What’s different about our drinking program? It is a common sense approach that busy parents can follow. It has no unnecessary steps. Many children and parents reduce fluid intake in the hope that this will help bedwetting. Unfortunately, this does not work and can often be part of the problem.
Before starting treatment many clinics request that parents measure the child’s urine output as well as fluid intake constantly for 48 hours. This means every time the child goes to the toilet the urine needs to be measured. Also, pull-ups need to be weighed before and after use. Fluid intake must also be measured. Most parents find this extremely difficult and time consuming.
Another request is that parents are asked to chart the bedwetting for several weeks so the nurse or doctor knows exactly how often the child wets the bed. Although this can sometimes be revealing we find that parents know how often their child wets the bed and they will know if our drinking program varies from what they have been doing, which is very likely.
One extra question that needs to be asked is “if you did not get your child up at night, how often would your child wet the bed” as people sometimes say their child wets the bed twice a week when in fact if the parent did not get their child up during the night the child would wet every night.
The first step in our program is a structured drinking program. Left to themselves children are often rushing in the morning, running around in the school breaks and forgetting to drink. Once they relax at home after school they have a bit more to drink, sometimes a lot more. Poor drinking habits can lead to several factors including small bladder capacity, meaning the child can’t hold much urine in their bladder at night. Some children’s habits lead to them making too much urine at night and not making enough during the day. Also the hormone which concentrates the urine at night, works more effectively with a structured drinking program.
The easy to follow drinking steps are outlined in detail on the thirty minute 'Bedwetting Cured' DVD. The steps are suitable for children from 5 years of age. They should also be followed by older children, teenagers and adults.
Younger children may respond as well but the medical research on bedwetting treatment is mainly with children who are at least five years of age so that is the age we suggest parents start a bed wetting program.
Parents often think very deep sleep is the only factor contributing to bedwetting. Before rushing into starting a bed wetting alarm to address the deep sleep, it is best to prepare your child to respond to the alarm by removing the other possible causes of bedwetting first.
All children who wet the bed have some degree of deep sleep.
One major advantage of the Bedwetting Cured DVD is helping your child to become agreeable to trying a bedwetting program and following the steps without having to attend lots of clinic appointments.
After researching the medical literature and adding in years of clinical experience the recommendations on the DVD give you the best chance of stopping the bed wetting.
The DVD can be watched by parents as well as the child. This leaves the parent out of the job of making recommendations.
Many children especially older ones are embarrassed about wetting the bed and are sick of going to appointments. We recommend trying our program for up to three months. If you have followed all the steps most children will be cured. If not then it is time to make an appointment at a Children’s Hospital, Continence Clinic or ask your G.P. for a referral to a Paediatrician.
Many older children have tried various things before but usually one at a time leading to disappointment. From the feedback we have had just adding our drinking program, which is different from others, can make all the difference. It is important to try all the steps together. Some children need to keep up the drinking program long term while others just start to wake up when necessary during the night if their bladder is full.
If you start using an alarm straight away you may find it is going off three or four times a night, your child is not waking up to the alarm sound and you will all get exhausted and give up. The child is not ready for an alarm if it is sounding this often. The child probably has more than one of the causes leading to the bedwetting. Read more about causes.
Remember, for most children it is important to follow the initial steps on the DVD for a about three weeks and then add in a bedwetting alarm. If the child is only wetting a few nights a week or less frequently then start the alarm at the same time as the DVD steps.
When you start an alarm keep up the other steps. If you keep going with the initial steps and don’t start an alarm and your child is still wetting the bed then the child will start to believe nothing will work and they will be less co-operative when you finally do try an alarm in six month’s time.
Once you start a bedwetting alarm you need to continue until your child has achieved 21 dry nights in a row. Some people recommend 14 dry nights, however, with a longer dry period before stopping use you are more sure you have the bedwetting under control. You can then put the alarm away in a cupboard. Do not give it away. Have it ready to use in case your child has a relapse, which can happen even months later, possibly after exhaustion, illness or just the start of winter. If your child has a relapse start the alarm again straight away and you should get it under control quickly. Restart the steps on the DVD if these have been relaxed. Some children will need to maintain these healthy habits long term.
To buy the DVD and one of our clip-on or Pad and bell alarm go to All Bedwetting Alarms and DVD Kits.
Read more about choosing an alarm and DVD Kit.
