TIPS FOR HANDLING BED WETTING........

Hello people. This is an article I wrote first on Linkedln and which was afterwards published by School Tips& More magazine, a foremost magazine for parents and educators from EduMark publications. It is also online at www.allaboutschoolsng.com   Read and enjoy.

 Bed wetting is a condition in which a person urinates on the bed while asleep, and it becomes a cause for concern for parents when the child involved is over seven years of age. Many parents do not know how to cope with the fact that their teenager is still bed wetting, and so they resort to all sorts of methods, both helpful and non-helpful, to help their child overcome it. Consider the case of  fourteen year old Emily whose guardian threatened to give her fourteen strokes of the cane each time she bed wets, or twelve year old Pita who was taken to various pastors to 'deliver' her from the 'spirit of bed-wetting'. After all is said and done, however, understanding is key when handling a bed-wetting teenager.
The first step in treating bed wetting is to try to understand what the causes of bed wetting are.

Causes of bed wetting

Not all the causes of bed wetting are known.
Some of the possible factors are:
o                  Genetic tendency. If one or both parents wet the bed when they were children, then it is quite likely to occur in their children.
o                  Lack of necessary muscle and nerve control. The bladder may not have developed the necessary nerve and muscle control, so the bladder muscle contracts and empties the bladder when it is only half full of urine.
o                  Deep sleeper who finds it difficult waking up at night. This is why some have dreams in which they see themselves going to the loo at night but wake up to find that they have wet the bed.
o                  Other problems like diabetes [which could make the kidneys produce more urine], can lead to bed wetting if the child does not have bladder control.

MANAGING BED WETTING IN TEENAGERS AND YOUNG ADULTS
WHAT NOT TO DO
Do not

• Flog
• Threaten
• Compare
• Tell all and sundry about it-it adds to the teen’s embarrassment-only those who need to know should know, and do not say it in the child’s presence.

The child already feels bad about the situation. Doing any of the above activities does not solve the problem, rather it only adds another problem: LOW SELF ESTEEM and A FEELING OF REJECTION
Treat a bed wetting teenager/young adult as you would treat a child with dyslexia. Show them how to manage and perhaps even outgrow it.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT A BED WETTING TEEN/ADOLESCENT

• Inform the child about the causes of bed wetting
• Eliminate foods and drinks after 7pm
• Wake the teen to go to toilet four hours after eating dinner, and four hours after the first toilet visit. Note that cold weather increases the chance of bed wetting, so the child should go to the toilet every 3 hours in cold season.
• Use of alarms, e.g the moisture alarm which rings when it detects urine, or a loud, shrill alarm across the bed that requires the child to get up and put it off. Alarms require patience and perseverance but research has proven them to be the most effective method of treatment.
• If possible, get the child a mattress with a mackintosh sewn around it, especially if the child is in the university. This will save him/her the embarrassment of having to explain their wet bed to their peers.
• For short sleepovers , the child can be given disposable absorbent underpants [sold in major supermarkets] to wear before putting on their pajamas to sleep.

Understanding is key in the handling of a bed wetting teen or adult, and if handled properly the child will outgrow it. Don’t put pressure on self or child.