Practical Bedwetting Advice is Finally Just a Mouse Click Away

Almost half of all children still wet the bed at the age of 3. In this article http://pottytrainingsolutions.com will provide some general information and useful advice regarding bedwetting.

October 24, 2004 -- After your child has learned to stay dry during the day, you can start encouraging nighttime dryness and stopping bedwetting. Bladder size and muscle strength are required before a child is physically able to remain dry throughout the night. So for some children, their bodies may not yet be mature enough to stay dry. For others, simple encouragement like talking and offering incentives for dry nights help motivate a child to work on this. Keep in mind 10% of all five year olds and 5% of all ten year olds continue to wet the bed. With boys more often than girls, and it is often an inherited trait. There is usually a physical component as well, like slow bladder growth, sound sleeping, physical abnormalities or a hormone deficiency.

http://pottytrainingsolutions.com offers a chat room devoted to bedwetting where parents can share their stories, tips, and concerns in a private and free forumn.

Bedwetting does not just mean wet sheets in the morning. More important than wet sheets is your childs self esteem. As children get older they will become more aware that this is not the norm and may feel ashamed. Stay positive about it and let the child know it is not their fault, their body is just not ready yet. Help the child decide how to handle sleepovers. Let the child help come up with his own solutions that you may simply assist in, like communicating the bedwetting problem to the parent, or just supporting them by saying you dont allow sleepovers right now.

Consult your doctor about possible physical problems or hormone-medications used to control urine production. Most people produce increased hormone during sleep which limits urine production, but children who wet the bed may not produce enough yet.

Try to make discussions about his bedwetting as private as possible, between you and your child. Make sure siblings dont tease, and that this is a strictly private family matter not to be discussed with outsiders. Reassure your child that the problem will eventually correct itself, but until then ask him to help decide how to handle the nightly mess. Some choices may include using PODS Potty On Discreet Strips diapers or a pull-up, special incontinence underwear or disposable insert pads, washable or disposable mattress pads). This may help build his pride and independence in managing the problem himself.

Other medical factors that contribute to bed wetting include diabetes, constipation, allergies and bladder infections. Caffienated foods like chocolate or teas and colas will stimulate the bladder. Limit these. If your child wants to work on the night wetting problem, ask him what he thinks may help. For some children a reward chart with incentives for several dry nights helps motivate staying dry. After, say five stars are earned, the child gets a reward, like a toy or music CD. When using a chart, remember it is unfair to remove stars earned for an accident. Make the reward fairly soon in the future to begin with, and increase the goal reward over time until trained. After two weeks if you see no progress in the reward chart system, end it.

Bedwetting exercises to try:

Encourage child to wait as long as possible to urinate, to stretch bladder to increase muscle strength.
Ensure the child is not teased by others and educate those who may do so.
Allow your child to assume more responsibility for managing a wet bed.
Let child decide what protection to use at night (PODS Potty On Discreet strips, diaper, pull-up, protective underwear pants).
Ask if the child wishes to be awakened at night to urinate with an alarm clock or bed wetting alarm or by you (if that is something you are willing to do).
Bedwetting Developmental Skills. Bedwetting appears to be a strong family component to bed wetting: 77 percent of children whose parents both wet the bed as youngsters will do the same. Forty-three percent of children of one bedwetting parent will follow suit, and only 15 percent of children whose parents had no trouble staying dry at night will wet the bed.

For more helpful bedwetting tips visit http://pottytrainingsolutions.com

Regardless of how you proceed, avoid putting pressure on your child and don't punish your child. Staying dry all night, whether your child sleeps through without wetting or gets up to use the bathroom, is a developmental skill that almost all children achieve in time. Until this age, a child's bladder may not be fully developed. Your child also may be unable to recognize the urge to go, wake up, and use the toilet. Children under stress may have difficulty mastering new skills and rely on the old way of doing things. While you're waiting for your child to outgrow bedwetting, make sure his mattress is adequately protected by a good cover, encourage him to wear absorbent garments such as cloth or disposable training pants or PODS Potty On Discreet Strips, and urge him to get up as soon as he realizes he's wet his bed. It is best to get your child and the bedding changed so their skin won't get irritated and to get used to sleeping in dry pajamas.

Typically, children who wet the bed more than once per night will start to outgrow bedwetting by beginning to wet fewer times each night. Then they move on to wetting fewer nights each week, with fluctuations back and forth, until they eventually outgrow bedwetting altogether. However, the entire process can take more than a couple years.

Your Pediatrician Can Help With Potty Training and Bedwetting.

If any concerns come up before, during, or after potty training, talk with your pediatrician. Often the problem or problems are minor and can be resolved quickly, but sometimes physical or emotional causes will require treatment. Your pediatrician's help, advice, and encouragement can help make toilet training easier. Also, your pediatrician is trained to identify and manage problems that are more serious.

Confirm Potty Training Information With Other Sources and Your Doctor.

You are encouraged to talk with your doctor with regard to information contained on or through this Web site. After reading articles on bedwetting, potty training, other Content from Potty Training Solutions, you are encouraged to review the information with your professional healthcare provider.

For further information please visit http://www.pottytrainingsolutions.com

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