10 Tips to Help Kids Stay Dry at Night

Nocturnal enuresis, commonly known as bedwetting, affects millions of kids and teens around the globe. Approximately 15% of children wet the bed past the age of three, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. It is a symptom, not a disease, that runs in families, and is usually not associated with any emotional problems. There are a number of steps that doctors recommend to help bedwetters. The following are 10 tips to help kids stay dry at night.

1. Limited Liquids – Avoid excess fluid intake after 3pm. Carbonated drinks, caffeine, chocolate and citrus should be curtailed.
2. Urinate Just Prior to Bedtime – One of the causes of bedwetting is inadequately developed bladder control. Emptying it as close to bedtime as possible reduces the risk of it emptying involuntarily.
3. Focus on Pee Breaks – Rather than setting as a goal to get through the whole night, work with your child on getting up during the night to urinate.
4. Reward Milestones – This is an especially effective technique for use with younger children. Establish some goals – such as consecutive nights without incident – and provide incentives to reach them.
5. Avoid Blaming or Punishing – Conversely, reassure the child that they are not at fault for their bedwetting. Emotional trauma only makes matters worse.
6. Reassurance – As bedwetting does run in families, you can share with the child that another family member once had the same problem, and got through it, just as they will too.
7. Toilet Access – Be sure the path from the child’s sleeping quarters is as short, and as nearby, as can be arranged. The fewer the obstacles and the shorter the path, the more likely your child can get there quickly and safely in the middle of the night. Make sure the way is sufficiently lit as well.
8. Alarm Technique – Some doctors also recommend alarms which can be safely placed on the child’s underwear or bed pad. The alarm is activated by the wetness of the urine, and wakes the child to finish in the bathroom, then change clothes and bedding, etc. Ultimately, the conditioned response has led to as much as a 70% success rate.
9. Daytime Drill – Have your child go to the bed first to lay down for a few moments prior to bathroom visits during the day. This kind of drill will help the child develop the habit of getting up at night to go.
10. Involve Child in Clean-up – While your child should never be blamed, he or she needs to be aware that getting over the bedwetting is up to them, and not you. Having them take part in the clean-up helps them understand what’s involved, and makes a good motivational tool.

6 Responses to 10 Tips to Help Kids Stay Dry at Night

margo says:

January 16, 2012 at 1:18 pm

it infuriates me that any parent would ever berate their child for wetting the bed. all that will do is stress the child out, make them feel like they’re doing something wrong, and in all likelihood cause them to continue wetting the bed.

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Josie says:

January 16, 2012 at 5:54 pm

We battled bed wetting for a LONG time with our first child, and it definitely was upsetting him to the point that I almost think it was causing him to regress. What ultimately worked for us was cutting out drinks (for the most part, obviously if he was thirsty we would give him water or something!) after 6pm and really just being patient and reassuring. Eventually the bed wetting passed.

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Dr. Kennedy Grosgrain says:

February 5, 2012 at 7:04 am

I think it’s important to remember that every child develops at a different rate. Milestones are definitely there as guidelines, but they arent the end all be all. If your child is a little behind, that’s OK – just keep working with them and be patient.

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Sheena Rivers says:

April 11, 2012 at 7:01 pm

My nanny is actually the one who helped my child stop wetting the bed. Without her, I don’t know what we woul dhave done! We were first time parents and didnt have a clue what we were doing. She had been there before, and suggested something similar to the reward milestones technique. After a few months of employing that method, we didn’t have any more wet beds at night!

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Kayla says:

April 22, 2012 at 8:27 am

That’s for sure a benefit to having an experienced nanny come to your home when you’re a first time parent! They’ve usually been through so many parenting things and are a wealth of information for those of us who are clueless!

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Jonathon says:

June 18, 2012 at 7:59 am

#9 is an interesting concept. We may have to try that one to see if it works, simply because it’s so different from anything we’ve tried so far.

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