedwetting alarms. These probably work by helping to make those connections during sleep. (For some reason, not all pediatric providers are familiar with alarms and continue to prescribe ineffective treatments.)
Bottom line: no punishment for a challenge your sleeping child has no control over. Think about it: if you were to be punished and ridiculed for drooling or snoring when you slept or if you were offered a new car if you didn't, how well would that work?
Related Topics: The Bedwetting Blues, Pedatric Potty Problems
8 Comments:
I'd love to show this article to my husband. As a bedwetter, I know the feeling of being ridiculed and punished for something I had no control over. I am watching my son go through the same thing and as hard as I've tried to explain it to my husband, he doesn't seem to get it.
I will show this article to my husband. As a child bedwetter, i too recall the feeling of being ridiculed and punished for something i had no control over. I have a 6 year old son, who is a bedwetter, he cries and says he tries really hard not to wet his bed, but i know it is not intentional. My husband just doesn't understand. My son was recently diagnosed with unilateral hydronephrosis, from a recent ultra sound of his kidneys. For any parents who are dealing with bedwetters, please do not punish them...
I have a son who is 9, and we feel that we are going in reverse w/the problem. He is to the point of not going to sleep overs. His dr. prescribed an antidepressant type of drug used to treat bed wetting, and it did not help. I keep holding off on the next phase of testing (ivp, vucg?) because I know that he will be terrified. I've tried to have a cut off time for drinking, and other stuff like that, but nothing has helped. One day I was in tears because he was in tears. My heart goes out to all the little ones dealing with this.
We read your article and would like to help. At the Enuresis Treatment Center we have helped thousands of people overcome bedwetting. Bedwetting, or Enuresis, is actually a problem based upon abnormally deep sleep, one that is so resistant to arousal that the bedwetter's brain cannot automatically keep the bladder shut during sleep. Our experience shows that one should not wait until the child outgrows the problem, because then they are still left with a sleep disorder that can no longer be treated. We have put together a guide to help people evaluate which treatment would work best for them. We invite them to download this free of charge at www.freebedwettingguide.com.
I feel all of your pain. I'm a 27 yr. old female and I have a bed wetting problem. I've taken DDAVP, used alarms, everything. It's very embarrassing so my only hope is your children doesn't have to go through this when there older. Good Luck!!
my son is 7 years of age and he still wets his pants and somtimes still poop his pants when he get focused on the computer or somtimes when he just playing outside and yah he wets the bed somtimes too i dont give him any drinks after 6:30 amd nothing seem too work i've tried everything by waking him up and bring him to the poddy right before i go to see around 10:00 and by morn he's wet .....somone please send me some advice
My daughter is 9 and wetting the bed almost every night. She even hides her underware thinking I won't know. This has just started in the last 5 months. Before that she never wet the bed. I have tried the drink cut off and make sure she goes to the bathroom before she goes to bed. And nothing is working. It just seems to be getting worst. When it started it was once in a while. I didn't get on to her. Now it is almost every night. And she lies about it. I really don't know what to do. Any help?
You need to ask your child what's going on in her life at school. It sounds to me that she may have some issues with a bully or even perhaps the teacher especially is she has stayed dried all these years. I know she is embarrassed, but you absolutely must talk to her! This is a sign of STRESS that she can not handle. Talk to her and be comforting. She's hiding it because she is having self esteem issues and she may be afraid you will punish her.
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