What are the Remedies to stop Bed Wetting?

What are the Remedies to stop Bed Wetting? in fact Bed-wetting or nocturnal enuresis,  is not a behavioural problem. Many children do feel embarrassed or ashamed by it. Family members need to be supportive and not critical. By around age 4, children start gaining control over bladder and stop urinating in their bed at night (and stay dry). But in some even beyond the age of 5, control is not developed, especially in boys and leads to bed-wetting. Wetting the bed at night (nocturnal enuresis) is commonly observed in many three to eight year old children. With respect to the gender, 60% of all the bed-wetter is males and a major percentage of them wet the bed almost every night.

 Causes of Bed Wetting

• Heredity: It is associated with certain genes. That is if one parent or both parents seem to have been faced with this problem in their childhood, then there are around 50% chances that their child will also be a bed wetter. However, the child usually stops at the same age that the parent did.
• Physical causes that increases the chances of bed-wetting
• Children with a small bladder than normal suffer from this problem.
• Problem in valve that controls the flow of urine from the Bladder.
• Urinary tract infections,
• Constipation exerts pressure on the Bladder.
• mental retardation and developmental disorders
• Neurological causes: In some children, the brain takes longer to develop voluntary control over certain bodily functions. Thus, a child may wet the bed because exercise control over the Bladder may yet not be achieved.
• External stress: Children who are stressed due to events such as moving to a new home, beginning school, conflict between parents, the arrival of a new child, being abused, etc are believed to be more likely to suffer from bed-wetting. In these cases, a child, who did not wet the bed at night, may have started doing so due to stress.

Remedies to stop Bed Wetting

• During the day, let your child hold the urine for a long time. This will encourage bladder control. This exercise may help her strengthen her bladder muscles.
• Plenty of fluid in-take during the day and only small quantities during night.
• Take her to the toilet to empty her bladder just before she sleeps
• Make sure that the baby is not stressed while going to bed
• Involve your child in daily activities like arranging bed, laundering the sheets.
• Do not make her very conscious of the fact that her bed wetting is a major problem for you. She may get disturbed and lose her sleep over it – causing some other kind of problems.
• Wake her up in a few hours and empty her bowels once or twice a night.
• Once she realizes how nice it is to feel dry and clean for a few days, she may get motivated to try a bit more on her own.
• A child already going through mental distress due to this problem should be rather comforted and reassured from your end that he is perfectly normal and that you both jointly will find a better way to deal with it.
• Child’s frequency of bed wetting may also increase with a sudden drop in temperature. So make sure  child is properly dressed and warm. Cover him with a blanket, if required.

Psychological Impact on Children

• Many children suffer from self esteem problem.
• They have feeling of failure and start to distinguish themselves from others.
• Feel guilty about their doing.
• They are teased by their own family members and sibling.
• They are afraid of their friends, as they don’t want their problem known to their friends.
• They feel bad as they cannot go for sleep over’s and overnight trips. Children who are unable to join in these gatherings may find themselves missing out on spending quality time with their peers or family.
• They are also sometimes subjected to punishments.

Dr.C.Dinakar ,Vydehi Hospital

Whitefield, Bangalore – 66
Ph: 080-28413381/2/3/4 www.vims.ac.in