Bed Wetting

While most children are potty trained by the time they reach three to four years old, the occasional accident does happen. However, if your child is having more than the occasional bedwetting mishap, you're probably tired of dealing with the aftermath of the incident and you might be running out of sheets.

What Causes Bedwetting?

Bedwetting can be caused by a number of problems; your child may have a small bladder capacity, he/she may not be able to tell when their bladder feels full, or your child may be experiencing stress. It's important to note that very seldom is bedwetting caused by a physical problem or a disease.

Parents can can help kids grow out of wetting the bed by:

• Not allowing them to drink large amounts of fluid two years before bedtime. This one is self explanatory, fluid fills up the bladder.
• Let your child help with changing the sheets. This isn't to make your child feel bad about bedwetting it just shows them the aftermath it causes. If they feel an inkling to use the bathroom at night they're more likely to get up and go after they've helped with changing the sheets. Believe me, it's not something they will want to do over and over again.
• Don't play the blame game. Never make your child feel guilty about wetting the bed. Explain to them that it's normal when kids are growing older and that it's not his/her fault. Also, make sure other family members, including siblings aren't teasing them about their bedwetting.
• Encourage your child to use the toilet before bedtime. If you've already tried this and yet to no avail, then you can consider waking your child up before you go to bed and asking him to use the bathroom then, too.
• This is a tough one but you can try to encourage your child to practice bladder-stretching exercises. This involves your child trying to increase the amount of time between urinating during the day and therefore, translates into the bladder stretching and being able to hold more urine at night. However, this can be tough to put into practice and may result in your child wetting themselves during the day.

If you've tried the above exercises and bedwetting is still a common occurrence in your child's routine you'll want to consider getting the help of your child's pediatrician. There are medicines that prevent bedwetting and other special techniques like bedwetting alarms. Just remember, be patient because the more you become agitated with the issue the more stress your child will feel and thus, more bedwetting.