Bedwetting can quickly escalate from a mild inconvenience to a seemingly major emotional trauma, especially when children are old enough to become embarrassed by the situation. If your daughter is caught in the cycle of bedwetting, there are certain things that parents can do to both stop and manage bedwetting in girls.
Take your child for a physical.
If your daughter’s bedwetting has started suddenly, it’s possible that there is an underlying medical condition that has prompted the regression, rather than an immaturity of the bladder/brain connection. Dr. Sears notes the importance of a medical evaluation in order to rule out other medical concerns or mitigating factors behind enuresis.
Consider emotional factors.
Is your daughter entering a new grade, having trouble with girls at school, or experiencing any other types of emotional upset? If so, there could be an emotional factor related to her bedwetting. Stress and change can result in bedwetting in children, so determining if there has been a change to routine or any emotional stress is important. If you can determine a psychological cause for bedwetting, you can work to eliminate the problem at the root.
Focus on bathroom habits.
Girls should be sure to empty their bladder fully at bedtime, as how deeply they are sleeping may be the primary factor in whether or not they are able to handle a full bladder in the middle of the night. Be sure to remind your daughter to use the bathroom in the hours leading up to bed, and then at bedtime. It may be necessary for parents to wake their child before they go to sleep themselves in order to help them stay dry through the night. Family Doctor also notes the effectiveness of bladder training, where girls are taught to hold their urine for longer periods of time during the day in order to stretch the bladder so it can hold more. These ideas may all help children for whom sleeping deeply is a cause of their enuresis.
Work to help children with emotions about their bedwetting.
If your daughter is embarrassed by her bedwetting, it may create a vicious cycle. Stress about bedwetting could make it more difficult for children to stop. Instead, talk with your little girl and give her practical solutions to the bedwetting problem. Pull-up diapers for younger girls, or a lesson in changing the sheets for older girls, are all things that may eliminate some of the bedwetting stress for girls.
There are certain things that parents can do to both stop and manage bedwetting in girls. However, it’s important to note that sometimes the best treatment for enuresis is simply more time.
Resources:
Family Doctor; Enuresis (Bed Wetting); http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/children/parents/toilet/366.html
Dr. Sears; Sleep Problems: Bedwetting; http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T071200.asp
