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Home › Articles › Bedwetting › Beyond the Basics

Beyond the Basics

Alternative Therapies for Bedwetting Children

By Laura Lyster-Mensh

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Acupuncture, one of the most familiar therapies to Westerners, originated in China and is still practiced there. Using filament-thin needles, the acupuncturist targets the flows of energy in the body. A 2001 study of 50 children with primary enuresis reported 43 "completely dry" children within six months when treated by traditional Chinese acupuncture.

But treating needle-shy American children with acupuncture is a special challenge. "I don't wear a white lab coat," says Sarah A. Steed, a licensed acupuncturist in Sperryville, Va. Steed says she will sit on the floor with a child if it feels more comfortable and has even had a child fall asleep during treatment.

The idea of inserting needles in children is still a difficult sell for most American kids and for parents not familiar with it. Fortunately, there are other methods that follow some of the same underlying philosophies, which do not involve needles. These include acupressure, electropuncture, shiatsu and reflexology.

These therapies apply pressure to accessible parts of the body that correspond to the internal organs believed to be afflicted. With bedwetting, the organs targeted are usually the bladder and kidneys. Parents are often encouraged to learn these techniques from the therapist to be performed at home.

Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a 200-year-old therapy set in motion by a German physician skeptical of the apothecaries of his era. The process of diagnosis in homeopathy is much more extensive and individualized than with mainstream Western medicine. Two people with similar symptoms might be treated with entirely different remedies de to differences in mood, sleeping habits or symptoms elsewhere in the body.


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