Bedwetting is a concern to many Nigerian parents and can be an embarrassing issue among kids.
The truth however is that bedwetting or primary enuresis (PNE) as it is also called, is very common although not many parents will not admit that their child bed wets. Bedwetting is common in young children but it gets less common as a child gets older. Bedwetting is also slightly more common in boys than girls.
According to Dr. Rotimi Adesanya, a family physician and paediatrician, bed-wetting is incontinence that usually happens at night.
“Bed-wetting, from the name, means when a child wets the bed at night. The medical name for bedwetting is nocturnal enuresis. About 45 per cent of children wet the bed if one of the parents did same when they were also children, and about 75 per cent of children would do same if both parents experienced similar situation as children. This shows that bed-wetting could be hereditary,” Adesanya explained.
Why does my child wet the bed?
In most cases, the exact cause of bedwetting is not known. But many possible causes exist. Your child’s bladder might be too small. Or the amount of urine produced overnight is too much for your child’s bladder to hold. As a result, your child’s bladder fills up before morning. In other cases some children sleep so deeply that they don’t wake up when they need to urinate. Others simply take longer to learn how to control their bladder. Many children wet the bed until they are 5 years old or even older.
While bedwetting can be a symptom of an underlying disease, a large majority of children who wet the bed have no underlying disease that explains their bedwetting.
In some cases bedwetting often runs in families. If both parents wet the bed as children, their child is likely to have the same problem. If only one parent has a history of bedwetting, the child has about a 30 percent chance of having the problem. Although some children wet the bed even if neither of their parents ever did.
Extra attention needs to be paid to a child who has been dry for several months or even years, that suddenly starts wetting the bed. The cause might be emotional stress, such as the loss of a loved one, problems at school, a new sibling, or even starting potty training too early.
In any case bedwetting is not your child’s fault. Children rarely wet the bed on purpose.
What can parents do to stop their child bedwetting?
While many parents resort to punishment to stop this nighttime habit, this will most often not help the issue. Children may feel bad about wetting the bed, so letting them know they are not to blame is important. Bedwetting is not a behaviour problem. Flogging and punishment will not help your child stop bedwetting.
According to Dr. Rotimi Adesanya other factors that could cause bed-wetting in children could be emotional, psychological or medical, this is the reason why psychotherapy should be seen as effective in dealing with bed-wetting in children.
“It could also be due to an over-active bladder. Parents can help their children overcome this via psychotherapy, using words of encouragement and reassurance to such children. They should not punish them severely; they should help them with soothing words, and let them know that it is not their fault because other children have the same kind of problem,’’ he says.
The following are some of the things parents can do to help their child stop bedwetting;
- Limiting the amount of liquid your child drinks in the evening
- Make sure they go to the toilet before going to sleep.
- Eliminate caffeine from your child's diet. Caffeine can be found in coke, coffee, bitter kola etc.
- Have your doctor screen your child for any medical conditions
- Have your child practice bladder training
Psychiatrist, Dr. Mashudat Bello-Mojeed, says how parents respond to a child’s experiences of bed-wetting would either help or harm the child.
“Most times in Nigeria, the child is given severe punishment or the parents humiliate the child or use negative words. Some parents and siblings sometimes publicly embarrass the child who experiences nocturnal enuresis. As a result, the child is withdrawn from social activities that children of his ages normally engage in. Also, there is a strain in the relationship with his peers; the child is reluctant to go out for holiday camps or school excursions. Such social problems could lead to bigger ones.
“I would advise parents to help the affected child and let the child know that the habit is not caused by him or her. The child would come out of it eventually, but they need to show him or her love and care. They should let the child know that it is a developmental problem that will go away. They can also help the child by reducing his fluid intake at night and waking up the child at night to urinate. The results will encourage them,” she says.
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