Don't worry about it. The child will probably outgrow
it.
This is the most common thing parents
hear from grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, a co-worker
and doctors.. The problem with this statement is very
simple. While some children do outgrow bedwetting some
do not. Evidence shows that 1-2% of the adult population
is still wetting the bed. It is impossible to get adults
to admit that they have the problem. When research surveys
are done, a true stastic can't be established because
of the denial and embarrasment of the problem. More
importantly, no one can tell you exactly when the wetting
will stop or what effect it will have on the enuretic
in the meantime. Their self-image and self-esteem can
be effected even though they may outgrow the wetting.
It is also worth noting that even though
an individual may stop wetting, it does not mean they
are sleeping any better. Bedwetting is only one symptom
of incorrect sleep. We see thousands of cases where
mom or dad wet til a late age and then "outgrow
it", but had many manifestations of sleep problems.
Even Doctors will tell parents that
their child will outgrow bedwetting whether that child
is four or ten years old. This is because there is nothing
physically or organically wrong with a child who wets
on a habit basis at night while exhibiting daytime bladder
control.
My child wets the bed because he is
lazy.
Given a choice, no one would choose
to wet the bed, even though children may appear to be
unaffected or nonchalant about the issue. Many children
have never awakened in a dry bed on a consistent basis.
When you think about it, in many cases it is all they
have ever known. Because they do not have a choice,
ignoring the subject or avoiding it becomes a practical
survival technique.
My child drinks too much before bedtime.
Some children can wet the bed after
only 1 hour of sleep and others may wet as many as three
or four times per night. With some bedwetters we have
observed that the wetting occurs many times when the
bladder is less than half full. The amount of urine
or liquid in the system is irrelevant. If liquids were
a primary cause of bedwetting, everyone would have this
problem depending on the amount of liquid they take
in.
We take our child to the bathroom
at night and he is still wet in the morning.
Studies have shown that you can get
an enuretic out of bed, make them walk, talk and urinate
while still in the deepest part of sleep. Often these
children do not remember getting up with their parents
at night. The child can be taken to the toilet and given
a command to urinate. Once the urination begins he has
been taught to urinate in his sleep, exactly what you
are trying to prevent him from doing. |
