Believe it or not, bedwetting is one of the most common problems worldwide. Yet it is one that tends to be swept under the carpet ? one that we don?t talk about or are ashamed to admit. But it need?nt or should?nt be like that!
When bed-wetting becomes a problem in your home, what do you do?
Often times when a child is wetting his or her bed, the reason is due either to an undiagnosed medical condition or due to psychological effects. As a parent, you will want to find out what is happening with your child so that you can stop bedwetting.
Unfortunately, there are things that prevent many parents from trying to determine what causes their child?s bedwetting. Some of the things that stop parents from helping their children include:
?Shame (parents worry that a child?s bedwetting will reflect badly on them while children may be reluctant to speak with a pediatrician about a problem that is embarrassing for them).
?Misconceptions about bedwetting
?Time (some parents may be reluctant to take the time to help a child, assuming that bedwetting is a normal childhood ailment and will be resolved by itself)
?Anger (parents may feel frustrated or angry with the problem and this may make them think of the problem as unimportant) Before we start to consider some of the things that can be done to stop bedwetting in its tracks, we need to discuss the very idea of bedwetting. Bedwetting occurs at night, and often in children who have no trouble or little trouble controlling their bladder during the day. This means that for these children, bedwetting makes bedtime a terrible time. Rather than being a time of stories and rest, bedtime becomes a time of conflict and stress for both parent and child.
Bedwetting is not a rare problem. Experts think that eight out of ten children wet the bed at least occasionally. The older children get, the less likely they are to wet the bed, as children outgrow the problem at a rate of roughly 15% per year. However, this means that 1% of older teenagers, and 20% of children between the ages of six and five will still wet their bed regularly.
Bedwetting creates stress for the entire family. Parents may be frustrated and fatigued by the washing of sheets, drying of mattresses, and reassurances that follow each incident of bedwetting.
The medical term for bedwetting is Enuresis and it is a serious subject for medical research. Researchers have found that a few basic causes of bedwetting seem to be the culprit for most sufferers of Enuresis. Among medical causes, ailments such as urinary tract infections, allergies, diabetes, cell anemia and sleep disorders are often the culprit.
Since bedwetting is often the first sign of these problems, it is a good idea to get your child checked out for these conditions. In addition, researchers have found that psychological reasons such as stress, upset, and trauma often contribute to bedwetting.
Children who wet the bed for any reason often suffer needlessly, and this suffering is the best reason to get your child help for Enuresis. Children who wet the bed often suffer from low self-esteem, withdrawal, stress, fear, and other problems. These children may suffer from sleeplessness because they fear or are embarrassed by what happens when they sleep.
A child with Enuresis is often teased by others and may feel dirty by the smell of urine about them. The child may even avoid others out of fear of ridicule. At the very least, fun childhood activities such as camp, sleep overs, and camping may be made into traumatic rather than happy events for the bedwetting child.
Many parents wonder whether they should seek help for bedwetting. After all, despite the problems of bedwetting, many doctors still recommend patience and time as the best way to resolve the problem, as many children overcome it with no extra help. Nevertheless, there are numerous self-help ways to sympathetically and effectively tackle bedwetting which will not only help the child but make life a great deal easier for all those affected by it.
To find out more click here http://www.natcure.co.uk/bedwetting.php
? James Keith 2006. All Rights reserved
James Keith. MRNT. LMPA is a psychologist and nutritional therapist specialising in the natural treatment of arthritis, rheumatism and psychosomatic health problems. To ezine editors: Please feel free to use this article providing no alterations or deletions to the text are made and all links are shown | |
