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Home › Articles › Bedwetting › The Straight Truth

The Straight Truth

Drying Up Bedwetting Myths

By Kelly Burgess

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*Allison of Pittsburgh, Pa. felt that her pediatrician was entirely too casual about her daughter, *Caitlyn, who was still wetting the bed at age 8.

"She was starting to be invited to slumber parties, plus our Brownie troop was planning a couple of sleepovers, and she was so upset because she didn't want to be left out, but she was terrified she'd have an accident," Allison says. "We went to our pediatrician who told us not to worry, that she'd grow out of it. When I asked her what should I do about my miserable, embarrassed daughter, she just shrugged and said 'Keep her at home.' I changed doctors."

The Cure for Bedwetting

Many misconceptions revolve around the idea that there is or is not a cure for bedwetting. The fact is that different things work for different children and no matter what, most children will outgrow it eventually. It's also important to remember there are no miracle cures or overnight successes.

If there is no physical cause for bedwetting, physicians may suggest waking the child at night to use the bathroom. The idea is to train the child's unconscious mind to recognize the feeling of "having to go" and use that recognition to clamp down on the sphincter muscle.

Mercer and Morris both point out that if a child is sleeping too deeply to wake to go to the bathroom, the parent will need to wake the child up.

Mercer says over 10 to 12 weeks, a parent will see a gradual reduction in the amount of fluid a child releases. In other words, the child will still wet the bed throughout treatment, but they will gradually be able to react and use their sphincter muscles before completely letting go of their bladder until they finally reach the point of complete control. Mercer likens it to waking up several times a night with a newborn, but, like the time spent with your newborn, the results are certainly worth the sacrifice.


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