Bedwetting treatments explained
January 26, 2009
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Lisa Bendall
PARENTCENTRAL.CA
Anne Gardner of Saint John, New Brunswick, says her nine-year-old son has never gone a night without wetting. But Gardner (name changed to protect privacy) isn’t fretting. “I had one brother and one sister who were both delayed staying dry at nighttime,” she says. “So I wasn’t too concerned about it.“
Gardner admits she’s getting a little fed up with spending so much money on disposable underpants, but she’s hoping the bedwetting will disappear by adolescence. Waiting is certainly a strategy that works, as most kids do outgrow night wetting on their own. Only two percent of children still wet the bed at age 15.
But Dr. Lane Robson, a Calgary physician who specializes in treating kids with day and nighttime wetting problems, says there are good reasons why parents might want to deal with it sooner. “They get rashes. There are smells, laundry, the cost of Pull-Ups. So many different things.”
And he says that even if it doesn’t bother your child now, it’s likely to have an emotional impact at some point. “The bottom line is, it’s a self-esteem issue. And there’s something you can do, so you should consider doing it.”
Does that necessarily mean medicating your child? While there are drugs available to treat night voiding, they don’t work for all children. And they won’t cure bedwetting. They only reduce it temporarily, so they’re often used on a short-term basis for special events, like sleepovers. Desmopressin acetate (DDVAP) works by slowing down the body’s production of urine overnight. It may help a child whose kidneys work overtime after bedtime. Ditropan and Detrol help the bladder hold more pee without contracting. But all these medications have side effects.
Treatment should first involve getting cleared for any urinary tract infection, especially if the wetting has cropped up after a pattern of staying dry at night. But Dr. Robson says since a huge factor in bedwetting is often constipation, treatment should also focus on the bowels. “There’s a cure with behaviour therapy,” Dr. Robson says. He works successfully with families to improve bladder and bowel health and change the rhythm of the child’s urine production, so they’re peeing during the day instead of at night.
Naturally, it’s challenging to make behaviour changes. “We’re working around school schedules and hockey nights, and dealing with working parents, single parents and daycares,” admits Dr. Robson.
Should you try a bedwetting alarm?
Robson and other experts often recommend bedwetting alarms, which are widely available and wake the child at the first few drops of pee. That way, she can zip to the toilet to finish the job. But these work best when the child is motivated. Not every kid cares if he wets the bed.
How about the other promising gadgets and gizmos out there? Just plug “bedwetting” into Google and you’ll find scads of so-called experts ready to cure your child with their top-secret programs and, ahem, take your money.
So how to know if a treatment is worthwhile? Turn to respected academic or medical organizations like the International Children’s Continence Society, says Dr. Robson. “These are very genuine. That’s where people need to go to get their information.” The National Kidney Foundation in the U.S. also posts dependable advice for parents.
Experts say there’s nothing terribly wrong with using disposable products like GoodNites or Pull-Ups. “When you get stuck with wet, smelly sheets every morning, that’s no way for anybody to wake up,” Gardner points out. But every three or four months, try taking them off for a couple of nights, to give your kid a chance to stay dry.
Limiting fluids before bed probably won’t make much difference unless your child is very close to outgrowing the wetting. And waking your kid to have a wee in the night won’t help him hold his bladder, but may keep him from soiling his bed. Again, try stopping this strategy every few months to see if he’ll pee on his own.
No form of treatment should involve punishment – nor should it feel like punishment. So if your kid asks for a drink of water after his evening soccer practice, or doesn’t want to wear a bedwetting alarm, don’t push.
“I think the best thing is just to relax about it,” says Gardner. “You can’t force your child into it just because you want it.”
Want more bedwetting help?
Peruse the rest of our bedwetting section
Bedwetting defined
Coping tips for sleepovers, car trips, family travel and more
Bedwetting: A self-esteem issue
Bedwetting causes — the modern parent's guide
Bedwetting drugs may cause serious side effects