Myth no 1: “There’s no point treating bedwetting – children grow out of it eventually.”
Bedwetting can and should be treated. According to the UK’s NICE guidelines on the management of bedwetting in children and young people, all children who wet the bed should be seen by a health professional from the age of five years. A recent study has shown that taking a ‘watch and wait’ approach and not seeking help means that children could be suffering from this condition and other bladder problems for far longer than they need to.
Bedwetting can and should be treated from the age of 5 years.
A doctor or nurse at a bedwetting clinic can check children for underlying reasons for the wetting such as a urinary tract infection or constipation and get these treated if necessary. Our bedwetting flowchart explains more about the different stages of treatment.
Myth no 2: “Children wet the bed because they’re lazy.”
Bedwetting can be very tiring and stressful to deal with for everyone involved, but it’s not something children do on purpose. It happens when they are asleep, so is outside of their conscious control. Living with bedwetting can be really distressing for the sufferer so some deal with their feelings by going into denial, hiding wet bedclothes and acting as if they aren’t bothered. It’s really important to reassure children that bedwetting isn’t their fault and they’re not the only ones who do it.
Myth no 3: “Bedwetting is caused by stress and emotional problems.”
Bedwetting isn’t caused directly by psychological issues such as stress and anxiety, but dealing with it can cause emotional problems, especially low self-esteem. Bedwetting is also associated with an increased risk of behavioural problems such as ADHD. Any psychological or behavioural problem should be managed independently of the bedwetting symptoms. It’s best to talk to your doctor about this.
Periods of change and stress in a child’s life can explain why they may suddenly start to wet again after even a long stretch of dryness (known as ‘secondary enuresis’). Children who have late onset of start wetting again after a period of dryness should always have their bowel and bladder assessed – they may have become constipated for example.
Myth no 4: “Punishing children will help them to stop wetting the bed.”
Children and teenagers don’t have any control of their wetting so punishing them for it is like telling them off for coughing or sneezing. Getting annoyed with children for wetting is very likely to harm their self-esteem and add to their feelings of shame and isolation. Rather than promising a reward or treat for a dry bed, it’s more effective and positive to rewards their efforts to be dry – something which they do have control over.
Myth no 5: “Taking children to the loo when they’re asleep will cure their bedwetting.”
“Lifting’ children to the toilet when they’re asleep is something which may work for a while, but it’s only a way of managing their bedwetting rather than curing it. It basically helps to get a dry bed rather than a dry child as you are deciding when they should do a wee rather than them responding to their own full bladder signal.
There’s lots of information about the reasons why children are wet at night and the various treatment options on the ERIC website: https://www.eric.org.uk/Pages/Category/bedwetting and ERIC has a bladder and bowel helpline which is answered by expert advisors
Contact details: ERIC’s helpline is open Monday – Thursday 10am – 2pm Tel. 0845 370 8008 /Email: helpline@eric.org.uk (Calls to the helpline cost 9.6p per minute, plus the phone company’s access charge).
ERIC, The Children’s Bowel & Bladder Charity(www.eric.org.uk) is the only charity dedicated to the bowel and bladder health of all children and teenagers in the UK. ERIC has been raising awareness of bowel and bladder issues since 1988. ERIC provides expert support, information and understanding to children and teenagers and enables parents, carers and professionals to help them establish good bowel and bladder health.