Bedwetting can be very frustrating for parents and children. It’s messy. It can smell. And let’s face it; it interrupts a perfectly good night’s sleep.
Thankfully, there are ways to deal with bedwetting with these home treatments. Remember that there is usually no cure for bedwetting; treatment normally involves just a matter of biding your time without making it worse.
Withhold Water Near Bedtime
About 20 to 30 minutes prior to bed, don’t give too many fluids. If you start getting ready for bed with a drink of water, a bath, getting dressed, and an excellent night-time story, you can allow that time to deal with going potty right before and if still awake right after the story time.
Take Your Child to the Potty Right before Bed
Always take your child to the potty before bed. They brush their teeth anyway so they may as well use the potty. If you do a long night-time story and your child doesn’t go to sleep, offer for them to use the potty before sleepy time. Plus, studies show that night-time rituals assist with sleep anyway.
Get Night Lights
Some children, it turns out, do wake up to use the potty at night. However, they are afraid to get up and go potty. They may be fearful due to the darkness. Try to light the way to the potty with nightlights. You can use led rope lights to make it extra festive.
Give Them Permission
Another issue that sometimes happens is a well-behaved child might be afraid to get up out of bed at night due to parents telling them not to. Make sure that you’ve told your child that getting up in the night to use the bathroom is totally acceptable.
Read Potty Books
A great way to spend your story time is to throw in some of the bedwetting and potty books for children that fit your child’s age group. This is going to help them realize they’re not alone and possibly give them the confidence to overcome it.
Show Your Child How to Change
Giving your child the responsibility for their bedwetting is a great way to not only teach them self-care but also to give yourself a break. One reason bedwetting is frustrating is the mess. But if you set up a system that enables them to change their own clothing and their own bedding if needed, life gets a lot easier.
Use Waterproof Mattress Pads
Pads that go right on top of the sheets and mattress, and that can be easily washed, will make your life a lot easier. If you don’t have to change the entire bed every single night, it’ll make everything simpler.
Buy Waterproof Underwear
This is a great invention that can work for some kids. It does depend on the volume of urine they’re losing each night while they’re asleep. But these combined with a mattress pad can help you avoid too much work.
Practice Stoicism
It’s difficult sometimes to not be emotional about a child’s issues with bedwetting. However, and this is especially true if a child is bedwetting due to a behavioral or emotional issue (like divorce), if you can act like it’s inconsequential as you take care of it, that will help avoid more behavioral problems.
Reward Effort
While this flies in the face of stoicism (which will help you deal with this issue best), some children who are wetting due to behavior issues and not just due to being hard sleepers can benefit from positive reinforcement.
Get Your Child a Physical Check-up
Just in case there is a physical problem, if your child is seven and wets the bed a lot, more than three or four times a week, get a physical. The doctor can rule out any physical issues causing the problem.
The main thing to do about your child’s bedwetting is to deal with it in a way that doesn’t make them feel bad about themselves. This is especially important because most of the time, bedwetting has nothing to do with behavior but is simply due to lack of readiness and physical development.
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