Tips To Help Your Children With Bedwetting

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Bedwetting is something that every parent or caregiver will have to help their child through.  Check out our experience and some tips to help your children with bedwetting. 

Bedwetting Troubles

Parenthood comes with ups and downs and a million different obstacles.  One of those that many families deal with is bedwetting.  Our pediatrician told us that somewhere between 15-20% of children struggle with bedwetting and that she felt like that number was low as not all parents report the issue.  

Potty training in our home definitely had its ups and downs, but one area I DID not fight my kids on was nighttime potty training.  We potty trained both kids at 2 years old and they both did pretty well during the day, but nights were hit and miss.  I value well rested kids AND parents; plus, we knew that most kids grow out of bedwetting and are able to self wake and handle their business pretty quickly.  

Most kids…not all, and we happened to fall in the not all category with this little girl.  I was starting get so concerned that I was asking co-workers and our pediatrician what the heck to do.  Our daughter was stubborn, she is a heavy sleeper, and she didn’t even mind peeing in a pull-up.  I will say that much of her bedwetting issues, boil down to mom and dad being lazy and this kid taking full advantage of that. 

Success!

We had to find a solution.  She was starting to get really stubborn and full on meltdowns at night when we talked about not wearing pull-ups or not having a drink before bed.  It was getting very stressful and making bedtime even more of a nightmare.  After meeting with our pediatrician we decided to just slowly work the idea into her head that she would be ok and that we would all work together on this. 

We have done it.  We all worked together.  ALL of us.  Her dad, myself and her brother and HER.  She worked her butt off and we are now a month in on this journey and are feeling much less stress and a lot of success.  Oh and a bonus, she has also learned to do her own laundry in the process because, “big girls can do their own laundry, duh”.  Well ok kid, you do you. 

Tips To Help With Bedwetting

No two kids are the same.  Every child is going to go through different phases in their own way.  We have seen this with our own children and I see it on the daily in my classroom.  However, as parents we can help kids through these phases.  I read and talked with a lot of people before we decided to face the bedwetting issue head on and I wanted to share our tips to help your child through bedwetting. 

1. Talk openly with your child: They need to feel in control of this, because bedwetting feels very out of control for them.  We made sure that we were open with our daughter about our hopes to night time potty train and allowed her to voice her opinions and fears about this process.  Knowing what worries she had, helped us to figure out what we could do to help her work through them.  For her she was worried about waking up and messing up her sheets.  To help, we promised to help her wake up and to get either the exact same sheets or a brand new set if she could make it a whole month!

2. Take it Slow: While communicating with your child, let them know that you will be slowly making adjustments to the bedtime routine.  Decrease the amount of water they might be having before bed, let the know that when the pull ups are gone you won’t be buying anymore, and talk daily about how you are going to work together to help them be successful. 

3. Purchase a Bedwetting Alarm: We purchased this one off Amazon and it really did help and we only used it for about a week. Our daughter is a HEAVY sleeper and often, getting them to wake is the hardest part.  This alarm (although loud) helped her learn to wake when she started to pee and GREATLY decreased the accidents.  I will also note that you as a parent need to get up with them and help them to the restroom if they are heavy sleepers, but it gets easier.

4. Be Consistent: It absolutely was critical for us to be consistent and set a routine.  We started bedtime as we normally do, but added in a potty break before we tucked in for the night.  Then about 2 hours after bedtime, I woke her to get to the bathroom.  As soon as her alarm clock (not the bedwetting alarm) went off, I was right in there, helping her groggy tush to the toilet.

5. Reward: The alarm we purchased came with a sticker chart.  They get a sticker even if they just try to stay dry, but she is racking up the gold stickers (dry all night baby!).  She knows that once she has a full month of stickers, she gets to pick out a special prize.  If she makes it 1 whole month without an accident she gets to pick a friend to stay the night.  If she makes it 2 whole months without an accident she gets to stay the night at her aunt’s house.  All very exciting things for her!

Do you have any tips to help with bedwetting?  Share in Comments!

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