Bed wetting is a common problem seen in children and often parents feel worried
about this problem. Let us know about the problems of bed wetting from Psychiatrist
Dr Dhrubjyoti Bhuyan, Assistant
Professor of Psychiatry, Assam Medical College Dibrugarh.
What is it?
Bed-wetting—passing of urine during sleep is a
common problem that can be troubling for children and their families
How common?
After toilet training, which usually occurs by four years of
age, many children have a brief period of wetting during the daytime or at
night. At five years of age, 15 to 25 percent of children wet the bed.
Some children wet the bed every night while others wet it only
once or twice a week.
Why
it occurs?
Children do not wet the bed on purpose.
Usually, children who wet the bed have not yet learned to control their bladder
while they are asleep. It may occur because of improper toilet training while
some may have developmental delay.
Bedwetting may happen when the child is cold, tired, sick, upset or
stressed. Young children get upset or stressed when:
- There is a new baby in the family
- The family moves
- They are away from their parents
- There are family problems
- There is something new
- There is a death in the family
When will child stop bed-wetting?
Most children outgrow bed-wetting.
However, it is hard to say when bed-wetting will stop. Every child is
different. At five years of age, 15 to
25 percent of children wet the bed. With each year of maturity, the percentage
of bed-wetter’s declines by 15 percent. Hence, 8 percent of 12-year-old boys
and 4 percent of 12-year-old girls are enuretic (bed wetter’s); only 1 to 3
percent of adolescents are still wetting their bed.
What
parents can do?
a) If your
child wets the bed:
- Stay calm. It is better to say nothing than to complain.
- Do not punish your child.
- Do not make your child wear diapers.
- Encourage your child to help you change the bed and assist with the laundry.
- Make sure your child washes in the morning to avoid having an unpleasant odor.
- Tell your child that he/she will grow out of bed-wetting and that learning to stay dry will take time. Prepare your child for setbacks while she is learning.
- Praise your child when he wakes up in the morning with a dry bed.
- Limiting fluid before bedtime—By itself, this rarely works
- Reminding the child to go “pee” before going to bed
- Waking the child at set times during the night—some families find it helpful to wake the child once or twice at night to go to the bathroom.
- Bed-wetting worries your child or prevents her from doing things he/she wants to do, such as going to a friend’s for a sleepover
- Your child is five years or older and wets the bed at least two times a week
Treatments are available in the form of medicines, certain
behavioural modification techniques, special bed wetting alarm etc.
Complications of bed wetting
If not treated child may have following:
- Lack of confidence on the part of the child
- Social isolation
- Antisocial behaviour
- Childhood depression
- Infection
About the Author :
Dr Dhrubjyoti Bhuyan is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Assam Medical College, Dibrugarh.
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