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Home › Articles › Bedwetting › Sheets, Stars and Sodas

Sheets, Stars and Sodas

Which Techniques Are Right for Your Bedwetting Child?

By Lyn Mettler

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If you don't want to cut off your child's fluids, you might try adjusting the type of fluid he is drinking. For example, many doctors recommend limiting your child's intake of drinks that contain caffeine, a natural diuretic. Dr. Stanley Hellerstein, professor of pediatrics at The Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., recommends avoiding the following:

  • Caffeinated drinks such as tea, coffee and those containing chocolate and soda
  • Drinks with carbonation including soda, flavored water or diet drinks
  • Citrus juices such as orange, lemon, grapefruit and tomato

It's OK to drink water, apple juice, juices without citrus fruits, cranberry juice, nectars or milk, he says.

Rewards

Reprimanding your child for wetting the bed is, of course, never appropriate, but many doctors say that rewarding them is. Rewards usually take the form of a star chart, with stars posted for every day that the child is dry. Once she has a certain number of stars, perhaps she gets a special treat.

"Parents should not punish a child for wetting, but emphasize rewards to help learn new behaviors," says Dr. Mark Stein, chief of psychology and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"I think [star charts] can be beneficial," says Dr. Nagaraju. "It's shown to have some efficacy..." He adds that it helps children get rid of the guilt associated with wetting the bed.

*Alyson of Mount Kisco, N.Y., however, says using a star chart did not work for her son Ryan, 8, who struggles with bedwetting. She says he started to get upset when he didn't get a star, and she felt bad rewarding him for something over which he had no control. "To make it a reward or punishment, that didn't work because either way it was a let down for him," she says.


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