In my dream, I went to a toilet. I felt uncomfortable in the middle of the night. I felt wet sheets and bedding, only to find that I was wetting the bed. On the one hand, it is very uncomfortable to sleep in a wet bed, but on the other hand, I am afraid to tell my parents.
I believe many people have had such experiences when they were young. As they grow older, most people will gradually stop wetting the bed. However, the bad memories related to bed wetting may always be remembered in my mind.
After entering another stage of life, our children, like themselves when they were young, have the problem of bedwetting. How should we deal with the problem of bedwetting our children, who have been upgraded to parents?
It is normal for children to wet their beds.
First of all, parents need to understand that it is very normal and common to urinate unconsciously at night, that is, to wet the bed, during the baby’s growth stage.
Almost all babies will wet the bed before the age of 3, but after the age of 5, most babies have mature bladder control and are less likely to wet the bed at night.
However, the development of different babies is different. At this stage, some babies will wet the bed because their bladder control is not mature enough.
According to statistics, about 20% of the 5-year-old children still have the phenomenon of bedwetting, but for the 13-year-old children, the proportion of bedwetting has dropped to 2%.
Older children also have bed wetting.
As mentioned above, in real life, some children will wet the bed even after the age of 5.
Before getting angry with the wet mattress, parents had better understand why older children also wet the bed.
1. Drink too much water or get tired
If children drink too much water before going to bed, eat too much food with high water content, or play too tired during the day, bed wetting at night may occur.
However, this kind of situation usually only happens occasionally. Parents don’t need to worry too much and just take it lightly.
2. Environmental mutation
Children wetting the bed is sometimes caused by sudden changes in the environment.
When a child’s living environment suddenly changes, such as changing rooms, going to kindergarten, and the birth of younger brothers and sisters, it may occur that he has not wet the bed but suddenly starts to wet the bed.
In this case, parents need to pay more attention to their children and help them adapt to these changes. They should not blame or even punish their children for wetting their beds.
However, if the baby suddenly starts wetting the bed after not wetting the bed for more than 6 months, it is better to take the baby to the hospital to check for other diseases, such as urinary tract infection, enuresis, etc.
3. Enuresis
The medical definition of enuresis is that enuresis refers to the frequent discharge of urine on clothes or bed consciously or unconsciously after reaching the age of bladder control.
According to the diagnostic criteria of the American Manual of Diagnosis and Statistics of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), children over 5 years old can be diagnosed as enuresis by involuntary urination twice or more times a week at night and lasting for 3 months.
Although nocturnal enuresis will not cause what damage to children, it will often bring many adverse effects to children and families in the long run.
If the child wetts the bed day and night after the age of 6, or the bed wetting has affected the normal life of the child and made the child unwilling to spend the night outside, then it is necessary to take the child to see a doctor and intervene as soon as possible.
The key to the intervention and treatment of enuresis in children lies in parents, who need to adjust their attitudes, understand that bedwetting is not the child’s fault, not to mention punishing or blaming the child, and cooperate in adjusting the child’s lifestyle and living habits.
What should parents do when facing their children wetting the bed?
Although the problem of bed wetting, with the growth of age and the adjustment of lifestyle, most children can no longer wet the bed, but it takes time not to wet the bed at all.
Some investigations and studies on enuresis children show that compared with non-enuresis children, enuresis children are often scolded, often hurt others, often get sick, have no good friends, are unwilling to help others, do not study hard, think their parents care less, and have a lower evaluation of themselves.
Therefore, it is not only necessary to understand that bedwetting is not the child’s fault, but also parents need to give more understanding and care to older children.
In the face of children’s bed wetting, children can be given emotional support from the following aspects:
- Pacify the child, tell the child that it is not his fault to wet the bed, and it will be fine in the future. Don’t scold or even punish children just because they wet the bed. Don’t humiliate your child because of bedwetting, or use bedwetting to joke about your child, let alone publicize the bedwetting among relatives, friends and neighbors. No matter whether you urinate or not, try to treat it with common heart. There is no punishment for wetting the bed, and there is no need to give special encouragement or positive affirmation for not wetting the bed. Do not let the child think that wetting the bed is his fault, and avoid making the child ashamed of wetting the bed.
What can parents do to help their children wet their beds less?
Although it is normal for children to wet the bed, it is unlikely that parents will not be unhappy if children wet the bed frequently, and washing sheets and bedding is really painful.
If you can help your child wet the bed less, it is naturally the best. There are some tips that parents can try:
1. Toilet training
Start toilet training around the age of 2. Don’t train your child to go to the toilet too early.
Some studies have shown that children who start learning to go to the toilet before the age of 1.5 often have to master relevant skills later than children who start training around the age of 2.
At the beginning of toilet training, don’t rush to take off the diapers for your child. You can continue to wear the diapers at night. If you find that there is little or no urine in the diapers for several days, you can try to take off the diapers at night.
Step 2: Adjust your lifestyle
Children are encouraged to drink water normally during the day, but do not drink water 2 hours before going to bed, or drink drinks such as fruit juice and milk, and do not eat foods with high water content, such as watermelons.
STEP 3 Get into the habit of urinating
Encourage children to form the habit of urinating regularly (4 ~ 7 times a day) and before going to bed. Don’t wait until you can’t hold it.
4. Ensure the safety of going to the toilet at night,
Tell the child to get up and go to the toilet if he feels urgent to urinate at night, and ensure that the child is safe on the way from the room to the toilet.
Step 5 Use waterproof mattresses
It may also be useful to add a waterproof mattress (or cover it with a layer of plastic) between children’s sheets and bedding.