The child pees in the bed (Bedwetting). What to do and how to treat.

Reasons why a child pees in bed at night

Before weaning your child from peeing in bed, you should familiarize yourself with the nature of nocturnal enuresis in children.

Genetic conditioning

Pediatricians say that even if one parent peed in the bed at night, the same problem with a 50% probability will affect the baby. And if both mom and dad suffered from this, then it increases to 80%.

Pathologies of the nervous system

A child may not control his bladder if he has experienced severe stress, trauma, perinatal encephalopathy, or neuroinfections. Children with increased anxiety also have problems at night.

Diseases of various natures

Enuresis develops in girls and boys with pathologies of the brain (brain and spinal column), as well as with urinary tract infections and endocrine diseases. The baby may also have weak pelvic muscles and decreased bladder tone.

Neuroses and fears

A child who is afraid of the dark will pee at night much more often than his peers without a similar problem. Bladder disorder also occurs when parents pay too much or too little attention to it. Nocturnal enuresis may be a signal that mom and dad need to reconsider their approaches to parenting.

Incontinence can also occur when the baby has experienced new emotions and is in an enthusiastic and overexcited state. Often the cause of night accidents under the age of 5 is the birth of a new family member - this is stressful for the older child.

Diabetes

Increased thirst with this disease appears quite often. The child begins to drink a lot and pees at night due to the fact that his brain does not have time to send a signal about the need to urinate.

Pediatricians and child psychologists will tell you how to stop your child from peeing in bed at night.

At what age should children get up to go to the toilet at night?

Many parents ask, until what age is bedwetting considered normal? There is no specific age at which the alarm “should go off” at night. Everything is individual.

Most doctors are inclined to believe that at 4 years old a child should control the urge to go to the toilet in small quantities during the day, and after 6–7 years - at night. Until this age, night urination is not considered a deviation or pathology. It is important to listen to the opinion of Dr. Komarovsky in this matter, who says that it is more important to monitor not age, but the dynamics of the disease.

For example, if a 4-year-old baby wets himself 20 times at night in a month, and at the age of 5 the number of dry nights has not increased, this is bad. That is, no positive dynamics are observed.

If, as the child ages, he pees less and less often at night, then this is good. In this case, there is a positive dynamic: the situation is changing, rather than standing still or getting worse.

That is, the number of bad nights should happen less and less as you age.

How to stop your child from peeing in bed

The question of how to stop a child from peeing in bed at night worries many parents. This matter must be carried out in such a way as to not only achieve results, but also not to traumatize the child’s fragile psyche.

From the very beginning, the baby must be shown to the pediatrician. He will tell you what the problem may be, and also refer you to specialists of a specific profile. You may also need to undergo several important tests that will reveal the nature of enuresis.

Weaning a girl or boy from wetting the bed should be done gently and gradually.

1. Do not give them too much liquid before bed: their drinking regime should be monitored very carefully. Do not drink a couple of hours before bedtime.
2. The diet should not contain foods that irritate the bladder: sour, too sweet, salty or spicy.
3. Add foods high in magnesium and potassium: these components normalize the functioning of the urinary tract.
4. Children should be taught to properly prepare for bed: they must empty their bladder, and only then go to bed.
5. At first, the baby needs to be woken up every 2-3 hours and taken to the toilet so that he can relieve himself there. Then such awakenings can be done much less frequently, and then stopped altogether.

It is necessary to place a potty by the child’s bed, even if he has already mastered the toilet. This way he won’t have to leave the room into the dark corridor. If a girl or boy is afraid of the dark, a night light will come in handy: its soft light will not interfere with sleep.

How to teach your baby to sleep in his own crib

Most experts come to the conclusion that it is necessary to accustom a child to sleep separately from his parents once he reaches one year of age. But if for some reason this process has dragged on for up to three years, then you need to act more decisively. You need to select a method that is suitable for a given family based on the developmental characteristics and character of the child and the reasons why he wants to prolong sleep with his parents. Of course, there will be some trial and error here.

How to quickly teach your baby to sleep in his own crib

The most radical way is to “evict” the child from your bed overnight, not paying attention to whims and loud protests. Suitable if the child is completely healthy and does not experience any fears or phobias associated with sleeping in his room. The room should be equipped for the baby’s needs, the bed should be comfortable and convenient. However, you will have to show fortitude and try not to pay attention to the “howls at the door.” Not all parents are ready to undergo such a test.

Gradual transition to sleeping in your own room

A longer method involves carrying out a whole range of activities:

• First you need to connect the baby crib to the parent's: the child is nearby, but on his own territory. Then gradually move the crib away, moving it first to the far end of the bedroom, and then completely move it to the nursery.
• You can first practice independent daytime sleep in the nursery, then gradually transfer it to the night.
• Together with the baby, arrange and decorate his new home. Allow you to independently choose furniture for the nursery, bed linen with your favorite characters, and get advice on choosing wallpaper and curtains. The child should feel that this place is only his, and everything in it will be arranged to his liking.
• Arrange a “lavish move” and celebrate housewarming. On day X, you can decorate the room with balloons, invite guests who will admire the new home and congratulate the baby, and have a gala dinner. It will be more difficult for a child to give up such a valuable acquisition as his own space.
• Create and strictly observe ritual actions that encourage sleep: evening hygiene procedures, milk, a fairy tale, a protector toy.

The main thing is to be unanimous in the correctness of the chosen path and not allow subversive actions of “sympathetic” relatives: act together as a family, advocate for the correctness of the decision as a united front. And, of course, convince the child that you will always be there.

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What not to do if your child has enuresis

You can stop a child from peeing at night only with a gentle and patient approach. Enuresis is not something to joke about or ridicule; it is a serious problem. You can fight it using complex methods that will not traumatize your fragile psyche. Under no circumstances should you:

• scold your child for wet underwear. He didn’t squirt at night on purpose and not because he wanted to take revenge - he himself was deeply unpleasant about the situation;
• laugh. When a child suffers from incontinence, you must under no circumstances pretend that it is amusing. Older children in the family should be prohibited from laughing at their younger brother or sister;
• focus too much attention on the problem. First of all, a child should feel comfortable in his own family: he needs to see that he is loved and understood, and will be ready to help.

Tips on how to stop your child from peeing in bed will help you effectively deal with the problem.

What do pediatricians advise?

Bedwetting is a problem common to many children, so you should not think that the baby is developing abnormally. By itself, it can disappear before the age of 4 years, during which time the child begins to get up at night to go to the toilet. Pediatricians will tell you what to do to stop your child from peeing in bed at night.

To properly eliminate incontinence, you need to behave calmly and confidently, not raise your voice and keep your emotions under control. You need to follow a few simple rules.

1. Keep a set of replacement bed linen ready so that you can eliminate the consequences of what is written and ensure a comfortable sleep at night.
2. Keep track of what time your daughter or son relieves themselves in bed. Before this moment comes, they need to be woken up and seated on the potty so that they do all their business and continue to sleep peacefully.
3. It is better to lay an oilcloth under the sheet, which will reliably protect the mattress from the consequences of an “accident”.
4. Praise your child when the night passes dryly and without incident. Ignore wet days - any negative comments will only make the situation worse. Severe stress will begin, which will never help cope with enuresis.
5. Monitor the temperature in the room. Wet nights can be the result of extreme cold. Try raising the temperature in the nursery a little - after this the tendency for “accidents” may disappear.

There is a high probability that the cause of bedwetting is a psychological temporary disorder. A comprehensive examination is possible, the results of which will help solve the problem in a competent manner.

Recommendations for dry nights

Having found out what exactly causes bedwetting in your child, you need to worry about how to wean him from wetting the bed. If it is not caused by a disease, the following tips will help:

• Start with a conversation. Try to find out from your child why he thinks he has frequent accidents. Maybe he is afraid to get up or is very sleepy and cannot wake up.
• Install a night light near your baby's crib. This will help you cope with fear.
• If the child is not too big yet, place a plastic potty near the bed so that he does not have to walk too far.
• Reconsider your attitude towards diapers. It may be best for you and your baby to sleep in a diaper at night. Of course, there is no need to go to extreme measures and put diapers on a child over 3 years old. This measure will only be needed until his nervous system is ready.
• Prepare clean sheets and clothes in the evening so you can immediately change your baby’s clothes and make the bed. It will not be very pleasant for the child to get up every time in the middle of the night and, in a sleepy state, wait for the linen to be changed. It's even better if you ask him to make his own bed. After a while he will prefer to remain dry.
• Do not give your baby salt-containing foods at night: salty, sour or spicy, as well as fatty and fried foods. In addition to the obvious harm to the body, these products cause a strong desire to drink water. At the same time, they overload the kidneys, delaying urination. Having failed to pee before bed, the child pees in the bed at night.
• In the same way, you should avoid diuretic drinks and excess liquids in general at night. Many children cannot fall asleep without drinking. This habit needs to be weaned. Give him a drink at least an hour before bed with a small amount of compote or milk and do not give him any more.
• The child must learn that before going to bed, it is imperative to empty the bladder. A routine habit will form, and the number of wet accidents will disappear.
• To prevent calcium and magnesium deficiency, you need to eat one of the following foods in the evening: banana, broccoli, fish, cottage cheese, apricots.
• Note for yourself the approximate time at which the child pees. Try to lift him up during this period so that he goes to the potty or toilet. At first this will tire both you and him, but then it will become necessary and will happen automatically.
• You can teach your child to control urination during the day. When he asks to pee, ask him to wait a little and only then allow him to go to the toilet. This is how connections are formed in the nervous system that guide control.
• Be sure to remind your baby before bed that he needs to pee not in bed, but in the toilet. Justify this with arguments suitable for your child: you are already an adult, you are doing well, it will be better and more pleasant for you to remain dry, etc.
• Be sure to praise your toddler for every accident-free night. He will want to hear it more often, and will no longer write.
• As simple as it may sound, love and care throughout the day, received in abundance from parents, helps wean off incontinence better than any other method.

Remember, the child is not to blame for his nightly failures. Nobody likes being wet, and kids are no exception. If he regularly pees in the bed, this does not mean that this position does not cause him discomfort. There are simply reasons that lead to incontinence.

How time has flown! You didn’t even notice how the baby grew up and became completely independent. The child pleases mom and dad with new records every day, knows a lot and can do a lot. The biggest relief for parents is when the baby regularly asks to go to the potty, even at night. It seems that the process of mastering the “toilet” science is a completed stage and you can finally relax. You hid the oilcloths a long time ago and don’t use diapers, so they still remain dry. It happens that even after a long period of successful toilet training, children again begin to regularly drown the bed at night. If this is permanent, the question becomes acute: how to stop a child from peeing in bed at night?

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