How to Keep Your Child from Wetting the Bed

Many children have a problem wetting the bed. As your child gets older they will usually grow out of bed wetting but some may not. If your child is old enough not to wet the bed but is still doing it there might be a valid reason that you, as a parent, should explore. The reasons a child might still be wetting the bed include, stress, problems at home, problems at school and nerves. Problems at home may not be the parents fault. If the parents are going through a divorce or fighting constantly, this might upset and stress your child out and cause he or she to wet the bed. The problems at school could include someone picking on your child or a teacher they do not like. The main thing to remember is to never blame your child for a problem with wetting the bed. Let your child know that wetting the bed is not really a bad thing and it is never their fault. There are other ways you can avoid bed wetting and eliminate it altogether.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Patience
• Control
• Bed wetting alarm
• Clean sheets
• Felt-covered pad
• Clean pajamas
• Practice bladder stretching exercises
• Love

1. Be patient with your child. If he or she should have grown out of bed wetting by now but hasn’t, explore the reasons this might still be happening. Talk to your child about any problems they may be having at school, with friends, or even if there is something at home bothering them. The better you understand why your child is still wetting the bed, the easier it will be to get to the root of the problem. Remember, wetting the bed is usually caused by stress and as long as you don’t play the blame game, it should be an easy thing to handle.

2. Give your child control of their own. By this I mean, at night leave a clean pair of sheets out for them to change by themselves. By doing this they will not have to come and wake you up and will not feel too bad for wetting the bed. Also make sure you leave out a clean pair of pajamas and buy a felt covered rubber pad for your child to lay over the wet spot. By allowing them to have more control, you will let them know that it is not their fault and if they are old enough not to wet the bed, they will not feel like a baby by having to come and wake you up every time it happens.

3. Buy a bed wetting alarm for your child. A new kind of bed wetting alarm they have on the market is small enough to use hearing aid batteries and can be attached to your child’s underwear. These new bed wetting alarms have a heat sensor attached to wake your child up when they are just a little bit wet. This kind of bed wetting alarm can teach your child to get in the habit of waking up at the same time every night to go to the bathroom instead of wetting the bed. They also have an older version bed wetting alarm that is loud and can wake up the whole household. The newer ones are better and have a higher success rate in eliminating bed wetting altogether.

4. Practice bladder control every day with your child to reduce bed wetting and eliminate it altogether. Practicing bladder control can teach your child to hold their bladder a little longer at night in case they cannot wake up when they need to go to the bathroom. Practice bladder control by having them hold their bladder a little longer after they drink water during the day. This can especially be good for those children who drink a lot of fluids during the day. Just have them hold their bladder a little longer each time they drink fluids all day long. Holding the bladder a little longer every day is a type of bladder stretching exercise that can help reduce or eliminate bed wetting altogether.

Tips & Warnings

• The most important thing you need to remember is to be patient with your child, try to understand why your child is wetting the bed, and love your child no matter what.
• Be ready for any questions your child may have about the bed wetting situation.
• Do not yell at your child or blame them for wetting the bed.
• If further things are revealed as to why your child may be wetting the bed, seek the advice from a child counselor or doctor.

Resources

• Keeping Your Child from Wetting the Bed

[CarlaBoner]

on 1/4/2009 Great info

[taskeinc]

on 11/8/2008 Very good tips ..

[LindsayM]

on 10/27/2008 I had never heard of a bed wetting alarm, that's interesting! I'm going to keep this info in my back pocket, in case I need it when the kids are older.