Wuschel,
You might find this interesting:
So what are common traits shared by at least some bedwetting children?
- They tend to have smaller bladders than their dry peers. Many must empty their bladder every couple hours during the day.
- Some children may wet less if certain foods are removed from the diet. Dairy products are the most commonly mentioned foods to be an "allergic" cause of bedwetting. Some authors claim that food can cause bedwetting even in children who show no other sign of an allergy to that food.
- Most people have a hormone cycle that regulates urine production so that more urine is produced during waking hours than during sleeping hours. Recently it has been noted that some but not all children who are bedwetters are missing this cycle.
- A reasonable number of bedwetting children have urinary urgency. They get little warning of the need to urinate. Pant wetting is much more common in older bedwetters than most believe because parents seldom report it to doctors. We have seen studies of teenaged bedwetters where more than half of the children also have diurnal enuresis ( pants wetting).
- Despite the old wives' tales emotional problems are almost never the primary cause of primary bedwetting, but you can still find books and Web pages that class bedwetting as an emotional or behavior problem. Children do not wet the bed on purpose. "The idea that the child [wets at night] out of spite / hostility or as a way to gain attention is almost unanimously rejected by professionals . . . there is just no evidence to support this position." (11) Neither is bedwetting a symptom of a deep-seated emotion problem. Stress and emotional problems may on occasion be involved when a child who has long been dry returns to wetting. But do not jump to conclusions. Studies have found that bedwetting children are no more emotionally ill than a like sample of dry children.
- While bedwetting is very seldom the parents' fault there are reports that very early toilet training (less than one year) increases the likelihood of persistent bedwetting.
- While most children have no major physical problem or disease the possibility should not be ignored. Particularly if a dry child returns to wetting (secondary enuresis) it is possible that the problem is caused by a bladder or kidney infection which could cause serious damage if left untreated.
- It appears that children with certain learning disabilities, in particular ADD or ADHD are more likely to be bedwetters than other children. But MOST children who are bedwetters are not learning disabled. Please read our note on this topic.
Assuming a child has good routine medical care and the
doctor is told of the bedwetting you probably do not have to get any special medical attention for a preschool child with
primary enuresis.
A seven-year-old particularly one who also has daytime accidents should have a reevaluation which may include neurological tests. The result will most likely be negative, but it never hurts to be sure.
When should a parent do something?
Most but not all children will outgrow nighttime wetting. That does not mean that you have to wait for nature to take its course, but there is little reason to "cure to the problem" until it is a problem. The time to start treatment is when the bedwetting becomes a problem for the child. "One must resist the temptation to treat the frustrated parent and begin therapy on a disinterested child." (Dr. Frank Cerniglia Jr. 14) Most authors try to convince parents to wait until their child is five to seven years old before considering remedial training.
Bedwetting is not a "problem" at two years and it is hard to see why it becomes a problem at 3 ½. Bedwetting is seldom a "problem" for a preschool child unless there is strong parental disapproval. For older school age children the problem is one of self image and that is as much a product of parental outlook as it is a result of the problem. Parental ridicule is of no help whatever and "disciplining him out of it" is usually sadism.
This is from a bed-wetting site.
Thanks,
Ellen
