Introduction: Bedwetting is not a disease and shouldn’t be treated as such. Accordinlgly to the American Pediatric Association, 15% of five year olds wet the bed and 12% of six year olds still wet the bed. The older the age, the percent decreases, although it is not unheard of having older kids and even teens wetting the bed… hence the Goodnite Underpants for boys and girls up to 125 pounds. There are many reasons for a child to have a bedwetting problem, such as but not limited to… herediatary or genetic history, maturation issues, family issues to deep sleepers. Please see your pediatrician if your concerned over his bedwetting. This article is about dealing with your child’s bedwetting and some solutions for it.
When to go to the doctor: Your pediatrician should basically already know about your child’s bedwetting and usually the child will outgrown this problem, but if your son persists in wettting the bed beyond the age of six or seven, you might want to re-visit with your pediatrician. With his help, he can give you some answers and solutions to his nightly bedwetting.
What you shouldn’t do: One basic thing any parent shouldn’t do is punish, embarrass or make your child ashamed because he wets the bed. I’ve witnessed from family or friends with kids that punish them for wetting the bed or even worse embarassing them in front of their friends for something that they can’t control. Do you think for one moment that your child is trying to wet the bed… I don’t think so. What about embarassing him in front of his friends… what will that solve…nothing! Your child is embarassed enough that he wets the bed and he thinks he’s the only one in his grade with this problem… but I know that he’s not alone. Treat your child with respect and tell him that it’s just a part of growing up and he shouldn’t be ashamed because he still has nighttime accidents.
My Personal History: I was a bedwetter and my parents took the pactical sense, they had me wear diapers to bed. I was born in the early 60′s, so I wore cloth diapers and plastic pants every night. I was potty trained at a normal age, but for some reason, I persisted in wetting the bed and having to wear diapers for my night issues. Prior to the age of 5 1/2, I wasn’t embarrased that I had to wear diapers at night… I just thought it was normal for any kid that wets the bed. I had an older brother that didn’t wet the bed and there was no teasing from him or my parents. When I was in kindergarten, I had some friends like most kids that age. Since our neighborhood block was quite tight back then, I had my friend sleep over and I don’t remember once having him tease me because I was diapered for the night. During the mid 5th year of my life, I was involved in a car accident in which some major damage was done to my internal organs, including my bladder. After the accident, I went from wearing diapers for my nightly bedwetting problem into having to wear them all the time…even to school. Please check out my other articles regarding wearing diapers.
Solutions:Before taking any actions to miminze the effects of the bedwetting, please sit down with your child and have a heart to heart chat about this. I know he’ll be embarassed over this, but assure him that he’s not the only one with this problem and that you want to help him. If by chance his father was a bedwetter, share this with him. This will make him feel better about himself and quite knowing that he grew up to be a strong and healthy man and his bedwetting will be something from the past.
Your pediatrician might prescribe the drug DDVP, which I’ve read, works pretty well. Some parents are declined on using this drug therapy, but dicuss this with your doctor. Bedwetting alarms are also another treatment option, but I’ve known it to happen that everyone in the family other than the bedwetter wakes up to the bedwetting alarm…which doesn’t help one bit. Check the web for these bedwetting alarms.
Waking you child up a couple of times a night could decrease your child’s bedwetting, but ultimately could have other effects, such as loss of sleep, grogginess, bad moods and even difficultly in school. Please be careful in choosing this method, as my point of view on this, is it not the answer.
Some of the natural solutions would be in using a waterproof mattress pads, which the sheets and blanket can be laundred when your child has an accident. You also can purchase those disposable bed liners, such as Pamper’s BedMates in which a child sleeps on directly and all that needs to be washed is his pajama’s and or underwear. One down side to both of these protective sheets, is that your son could be lying in a cold damp and clammy sheets throughout the night. Some children will move away from the wetness, such as on other end of the bed or even on the floor, but this also disrupts the sleep of your child.
Ok… with those solutions briefly discussed, let’s talk about diapers. Diapers can be a natural solution to an embarassing problem. I am not saying that diapers should be your only solution, but I am saying that diapers do have their place for a solution for all involved. First of all, you should discuss this option with your child. Ensure that you tell him that just because he wets the bed and by having him wear diapers doesn’t make him a baby. Diapers comes in all sizes for infants to adults. if your child has fears in having to wear diapers, then by all means do not make him wear them. This solution should be agreed upon between you and him. I can tell you personally when I was younger, wearing diapers at night gave me the piece of mind and the comfort that I needed to control my nightly bedwetting epsoides. Sure my situation is probably completely different from your child, but since my parents didn’t punish me or make feel like a baby, wearing diapers to bed was just a normal routine.
Types of Protection: Now that you and your child has agreed upon in having wearing protection, what type should you consider. First of all you might have to ask yourself, how much does my child wet at night. Is he completely soaked in the morning or is his sheets damp. This will determine what degree of protection is needed to protect the bedding, clothing and ultimately him. For younger children, he might still fit into the Pampers Easy-Ups or even the Pampers size 7 disposable diapers. If your child’s waist is beyond that of a toddler and no longer can fit into baby diapers, you’ll have to upgrade and switch to an adolescent product. If that is the case, he might be able to wear the disposable pull-ups such as Goodnites, UnderJams, Prevail All-Nites or the Curity Sleep Pants. These pull-ups are great for the younger set, as they have colorful designs and resemble normal underwear (for the most part). As with all disposable products, there are some degree of sound that omits from the disposable underpants… not alot but still enough. One draw back from the Goodnights, UnderJams is the width of the crotch… as good as these products are, they do have their limitations. If your child leaks with his disposable underpants, you might want to consider switching to a youth diaper.
Your child might be horrified in the thought in wearing diapers again, but just tell him that it’s just for nighttime and no one outside the family will need to know. There are numberous youth diapers out there and can be ordered online. Such youth diapers range from Tranquility ATN (All Through the Night), Tena, Attends, Kendall Wings or Dry Comfort to mention a few of the superior youth diapers out there. To save you some time, check out USADiapers,com. This online company offers specialty bedwetting products shipped to directly to you. You can find all that yuou need for his bedwetting, including… Youth Diapers, Self-Care, Bedwetting Alarms, Underpads and Wipes.
Some parents might even go further in the natural solution with using re-useable absorbent products such as cloth diapers and vinyl or plastic pants.Having your child wear disposable diapers or pull-ups at night is one thing, but trying to get your child in wearing cloth diapers and plastic pants could be a huge ordeal. If you and your kid decide on the cloth option, you once again check out USADiapers.com. One draw back in using cloth diapers is the care of them. You’ll have regularly wash his diapers, unlike having him use a disposable product can be alot easier in the morning. You won’t have to worry about having him place his cloth diapers in a diaper pail, which can increase the smell of urine in his room or bathroom… then there is washing his cloth diapers, either it be once a day or just on a weekly basis. You also might want to consider using a diaper service. Check out the yellow pages in your community to see if there is such a service offered. His plastic pants simply needs to be rinsed out and hung to dry. Although if you decide on the cloth option, visiting relatives or sleeping outside the family home, you might want to consider using a disposable product, as havng him wear cloth diapers and plastic pants underneath his pajamas…it probably will be obvious that he is diapered for the night, plus it will be alot easier to contend with a wet disposable vs the wet cloth diapers to travel with.
Waking up in the Morning: Your child more than likely will wake up wet in the morning, or if your child is wearing protection, his diaper will be the only thing wet in the morning. That’s one good thing about having him wear diapers at night is the ease to the bedwetting problem. In the morning, all he has to do is take off his night diaper and throw it away or place his cloth diapers in the diaper pail provided for him. Be sure that he takes a shower each morning to wash off the urine smell that comes with wearing diapers throughout the night.
Conclusion: Bedwetting is alot more common that you think. Your child will out grow this nighttime problem, but until he does, ensure that he stays comfortable throughout the night by using protection for the bed and or youth diapers.
