Bedwetting in Children

[incon1982]

A huge worry for parents is a child that is bedwetting. We worry that this will continue for years, that the child could be bullied if "the word gets out," that your child won't be able to be a part of activities, etc. And because we love our children, we want to do everything we can for them to fix this problem!! NOW.

This recent article by a pediatric nephrologist is loaded with sound advice and support. miamiherald.com/living/heal...

Another wonderful resource for parents is ERIC in the UK - eric.org.uk/ They are an awesome organization focused on bladder and bowel issues in children.

The Simon Foundation for Continence also has information on this topic for parents: simonfoundation.org/bedwett...

I don't believe anyone in this group would ever do this, but unfortunately we do hear terrible stories ... but, the LAST thing you ever want to do is punish a child for bedwetting. A child who is having trouble controlling their bladder needs support, love, and understanding above all. And a doctor who is ready, willing, and able to help the family.

[Gsh3233]

Hi - thanks for sharing this useful post. I used to wet the bed throughout childhood and as a teenager, and am still affected occasionally as an adult too.

I agree that the articles and links are useful.

Everyone is an individual but I personally had psychological as well as physical problems and these prevented me from dealing with the issue as well as I could have done / depression (I had my first lot of anti depressants at the age of 16) anger, withdrawal, refusing to comply with treatments, denial, hiding wet sheets or not changing them were all part of what happened.

I definitely did not wet the bed on purpose but I did not make much effort to become dry - I lied my way out of a lot of accidents and would not take part in any discussions about whether I had wet the bed and why.

I am currently going through some mental health treatment and revisiting some of these issues. I still have occasional accidents.

II don’t think these are typical of many children’s experiences with bedwetting but for me that’s the way it happened.

Thank you for reading. I hope my mental health journey will lead to some answers.

Gerard

[incon1982 Administrator in reply to Gsh3233]

Thank you so much for sharing this with this community!

I agree - we are each individuals and everyone has a unique story. Although, there can be threads of commonality between us and so sharing like this can be extremely helpful to someone else.

I am so glad that you are getting help now, and sorting through this. I wish you all the best and hope there will be many dry nights in your future. And anything that you learn along the way that you think might help someone else can certainly be posted here.

[Gsh3233 in reply to incon1982]

Hi

Thanks for your positive reply which is really appreciated.

Yea my case is a bit unusual and now needs a different sort of treatment approach to the typical ones (medication, alarms) although these have helped a bit. I hope that the therapy I am about to have will help to understand the two sides of the bedwetting experience - the embarrassment of having accidents, at home, on school trips, staying with relatives, etc, but also the manipulation and anti social behaviour which i engaged in, acting out and attention seeking, which has been the other side of my mental health.

I am not sure if there is anyone out there who can relate to this.

By posting this I don’t want to suggest that my experiences are anything like others or typical - my lack of interest in treating my bedwetting and lack of care about any social consequences (eg not changing wet sheets and continuing to use them night after night, smelling of urine, rejection, lack of ability to form friendships, etc) were definitely connected with an anti social mental health condition . I still struggle with this and sometimes it gets severe and now it needs sorting out.

As you can see I am working through a lot of issues - hopefully most cases of childhood bedwetting are very easy to resolve in comparison to mine so I don’t want to make anyone unduly worried,

Thanks again for your words of encouragement.

Gerard

[incon1982 Administrator in reply to Gsh3233]

You are welcome here and we are here to help and support you in any way that we can.

As with most things, take it one day and one step at a time.

[Gsh3233 in reply to incon1982]

Thank you so much I really appreciate it

[chestnut7718 in reply to Gsh3233]

I wore a youth brief every night and wet it.

[jason181]

Hi thank you for sharing