1. Encourage your child to
get up to urinate during the night.
This advice is more important than any other. Tell
your child at bedtime, "Try to get up when you have
to pee."
2. Improve access to the toilet.
Put a night light in the bathroom. If the bathroom is at
a distant location, try to put a portable toilet in your
child's bedroom. Boys will do fine with a bucket.
3. Encourage daytime fluids.
Encourage your child to drink a lot during the morning and
early afternoon. The more your child drinks, the more urine
your child will produce, and more urine leads to larger
bladders.
4. Discourage evening fluids.
Discourage your child from drinking a lot during the 2 hours
before bedtime. Give gentle reminders about this, but don't
worry about normal amounts of drinking. Avoid any drinks
containing caffeine.
5. Empty the bladder at bedtime.
Sometimes the parent needs to remind the child. Older children
may respond better to a sign at their bedside or on the
bathroom mirror.
6. Take your child out of
diapers or Pull-ups.
Although this protective layer makes morning clean-up easier,
it can interfere with motivation for getting up at night.
Use Pull-ups or special absorbent underpants selectively
for camping or overnights at other people's homes. Use them
only if your child wants to use them. They should rarely
be permitted beyond age 8.
7. Protect the bed from urine.
Odor becomes a problem if urine soaks into the mattress
or blankets. Protect the mattress with a plastic mattress
cover.
8. Include your child in morning
clean-up.
Including your child as a helper in stripping the bedclothes
and putting them into the washing machine provides a natural
disincentive for being wet. Older children can perform this
task independently. Also, make sure that your child takes
a shower each morning so that he or she does not smell of
urine in school.
9. Respond positively to dry
nights.
Praise your child on mornings when he wakes up dry. A calendar
with gold stars or happy faces for dry nights may also help.
10. Respond gently to wet
nights.
Your child does not like being wet. Most bed-wetters
feel quite guilty and embarrassed about this problem. They
need support and encouragement, not blame or punishment.
Siblings should not be allowed to tease bed-wetters. Your
home needs to be a safe haven for your child. Punishment
or pressure will delay a cure and cause secondary emotional
problems.
