What's the best way to deal with bedwetting?

Question

Our toddler is bedwetting a lot, and we are unsure how to deal with things. We haven't told her off for it, but we're not sure what we should be doing. Would telling her off just make things worse? If so, should we just wait for her to grow out of it?

Answer 1

Aside from limiting liquid consumption to at least an hour before bedtime and using the toilet immediately before going to bed, one thing you may consider trying is:

• Wake your child up one hour after she goes to bed to let her go to the bathroom (and then back to bed)
• Wake your child up one hour before she usually gets up to go to the bathroom (and then back to bed)

Answer 2

The reason children bed wet is due to the fact that their bladders are not large enough to hold urine for 12 whole hours, so I would suggest that you give as little liquids to your child after dinner, or even better, during dinner.

Answer 3

When I had the problem, and I wanted to fix it myself I tried all sorts of things but the one thing I had the most success with was not drinking any liquids at least one hour before bedtime. I also made sure I went to the bathroom before I went to bed, at least once, just to make sure there was nothing left inside. My goal was to try and avoid the situation from happening, although at the time I probably was doing this due to the divorce my parents were going through, but I never understood why, I just hated waking up in a wet bed.

There might be some stress in the child's life, could be developmental as HedgeMage says, or something else. With toddlers it is hard to tell.

Answer 4

The physical development needed to avoid bedwetting doesn't come in as quickly as that needed to stay dry during the day. It's quite normal for a child to wet at night long after being toilet trained. The Mayo Clinic says bedwetting as late as 7 years old isn't cause for concern..

Reprimanding a child for something she can't physically control yet isn't constructive. My advice is to give it time, and use pull-ups or similar at night to minimize messes. If your child isn't stressed out about it, she'll probably grow out of it in time without any problems.