Children learn bladder control at different ages; those under the age of 4 frequently wet their beds or clothes due to their inability to control their bladders, whereas by the age of 5 or 6, the majority of kids can sleep through the night dry.
In some cases, the child has been wetting the bed all along, but bed-wetting can also begin after a child has been dry at night for a long time. Bed-wetting is defined as a child age 5 or older wetting the bed at least once or twice a week for at least 3 months.
You can help by showing your child love and support; try not to get upset or punish them for wetting the bed. Wetting the bed can be upsetting, especially for an older child.
The age at which bladder control is expected varies considerably.
- Such a time line may reflect the culture and attitudes of the parents and caregivers, as some parents expect dryness at a very early age, while others do not until much later.
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The following factors can influence a child’s wetting problem’s onset age:
- Boy bedwetters are more prevalent than girl bedwetters.
- The maturation and growth of the child
- Overall physical and emotional health of the child is important because long-term illness, physical or emotional abuse, or both, may increase the risk of bedwetting.
Bedwetting is a very common problem.
- Children who wet the bed need parental support and reassurance because enuresis is an involuntary condition, which parents must understand.
- The majority of kids simply outgrow bedwetting, and the problem is resolved at a rate of 15% per year in the United States, where there are about 5-7 million children who wet the bed.
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The following statements describe the prevalence of primary enuresis in children:
- 5 years old 16%
- 6 years old 13%
- 7 years old 10%
- 8 years old 7%
- 10 years old 5%
- 12-14 years old 2%-3%
- over 15 years old 1%-2%
Bedwetting is a treatable condition.
- There are now treatments that help many children who once had little options other than hoping to “grow out of it,” which was an embarrassment to both the child and their parents.
- These kids can now stay dry at night thanks to a variety of devices, remedies, and methods.
Types of bedwetting
Bedwetting can take one of two forms:
- bedwetting since infancy is known as primary enuresis; and
- Following a continuous dry period of at least six months, wetting is known as secondary enuresis.
Primary bedwetting
At age 5, 20% of kids wet the bed at least once a month, with 5% of boys and 1% of girls wetting nightly. By age 6, only 10% of kids are bedwetters, with the majority of them being boys. The percentage of all kids who are bedwetters continues to decline by 50% each year after age 5. Family history plays a big role in predicting bedwetting.
Secondary bedwetting
The causes of secondary bedwetting should be taken into consideration. These include urinary tract infections, metabolic disorders (such as different types of diabetes), external pressure on the bladder (such as severe constipation caused by a large rectal stool mass), and neurologic disorders of the spinal cord.
Secondary bedwetting diagnosis
Urinalysis and urine culture typically round out the workup for a child with primary bedwetting, while additional laboratory and radiological tests are typically saved for the child who presents with secondary bedwetting.
Self-Care at Home
These are the methods that are most frequently successful for helping children stop wetting the bed, so here are some tips for doing the same.
- The child should try to avoid consuming too many fluids, as well as excessive amounts of chocolate, caffeine, carbonated beverages, and citrus after 3 p.m. Regular fluid intake with dinner is acceptable.
- Before going to bed, the child needs to use the bathroom.
- Instead of focusing on getting through the night dry, set a goal for the child about getting up at night to use the bathroom.
- For younger children, it has been demonstrated that such a motivational approach provides significant improvement (14 consecutive dry nights) in about 70% of children with a relapse rate (two wet nights out of 14) of only 5%. A system of sticker charts and rewards works for some kids. The child gets a sticker on the chart for every night of remaining dry. Collecting a certain number of stickers earns a reward.
- The path from the child’s bed to the bathroom should be cleared, nightlights should be installed, and if necessary, a portable toilet should be made available.
- Many parents restrict the use of pull-ups or diapers to overnight trips or sleepovers because of the conflicting opinions on whether they should be used at home or not. Some contend that pull-ups can make it harder for children to wake up and use the bathroom, while others contend that they can give them a sense of independence and confidence.
The parents’ attitude toward the bedwetting is all-important in motivating the child.
- Avoid placing blame or administering punishment for the child’s bedwetting; these actions only serve to exacerbate the issue. Instead, concentrate on the actual issue at hand: bedwetting.
- Don’t make a big deal out of the child’s occasional bedwetting; instead, be understanding and supportive while providing frequent reassurance and encouragement.
- Instill a “no teasing” policy in the family: No one, not even members of the child’s immediate family, is permitted to make jokes about the child’s bedwetting.
- Reassure the child that you want to help him or her overcome the problem and, if appropriate, remind him that a close relative dealt with this same issue successfully. Help the child understand that the responsibility for being dry is his or hers and not that of the parents.
- It is best to involve the kid in the cleanup effort.
To increase comfort and reduce damage, use washable absorbent sheets, waterproof bed covers, and room deodorizers.
For kids who can get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom but don’t seem to understand the significance of doing so, self-awakening programs have been developed.
- One strategy is to have the child practice the motions necessary to get out of bed to use the restroom at night before bedtime each night.
- The child should go to bed and act like he or she is sleeping when the urge to urinate strikes, wait a few minutes, and then get out of bed to use the restroom as a daytime rehearsal, which is another technique.
Parent-awakening programs can be used if self-awakening programs fail. These programs should only be used at the child’s request.
- When it is time for the parent to go to bed, the parent should wake the child.
- For this to be effective, the child must gradually be trained to easily awaken with sound only. The child must then find the bathroom on his or her own.
- The child is either healed after doing this for seven nights in a row or is prepared for self-awakening alarms or programs.
Bedwetting alarms have become the mainstay of treatment.
- Following 12 to 16 weeks of using these alarms, up to 70% of kids stop bedwetting.
- Relapse occurs when the alarm is turned off in about 20%-30% of cases, but because of the behavioral conditioning that occurred during the first treatment cycle, reinstating the alarm system quickly results in a positive response. In the long run, this method is effective in 50%-70% of cases.
- The child ought to use the alarm for a few weeks or even months before writing it off as a failure because these alarms take time to work.
- Audio and tactile (buzzing) alarms are the two different categories of alarms.
- The sensor, which is attached to the child’s underwear or bed pad, works on the principle that urine’s moisture fills a gap in the sensor and activates the alarm.
- The child then gets out of bed, turns off the alarm, finishes using the bathroom, goes back to the bedroom, gets dressed, switches out of one set of sheets for another, cleans the sensor, resets the alarm, and goes back to sleep.
- Because they have no side effects, alarms are preferred to medications for children.
- Everyone 7 years of age and older is thought to benefit from trying an alarm, according to general consensus.
- The child and parents must both have a strong motivation to use the alarm for it to be effective.
Homeopathic Medicine for Enuresis
Equisetum :I use equisetum as my first line of bedwetting treatment and have had great success with it.
Causticum and Sepia – For Bedwetting During First Part of Sleep
Children who urinate during the first stage of sleep or right before falling asleep are treated for bedwetting with the help of the medications causticum and sepia.
Kreosote – For Bedwetting during Deep Sleep
High frequency of urination during the day and the presence of red or white sediments in the urine are other symptoms of bedwetting that are treated with kreosote, including the passing of urine while the child is in a deep sleep and difficulty waking the child.
Benzoic Acid – For Bedwetting when Urine Smells Foul
When bedwetting occurs and the urine has an unpleasant odor and frequently leaves brown stains on the bed sheet, benzoic acid is the medication of choice.
Cina – For Bedwetting Related to Worms
Cina is a medication that is used to treat bedwetting caused by worms. Other symptoms that point to the need for this medication include teeth grinding while sleeping, shrieking, crying, or acting scared while sleeping, obstinate or irritable behavior, and rubbing of the nostrils.
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