Tips For Dealing With Bedwetting

Nighttime bedwetting can be stressful for both the child and the parents. It’s important for parents to understand that bedwetting is common in young and even older children. Patience, understanding, and persistence are important when helping your child overcome nighttime bedwetting.

Helping Your Child Deal With Bedwetting and How Parents Can Cope With This Issue

The pediatric urology specialists at Chesapeake Urology for Children understand that nighttime bedwetting can be stressful for both the child and the parents.

Following are several tips to help you and your child overcome the issue with confidence:

1. Be aware of how bedwetting affects your child’s self-esteem and confidence. Don’t yell at or punish your child for wetting the bed. Instead, try positive reinforcement techniques such as a sticker chart for every night your child stays dry.
2. Involve your child in the effort to overcome bedwetting. Let your child know that this is a team effort. If your child does wet the bed, have him or her help you change the sheets and wash the soiled clothes. But also let them know that it is OK and that he or she will try again to stay dry the next night.
3. Explain to your child that he or she isn’t the only child who wets the bed. Feelings of isolation and embarrassment can hinder your child’s progress in overcoming the problem.
4. Don’t deny your older child the opportunity for a sleepover with friends. Discretely place a pair of disposable underpants in his or her overnight bag and teach your child to use these underpants at night and dispose of it in the morning.
5. While you and your child are working to get through his or her bedwetting, cover the mattress in a waterproof mattress cover and place an absorbent pad on the bed to protect sheets in the event your child wets the bed.

Explain to your child that he or she isn’t the only child who wets the bed. Feelings of isolation and embarrassment can hinder your child’s progress in overcoming the problem.