It is normal for kids to go through a period of bedwetting up to around the ages of about five or six. Beyond this, it can be frustrating to both the child and the parents as they begin to wonder if the persistent bedwetting is due to a condition or if it will subside with time. To the child, it can be a real morale killer, especially if it is known outside the house and fellow kids begin to ridicule them because of the habit. If you are the parent of a child who seems to be too big to be still wetting their beds, you need to be very patient with them and see how best you can help them overcome the condition.
Here are a few tips worth considering in helping an older child stop wetting their beds.
Why do older children wet their beds?
In order to help older children stop wetting their beds, it is imperative to have a good understanding of why it might be happening in the first place. There is a myriad of factors why a child might still be bedwetting, and surprisingly, they are not always responsible for most of the cases. It is something that is completely out of their control, given a chance, they would not wet their beds again. Therefore, there no need to yell or punish your kid if they are unable to stop wetting their beds, and the best thing to do is show them love and compassion and give them the reassurance that the problem will soon be over.
Wetting beds amongst children below the age of six are considered normal and this is because they don’t have the bladder capacity to withhold the urine for a whole night. If your kid is still around this age, and maybe up the age of seven, just be patient. It will soon pass with time.
There are certain occasions when the habit runs in the family and if either of the parents did it up later stages of their childhood, then there are chances that the children may also go through a similar experience. Some kids are also known to sleep so deeply that they hardly realize that their bladders are full and they need to visit the toilet. In others still, they may have some sort of infection which makes them wet the beds unconsciously.
Do you need to visit a doctor?
It is normal for a parent to get worried and think of visiting a doctor when their children are still bedwetting after the ages of six or seven. But before you think strongly about visiting the doctor regarding the condition, wait until the age of eight and if the habit doesn’t stop, then it would be appropriate to visit the doctor and try to figure out why the child is still wetting their bed. In most cases, the doctor will ask a few questions to know more about the kid and the family history, especially when it comes to bed wetting. They may also run some tests on the urine and blood to detect the presence of nerve damages. Additionally, they may check for signs of diabetes in the child and infections in the urinary tract which may also be responsible for bed wetting. Following the results of the tests and the examination, the doctor may issue prescriptions to try and help the child stop the embarrassing habit.
Common treatments for bedwetting
There are a number of measures which can be taken to tame the habit of bedwetting amongst older children. Some of these measures are very simple and easy to implement, while others may sound complicated, and may require the cooperation of both the child and the parents to implement successfully. Irrespective of the approach, the child must be treated with a lot of love and respect, and it must never appear as if they are being punished for wetting their beds. Here are a few suggestions worth considering-:
Avoid early evening beverages
the first step to help the child not wet their beds at night is to stop them from having beverages later afternoon or early evening. They should get most of their drinks early on in the day so that they have time to urinate during the day and before heading to their beds.
- Bladder training – the major reasons why older children wet their beds is because they are unable to control their bladders. With a little bladder training, they may gain control and never wet their beds as they currently do. Bladder training isn’t as difficult as it may sound, and it simply involves letting the child tell you when they feel like urinating and you let them hold the urine for five, ten, fifteen or twenty minutes. This will not just help them become better at withholding their bladders, but also will help them increase their bladder capacity.
- Install a moisture alarm – if you have just bought a new mattress from Tuft and Needles and are you are afraid of the child ruining it by wetting it at night, you may consider installing a moisture alarm on the kid’s underwear or in the bed. The moisture alarm will detect the first drop of urine and go off, thus waking up the kid who will then proceed to urinate in the rightful place.
- Wake up the child randomly at night and make them visit the toilet to empty their bladders just in case they were about to feel the need to urinate.
- Reassure the child – constantly talk assurance into the child that they don’t have a problem and if they continue to work hard, the problem will simply stop. This is not the time to tear into them and compare them with their friends who are not wetting their beds, thus making them feel inferior to the rest. Guard the child’s pride at all costs.
If you have a teenager who is still wetting their beds, the approaches are still the same, but be mindful of the pressure and the shame the teenager may be facing in overcoming the problem.
About The Author:
Nirdesh Singh has 10 years of experience in the IT sector. He decided to start his own development company in 2012 and founded Zedex Info Pvt Ltd. where he is director also. He is also co-founder of fashionbuzzer.com a fashion e-commerce portal in India.
