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HOW COMMON IS BEDWETTING?
It is one of the most common of all childhood problems and affects around 19% of school aged children. To have a better idea, in a class of 30 children:

BED-WETTING

TONGUE-TIE

AUSTISM SPECTUM DISORDER

  • Aged 5 yrs – 5 wet the bed at least twice a week
  • Aged 7 yrs – 2 wet the bed at least twice a week 
  1. Difficulty to arouse from sleep

Some children sleep very deeply and find it hard to wake up when the bladder is full. The brain and the bladder don’t communicate properly, so when the child is asleep the brain doesn’t get the message that the full bladder needs to be emptied.

  1. Overactive Bladder

If the bladder is overactive, the bladder muscle becomes twitchy and can only hold a small amount of urine. A twitchy bladder therefore, may spontaneously contract during sleep, which can result in wetting.

  1. Polyuria in night

Children who wet the bed may have a low level of the naturally occurring substance called Vasopressin. The brain normally produces Vasopressin during the night to reduce the amount of urine produced, and allows an uninterrupted nights sleep. If the child has low levels of Vasopressin at night, they may produce more urine than their bladder can hold and if they do not wake up, they wet the bed.

  •  Constipation
  •  ADHD
  •  Sleeping problems, insomnia, sleep apnoea
  •  Urinary tract infections
  •  Epilepsy
  •  Diabetes insipidus or mellitus
  •  Being young for their age
  •  Laziness
  •  Bad behaviour
  •  Being naughty
  •  Rebelliousness
  •  Drinking after dinner
  •  Low self-esteem, feeling of inadequacy and self-consciousness
  •  Strong feeling of shame , failure and guilt
  •  Finding it hard to make friends
  •  Underachievement at school
  •  Behaviour changes, bad behaviour, depression
  •  Negative impact on child’s emotional and social development
  •  Child may miss out on the fun things like school camps and sleep overs
  •  Child is 6 years or older and still bedwetting
  •  The child who has been dry for more than 6 months suddenly starts wetting at night ( at any age)
  •  The bedwetting bothers the child or makes the child upset or angry
  •  The child wants to become dry
  •  Talk to your child about what has caused the problem and how their body works
  •  Try to cut back on fizzy drinks
  •  Watch for constipation as this can make the bladder problem worse
  •  Support your child in choosing to become dry and be positive about the treatments they are using
  •  DO NOT punish for wet beds