If Your Child Is Wetting the Bed ...

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How to deal with nighttime potty problems.

Ah, motherhood. You can file bed wetting under the not-so-glam side of having kids. Rest assured that your kid is not alone: Typically 7 million children between the ages of 6 and 16 experience this problem. But the upside is that it's entirely manageable. All it takes is the proverbial ounce of prevention and a change of bedtime routines and voila -- your kiddo sleeps in dry sheets (and you get a good night's sleep!).

Don't assign blame. Reassure your child that this is normal at their age, that it isn't their fault and that you understand they're not doing it on purpose. Also, do not punish or tease your child for wetting the bed -- and make sure other family members do the same.

Cut down on drinks. Seems like a no-brainer, but it's true. The first step is to avoid letting the little one drink large amounts of fluid two hours before bedtime. Then have your child use the toilet just before going to bed.

The sheet situation. A plastic cover between the sheets and mattress will help to protect the bed. And when accidents do happen, let your child help change the wet sheets.

Work it out. Consider practicing bladder-stretching exercises in which your child will try to increase the time between potty trips during the daytime. This way the bladder can learn to stretch and hold more urine at night. And you can also practice an awakening routine -- one in which you become a human alarm clock of sorts. This way, you can wake your child up to go potty two to three hours after he or she hits the hay. Before long, it should become a routine they adopt themselves. And you can rest easy!

NEXT: Postpartum Depression? Don't Suffer in Silence!

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Tyra, I am watching your show today and the 8 yr. old girl is embarrassed by wetting the bed. My son also wet the bed as a child, and we tried the bed alarm as well, by my son just wouldn't wake up. So my mother told me he would stop wetting the bed when he is 12 yrs. old. So I started telling him all the time that he would stop wetting the bed when he was 12. Well guess what, he did almost on the dot. And he never had an accident after that, it stopped us from obsessing over the problem, which helped alot. I hope this helps.

Posted by SJ 08/08/08 3:04 PM

Watching the show today I had a tough time watching an 8 year old talk about her bed wetting problem. Even though her identity was hidden I think mom should have not put her on the show. It just seems like shes too little and it could affect her negatively. I think if it were my child I would just keep it to talking about it in my home. It can be such an embarrassing thing for a child. My brother wet the bed till he was 10 maybe older. My mother used to punish him for it by putting him in a cold shower or making him wear his underwear on his head. She was not nice obviously...maybe thats why I have a hard time seeing an 8 year old on TV talking about it. I think it is a private matter until you are older.

Posted by MamaRoo 08/08/08 2:12 PM

im 18 and im wetting the bed just recently started and im scared to tell my parents but my gf knows and she thinks that i might be under stress but im perfectly happy im doing everything i ever want, and also im afraid to tell my parents that i might want to ware protection but idk what they will say. can you please help me, from any experience you got before i let my parents know everything.

Posted by J.T 08/08/08 1:09 PM

I'm 13 and still wet the bed! It will sometimes go away for about a week or two, I start to thing I'm growing out of it and then I start wetting again and I can't stop. I use "UnderJams", but I'm 120 pounds, and they only make underjams large enough for up to 85 lbs. They usually end up tearing from the sides in the middle of the night after I've wet them. When I sleepover I will usally wear a super-soak absorbing pad, so it doesn't look like I'm wearing a diaper. But the worst part is my mom makes fun of me for it and she gets really upset when I wet the bed, and says I'm 13 not 2 and I shouldn't wet the bed. It only makes me more upset and ashmed of wetting the bed. I really can't control it and I think I bed wet when I'm stressed and upset. Also, I'm a very heavy sleeper, so much that i can't hear the alarm clock to wake up. So, my mom has to wake me up every day for school. When I get made fun of by my own mother I start dealing with it by eating, and that's why I weigh 120 pounds. I'm skinny around every part of my body but my stomach. Then, my mom makes fun of me for being fat and says all the other girls that play club volleyball have flat tummies and that why none of the club volleyball coaches want me on their team. It really hurts me when someone I love hurts me like this and when she is almost 300 pounds and says she was a stick when she was my age and that she got fat when she had me and my

Posted by Anonymous 08/08/08 12:53 PM

My son is 9 years old and still wets the bed. Without fail every night he has a SOAKED pull up and most nights he wets right through. We have had him to a Uerologist to have ultrasounds and check ups. The general consensus is that some kids pee the bed until they are 20 and others are done at 4 or 5. He is currently on medication (Imipramine), this is the second trial medication that he has been on for a few weeks now and still no results. We were told however that this is very effective for this problem. He does NOT drink past 5pm, we have done the whole waking him up every 2-3 hours etc. and nothing works. Don't feel bad. All of his friends and family know now he has become very open about it and he feels much better about himself now. He sleeps out but brings hi pull ups and sleep pad. Try to stay away from the "bad" side of it and you guys will be fine:) Keep me posted - Francesca

Posted by Francesca 08/08/08 12:51 PM

Everyone, Please listen. My son had aroblem with bed wetting!!! We tried it all!!! We tok him to the Dr. and she put him on a medicine called D.D.A.V.P.!!!!!! My son never wet the bed again. It's a lack of a hormone!!! Most of the time, Thats it. It's a nasal spray so we told friends it was for his allergies and no one had to know! His self asteem went so high. It works right away. EVERYONE was happier!!!

Posted by Mureen 08/08/08 12:20 PM

It bothers me to hear all these stories. My son had a bed wetting problem! I took hi to the Dr. Most children that wet the bed til into the teen years, Has a hormonal problem! they don't have to wet the bed! It's a nasal spray that they do right before bed and thats it! No more bed wetting! My son had to be on it for about a year! no one has to know if they spend te night,all my son did was say it was for his allergies!!!! It's called D.D.A.V.P. No side affects, and his self asteem went way up!! Mom and Dad sept through the night!! Please read upon it!!!!!!!!

Posted by Maureen 08/08/08 12:12 PM

my daughter is almost six and still wets the bed, we have tried everything so i was on the internet one day and discovered a bedwetting alarm from pottymd.com we have only used it a couple of days and last night was wet free!!

Posted by stacey 08/08/08 12:10 PM

Don't worry about your daughter and her bed wetting. My daughter was also almost 2 when we moved. Her toilet training disappeared also. She continued to bed wet until she was 11 1/2 years old. Suddenly, out of nowhere, it disappeared. She never wet in the day. Only at night. We too took her to dr.s and they could find nothing wrong. I never scolded her, or made a big deal about it. She would wake me, cold and wet and I would get up night after night to wash her, change her pj's and her bed. We tried the alarms and even put the potty outside her door as we had only 1 bathroom downstairs, and she slept upstairs. Nothing worked except time. Some childrens bladders are just more underdeveloped than others. Have patience like I am sure you are, and time will heal all.

Posted by Maggie 08/08/08 10:56 AM

Hello, My name is Stephanie.. i am 19 and this topic really hits home for me! This is a problem i have been dealing with sence i can remember! i am really embaressed about it being 19 and not being able to controll my bladder. I've tried everything! I remember my mom bringing me to countless doctors about this... they put me on diffrent meds to help me hold it threw the night, they put the bizzers thing in my underwear so if it got wet a buzzer would go off to wake me up. They gave me nose sprays, i've tried not drinking anything after 8 pm ... and still at the age of 19 soon to be 20 i dont always wake up to go to the bathroom. most the time i dont even know i wet the bed until i feel the bed. It's become so common i cant tell if its wet sometimes until i feel the rest of the bed. i dont know what else to try! One of the hardest things for me with this issue is the fact that i've lived with my boyfriend for 2 years. The firts time i wet the bed with him being there i wanted to cry because i was embaressed.. so i finally put my insacurities aside and told him the trueth. He's very understanding but come on... i'm 19!!! when is enough goin to be enough! what else can i try???

Posted by stephanie w. 08/08/08 10:55 AM

I'm watching the segment about this right now on your show. I just want to say, "missy", good for you. You and your mom are so breave to come out and talk about it. I hope your problem will be fixed. It must be tough to go through with it. I have no idea, b/c I never experienced it. Good luck to you 'missy'. I'm sure you helped many other children who's going through the same problem!

Posted by Naoko 08/08/08 10:52 AM

both my kids have this problem they both take medicine for it since they started the medicine they have went from every day accidents to every other day and every couple days for the other the doctor told us most girls that wet there bed stop by the age of 1 my girls now are 8 and 10 so we will see o the medicine is desmopressine

Posted by melissa 08/08/08 10:47 AM

I just watched the show and related to Missy's condition. I wet the bed until I was 9. I outgrew it. If I only knew then what I know now. I now have 2 kids of my own. My son wet the bed until 6. I went to a chiropractor who used the activator method, he aligned my son's back and he never wet the bed again! He's now 13, healthy & happy. No drugs, medications, side effects - easy! It's low cost, it's healthy, it helps your immune system and most of all effective. I couldn't believe the "Dr." said Missy's fall could have caused "brain damage" and that may be the cause. Pa-lease! More likely, she may have misaligned her back!!!! With so many children that suffer with this condition (millions), it's unlikely the cause is molestation in most cases, as one comments suggested. Get thee to a chiropractor!!!

Posted by Debbie 08/08/08 10:24 AM

I had a severe bedwetting problem from @ 4-15 years of age. I would sleep so deeply that it was almost impossible to wake me, probably due to the issue mentioned in the following paragraph. The doctor's comments included "trying to drown your parents." He prescribed Phenobarbital, to no avail. I only slept deeper. The issue that has not been addressed is what happened to me - sexual abuse. I was being molested by my stepfather since I was 4. The usual "you are crazy - I'll have you put away" was what I heard when I was old enough to understand what was going on. Please consider this possibility when addressing bedwetting issues. I understand this is a common side effect of molestation.

Posted by Anonymous 08/08/08 10:12 AM

Posted by Anonymous 08/08/08 10:11 AM