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Home › Articles › Bedwetting › Sheets, Stars and Sodas

Sheets, Stars and Sodas

Which Techniques Are Right for Your Bedwetting Child?

By Lyn Mettler

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If you have a child who wets the bed, there's no doubt you've gotten lots of advice on how to help him from friends, the Internet, your doctor or your family. While there are some things that you definitely want to avoid, such as teasing by siblings, scolding or discipline, and even medication unless it's absolutely necessary, there are other techniques that are not quite so black and white.

Parents and doctors swear by some methods, while others would never even think about trying them. Consider the pros and cons of each, talk with your doctor and see if any might be right for your family.

Limiting Fluids

Some pediatricians, in line with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), may tell you as a first line of defense to try limiting the amount of fluid your child drinks before bedtime. There's a fine line, however, between restricting and limiting fluids, and you certainly don't want your child to go thirsty or get dehydrated.

"Never restrict fluid intake," says Dr. Eric Jones, assistant professor of urology at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. Instead, he recommends having your child drink the majority, maybe 80 percent, of their fluids before 5 p.m.

For W.C. Hoecke, father of 7-year-old Karl who wets the bed, limiting fluids is not even a consideration. The family lives in the hot climate of South Carolina, and he doesn't want to take any chances of Karl becoming dehydrated. "I'm just going to wait until he's developed," says Hoecke. For now, Karl wears absorbent underpants to bed.

Dr. Pradeep Nagaraju, interim chief of urology at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago, Ill., however, says restricting liquids won't hurt your child so long as you just do it before bedtime. "It's not a harmful way to begin with restricting fluids about two hours before bedtime, but it's not been shown to be that successful," he says.


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