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Home › Articles › Bedwetting › Misinformed

Misinformed

Getting the Facts Straight About Bedwetting in Special Needs Kids

By Lyn Mettler

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It's best to check with your doctor if your child begins bedwetting after being dry to try and determine the cause.

Myth 7: Bedwetting can be cured.

Bedwetting rarely can be cured, but there are a variety of ways to help manage it.

The first step is to talk with your doctor if your child is still wet at night after six months to a year of being dry during the day, says Dr. Packard. The doctor should do a physical exam to rule out any medical causes such as a bladder infection.

When choosing a technique to manage enuresis, be sure to take your child's special needs into consideration. "Children with special needs and enuresis are no less treatable than are their typically-developing peers with enuresis; however, one does need to take the child's special needs into consideration when choosing therapy," says Dr. Pakula. For example, she says she would consider the child's cognitive level, nighttime fears, sleep disorders and behaviors before recommending a treatment.

Using absorbent underpants such as GoodNites® Underpants is also a good option to save children the embarrassment of waking up wet and to save parents the wear and tear of daily sheet washing. Cate says that's how they're currently managing their son's bedwetting. "He simply wears a pair of GoodNites® Underpants every night," she says. "We make him go to the bathroom before bed and limit drinks after 7, but nothing else." They've chosen to avoid medication at this time, because doctors say it could further stunt his development.

And for most kids, bedwetting goes away on its own. "Sometimes bedwetting resolves without significant intervention of treatment even in the special needs population," says Dr. Pakula.


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