When should you worry about your child wetting the bed?

Doctors offer tips on how to encourage accident-free nights

“Sometimes a child who has been dry at night will begin to wet the bed again.

This may be triggered by family stress or school problems. As a child’s systems

mature, they are less likely to wet at night. بقلم the teen years, or much

earlier, almost all kids who wet their bed have outgrown the problem with only

one per cent or less still having issues,” adds Dr Chadi Al Alam, Specialist

Paediatric Neurologist at UAE-based American Center for Psychiatry and

Neurology.

If a kid continues to have accidents, what can you do?

Most children outgrow bedwetting on their own, but some will need a little

help. If your child is having challenges

staying dry during the night after the age of seven, speak to your

paediatrician about ways to help them. A few

children have an underlying medical condition causing the bedwetting that will

need to be assessed and appropriately

managed by their doctor, says Dr Adei. One of the recommendations she makes is

using a reward system to encourage

dry nights.

“Use positive reinforcement: for example, your child can put a sticker on a

chart or earn points for every night he

or she remains dry. Once a certain number of stickers or points have been

earned, give your child a small prize,”

she says.

Other things you can do are:

Time water intake: “Reduce fluid intake to two-thirds of the regular volume

they consume daily.

Increase fluid intake earlier in the day and reduce it later in the day,

stopping fluid intake after dinner,” says Dr Al Alam,

adding that be careful not to cause a thirst overload.

Schedule bathroom breaks during the day: Get your child on a regular urination

schedule (every two to three hours) and right before bedtime, he adds.

Reward success: Praise and encourage your child each time they wake up dry,

says Dr Adei.

Be careful of what you feed them: “Eliminate bladder irritants such as

chocolate,

milk, coca (caffeine), artificial flavouring and sweeteners,” says Dr Al Alam.

Other things you can do are:

Use tech to teach: Use an alarm device that wakes up the child as soon

as wetness is detected, says Dr Al Alam. The device is inexpensive and readily

available and should be tried before

medication. This is ‘conditioning training’, which, if used steadily and

consistently for three to four months,

appears to work at least 75 per cent of the time.

Reassure your child: Assure your child that bedwetting in children is common.

It’s nothing to be ashamed of and almost all children eventually outgrow it, he

adds.

When do you need to try medication?

Try medication if the child is over seven years of age and other methods have

failed, says Dr Al Alam. Parents

should consider treatment if their child is still wetting the bed between the

ages six and seven, according to the

National Enuresis Society, or sooner if the child seems troubled by bedwetting.

Bedwetting can be a symptom of a medical condition that requires assessment and

treatment, adds Dr Adei. Consult

your doctor if:

• Your child starts to wet the bed after several months of being dry at

night

• Your child is having accidents during the day as well the night
• Your child is complaining of painful urination or feeling unusually

thirsty all the time.

• Your child’s urine is pink or red
• Your child has hard stools and strains to pass stool (constipation)
• Your child is snoring loudly at night

What must you not do?

Dr Al Alam says the most unhelpful thing you can do is resorting to punishment.

He adds the following to his list of

don’ts:

Don’t wake children up to urinate. Randomly waking up your child at night and

asking them to

urinate on demand isn’t the answer. It’ll only lead to more sleeplessness and

frustration for you and your child.

Don’t wake children up to urinate. Randomly waking up your child at night

and asking them

to urinate on demand isn’t the answer. It’ll only lead to more

sleeplessness and frustration for you and

your child.

• Dr Chadi Al Alam

Don’t let siblings tease the child. Make sure siblings understand this as well.

Don’t allow them to

tease the bed wetter.

Dr Adei adds: “Don’t talk about your child’s bedwetting in front of others.”

At what point is bedwetting a symptom for something more sinister?

There are two types of bedwetting, says Dr Al Alam: primary and secondary.

“Primary means bedwetting that has been ongoing since early childhood without a

break. A child with primary

bedwetting has never been dry at night for any significant length of time

Secondary bedwetting is bedwetting that starts up after the child has been dry

at night for a significant period of

time for at least six months,” he says.

“The child with secondary bedwetting is much more likely to have other symptoms

such as daytime wetting, and we

should search for medical reasons such as urinary tract infection, diabetes,

structural or anatomical abnormalities

(brain, spine, and muscles), neurological problems, emotional problems, child

abuse and sleep apnoea,” he says.

If it’s not a psychological thing – what could be the other reasons for a child

wetting the

bed?

Dr Adei explains the factors:

• Family history: children with a parent or parents who were bedwetters are

more likely to wet the bed

• Constipation
• A urinary tract infection
• Small bladder size
• Diabetes
• Sickle cell disease
• Kidney or bladder abnormalities
• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Both doctors call for medical intervention if you are concerned about your

child’s bedwetting.