Bedwetting also referred to as nighttime enuresis affects many children, as well as teenagers and even some adults. Although frustrating, it's usually not a sign of a serious problem.
Children who have wet the bed beyond age 5 generally need more time to develop before they can hold urine throughout the night. Some children also sleep so deeply that they don't wake up even when their bladder is full and they need to use the bathroom. If a child wets the bed after being dry for a while, the cause is often a stressful event such as the birth of a sibling. Rarely, bedwetting may be due to a physical problem. Whatever the cause, bedwetting is not the child's fault, and getting mad or upset won't help. But don't ignore the problem either. Talk to your child's doctor, who can help you develop a plan to cope with bedwetting and help your child become drier faster.
Tips That May Help
Never punish your child for wetting the bed. He or she can't control it. Punishment can sometimes make bedwetting worse by increasing the sense of shame and embarassement your child feels.
Use positive reinforcement to increase your child's self-confidence. Praise your child for success and even for trying hard to stay dry. Put up a calendar or a chart and give your child a big star or sticker for nights that he or she doesn't wet the bed.
Put night-lights in the bedroom, hallway, and bathroom. Lights may help your child feel safer getting up and walking to the bathroom during the night.
Get your child involved. Encourage him or her to take responsiblity for changing a wet bed during the night.
Protect the bed with a waterproof cover. Put an absorbent pad on the bed or keep extra sheets or dry towels in the child's room. If the child wets during the night, he or she can get up and remove the pad, change the sheets, or put a dry towel over the wet spot.
Keep a plastic bag in the room to hold wet sheets or pajamas.
Make it as easy as possible for your child to spend the night away from home. If he or she goes to a slumber party, hide a disposable diaper in the bottom of the sleeping bag, and have the child slip it on under his or her pajamas. Also ask your doctor about medications that may help control bedwetting for a night or two.
