Effective Bedwetting Solutions

Author Name: Heidi Holvoet, PhD

There are three types of bedwetting solutions : behavioral guidance (reward chart, bed wetting alarm, ...), medication (DDAVP) and surgery.

Only 1% of childhood bedwetting has an underlying medical condition. All others simply need some more time to develop the ability to stay dry at night, typically by the age of 6-8. It is not due to laziness or willfulness: it is developmental .

So it is mostly outgrown and harmless, meaning you can simply be patient and do nothing.

What can happen though, is that it makes your child feel bad, and harm his/her self-esteem. That's why you may decide to do something about it. Of course, any treatment should be very careful and focus on gently guiding without stigmatizing.

The reason for treating is mainly to build self-esteem and also for practical reasons such as when the child goes on sleepovers. Or to leave us moms and dads with a bit less sheets to wash.

Behavioral bedwetting solutions

This type of solution is all about encouraging or conditioning your little one to stay dry at night. Even if it is developmental, positive encouragement increases your child's motivation and this can effectively impact self-esteem and development.

1. A simple thing you can do is limit the amount she drinks in the 1-2 hours before bedtime. Do not stress it by telling her "you will wet the bed if you drinks too much". Simply make sure she drinks enough during the day and don't make extra drinks part of the routine in the evening.

2. A very effective gentle method is to work with a reward chart. This is extremely useful with children aged 5-8. You can try it for a month or so. If it works, continue for another month if necessary. If you see no improvement after a month, it is better to let it rest, and then give it another try later on.

How? Make or print out a nice looking monthly calendar chart - download one for free from the sticker reward chart page . Each morning after a dry night, you praise enthusiastically and give him a cool/fun sticker.

No sticker after a wet night but also no reprimanding and not much paying attention to it (since you definitely want to avoid that it becomes a psychological fight ).

3. Waking up . One of the solutions often seen as a bad idea, it is an option to wake your child after a few hours of sleep and take her to the bathroom - probably all sleepy and maybe not even waking up fully.

Why?! Although this will not help speed up the staying-dry ability, it can be a good trick to work on self-esteem. It is also helpful in specific situations like when staying at a hotel or with visitors around.

4. Bedwetting diapers are a good idea. Wearing a dry-night diaper takes a lot of pressure of both the child and yourself. They make a wet night less of an issue and are ideal to keep you both relaxed while awaiting the necessary physical development.

A special diaper is perfect to combine with the above solutions.

5. A bed wetting alarm wakes up your child when wetting herself at night. The idea is to condition her to wake up when she starts peeing.

Quite controversial but possibly successful, your doctor may advise this alarm in specific situations.

6. In very specific cases, you doctor may advise psychotherapy .

Medication

After a thorough examination, your doctor/urologist may suggest medication therapy. DDAVP is a drug that replaces the vasopressin hormone (responsible for regulating urine production at night).

Although you may want to avoid any drug unless absolutely necessary, this treatment can give good results. However, it is no miracle solution and gives no 100% guarantee for your child.

Alternatively, when there is no underlying medical cause, you may consider a homeopathic treatment . Such treatments aim at reducing nervousness and help improve confidence, which can effectively help reduce bedwetting, for example Be-Dry Tablets from Native Remedies. Even if you consider a homepathic or herbalist remedy, always consult your pediatrician to make sure it's absolutely safe to use for your child.

Surgery

Urethral enlargement is the surgical treatment also used for some adults in certain cases. Needless to say also here it is your doctor/urologist who will decide after thorough examination.

As discussed on the main page about bedwetting , up until the age of 6-8, it is usually not worrying and it mostly self-resolving . With the above bedwetting solutions, especially the effective homemade behavioral solutions 1-4, you can guide your child in a gentle yet very effective way.