Bedwetting in Children & Toddlers
Bedwetting in Children & Toddlers
Parental Tips for Bedwetting
in Children & Toddlers
Your child can’t seem to get through the night without peeing the bed, no matter how hard they try. You’re irritated, and they’re irritated as well. Something appears to be badly wrong, and you’re concerned.
Wetting the bed is usually outgrown with time, and there is rarely anything major wrong. However, there are situations when medical assistance is required. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about children’s incontinence.
Is Bed Wetting a Common Problem in Children?
Around 40% of three-year-olds wet the bed. Experts don’t fully understand why a child continues to wet the bed while another does not. It could be a question of growth. The bladder of a toddler may not be developed enough to retain pee for a whole night. A child may not yet have learned the capacity to sense when his or her bladder is full, wake up, and go to the bathroom.
When it comes to bed wetting, what constitutes “normal”?
When it comes to bedwetting, the options are numerous. Between the ages of 2 and 4, a child is usually toilet trained. However, some children will not be able to sleep through the night until they are older. Although most children can keep dry by the age of five or six, some children continue to wet the bed until they are ten or twelve years old.
A youngster who had been dry during the night may begin to wet the bed again. This could be brought on by family stress or school issues. As a child’s body matures, he or she is less prone to wet the bed at night. Almost all children who wet their beds have outgrown the problem by the time they reach adolescence, or even earlier, with only 1% or less still having problems.
The majority of school-aged children who wet the bed at night have “primary enuresis,” as defined by doctors. They’ve never been able to manage their bladder at night. Incontinence in children is also influenced by family history. Don’t be surprised if your child wets the bed if you did as a child.
When Is It Time to Consult the GP?
Of course, bring it up whenever you’re concerned about bed wetting. Tell your GP straight away if your child has been dry and suddenly begins to wet the bed. Your child’s doctor can examine him or her to ensure that the problem isn’t caused by stress or an underlying medical condition. This is a remote possibility. Only 1% of all bedwetting problems can be linked to diabetes, infections, bladder or kidney abnormalities, or another medical condition. Talk to your doctor right away if your child experiences any odd symptoms, such as burning when peeing or passing bloody urine.
Assisting the doctor
Be an excellent detective at home to help solve your child’s bedwetting problem. Prepare to answer the following questions:
- Is there a history of bed wetting in your family?
- Do specific situations, foods, or drinks make you more likely to wet the bed?
- Is your child consuming fluids in the hours leading up to bedtime?
- Is there anything out of the ordinary, such as bloody urine?
Keeping a journal or diary will help you track these.
Treatment?
Urine tests may be ordered by your GP to determine if you have a urinary tract infection, which can cause bedwetting. Other tests to examine the health of your child’s urinary tract system may be requested by the doctor.
What Can Be Done If Your Child Is Bedwetting?
Your paediatrician may recommend a range of strategies to help you stop wetting the bed, including the following:
- Before going to bed, keep your fluid intake to a minimum.
- When wetness is detected, use an alarm device to rouse the youngster up. This is “conditioning training,” which appears to work at least 75% of the time when utilised consistently for three to four months. The devices are low-cost and widely available, and they should be tried before taking any drugs.
- Consider a prescription medication that causes the body to produce less pee at night. This is usually not an option until the child is at least 7 years old and all other options have failed.
What can I do to support my child?
Assure your child that bed wetting is a common occurrence among children. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, and almost all children outgrow it. Make sure that siblings are aware of the situation. Allowing them to tease the bedwetter is not a good idea. Take the child to the toilet when you go to bed, adults generally go to bed 2-3 hours after the child, taking them to the toilet at this time may also help to resolve bedwetting.