Bed Wetting and Your Child

I am the mother of a large family, and have had several children who wet the bed past the potty training age. I've used several methods to try and help them, and have learned some things along the way.

The first thing is to know that no one likes to wet the bed, and it would be an odd person who did it on purpose. Remember that well as you deal with your child. It's not their fault, they cannot help it. Punishing them for something they cannot control is wrong. Rather, have mercy, and deal with it in a matter of fact way. I taught my children to take control of the problem. I showed them where the sheets were and had them change the sheets themselves when they wet the bed. I told them they did not have to tell me if they didn't want too. Of course, I knew they had when I found the wet sheets in the laundry, but one child in particular, the one who seemed bothered by it the most, took a lot of comfort in this. I also taught them to take a bath before they got dressed when they woke up wet.

I gave the child the option of either wearing pull ups, or having a rubber sheet covering their mattress. One was too humiliated to wear a diaper, so he choose the rubber sheet. Two others liked the pull ups because it kept them from being so wet. A rubber sheet is actually a good choice whichever decision the child makes.

We tried several things to attempt to actually stop the bedwetting. We limited fluids in the evening. We took parsley capsules, which actually helped quite a bit. Oatstraw tea is another good natural remedy for bedwetting. In fact, I found that diet had quite a bit to do with bed wetting when I had an adopted child with some problems that caused us to go on the Feingold diet (http://www.feingold.org/). This diet eliminates artificial preservatives, artificial colorings, artificial flavorings and corn syrup, among other things. We quit using cow's milk almost completely. Within three days of our family going on this diet, another child who had struggled with bedwetting suddenly stopped. It was an amazing side benefit I hadn't expected.

The most important thing is to remember it isn't the child's fault. Be compassionate in working through this problem with your child, and your relationship will be all the stronger for it. It's just part of parenting!