Kay Kay Healthcare Ltd.
BEDWETTING
SYMPTOMS
it is not unusual for children under the age of six to have trouble controlling their bladders night. You should be concerned about bedwetting only if:
• your child is older than six and has never been dry at night or continues to wet the bed twice a month or more.
• Your child suddenly starts wetting at night after a period of having been dry through the night.
WHAT IS BEDWETTING
The most important thing to remember about bedwetting is that it is beginning disorder and not a willful act. Punishment is never an answer. Between five million and seven million children suffer from bedwetting; the majority are boys.
Don’t be unduly concerned about bedwetting unless your child is older than six. Before then, your child’s body may not have developed enough to control bladder action at night. Time usually curse the problem: most children resolve any difficulties on their own by the age of seven.
CAUSES
Why bedwetting occur is not fully understood, although most cases seem to result from some kind of developmental delay. Some expert things bedwetting is purely a behavioral issues, others believe its origin are physiological and still other thinks both physiological and behavioral factors play a role. Only 2 percent of cases can be traced neurological problems (often cause by structural spiral abnormalities) or specific disease such as diabetes or bladder infections.
Alternative therapist believe that misalignment of muscles and joints around the pelvis can affect the activity of the sphincter muscles that control urine release.
Any new, stressful situation may cause a child to revert to bedwetting. Once your child adjust to the situation, the problem should resolved itself. If your child does not improve, the treatment listed here should help. In addition, you will want your child to talk through his fears.
TREATMENT
CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE
To rule out a disease related problem, your pediactrician will perform a blood or urine test. If the test reveals diabetes or an infection, your pediactrician will treat that condition first. The doctor will also test your child rule out nervous system problems.
There are three primary ways to treat bedwetting in an otherwise healthy child: waiting for spontaneous resolution, employing behavioral conditioning, and undertaking drug therapy.
Waiting though often the preferred course, may make your child anxious. However, if he is old enough to benefit from motivational counseling to learn about condition and participate in its management he and the rest of your family will be better able to cope. One form of motivation is to have your child place a star on a chart or calendar to mark dry nights.
Behavioral conditioning utilizing a device with a sensor that detect wetness and sets off an alarm has proved very effective. The child begins associating bladders distention with being awakened and in time. “learns” to awaken before losing control.
Drug therapy is considered less effective because most children relapse after stopping medication. It has its place, however. For short term help when your sleeps at a friend’s, for example
desmopressin, an antidiuretic, works well. Doctors are moving away from the anti depressant
imipramine because of side effects.
ALTERNATIVE CHOICES
ACCUPRESSURE
According to proponents of acupressure, daily application of deep thumb pressure in an upward motion to the following points may help: conception vessel 4, kidney 3, spleen 6. See the appendix for point location. Also, try holding heart 7, the point in the hollow of your child’s wrist just below the little finger, for up to one minute and then switch sides.
BODY WORK
Shiatsu and reflexology may be helpful in bedwetting caused by a neurological problem. Consult a trained therapist for help.
EXERCISE
Bladder stretching exercise may help your child increase bladder capacity. Once a day your child should hold his urine as long as possible past the first indication that his bladder is full. You and your child should measure the voided urine daily to see if capacity is increasing. Have your child practice this for up to three months to give this technique an opportunity to work.
HOMEOPATHY
Because bedwetting is a chronic problem, you need to seek help from an experienced homeopath. Common remedies include
Equisetum, Causticum, Lycopodium, and Pulsatilla.
MIND / BODY MEDICINE
Hypnotherapy can be effective with children who are highly motivated. With the help of trained professional, your child will master a series of action statement that he will say before going to bed, such as: “When I need to urinate, I will wake up all by myself and go to the bathroom “.
NUTRITION AND DIET
Sometimes bedwetting is associate with food allergies. Try eliminating milk product, citrus fruits, and chocolate food most frequently linked to allergies from your child’s diet.
OSTEOPATHY
If exercise or behavior based treatment don’t work, consult an osteopath for manipulation of your child’s lower back and pelvic area to modify possible structural problems.
WAYS TO COPE
Teach an older child how to change his own bed. Set out clean pajamas and sheets in his room each night. You will help him avoid embarrassment and give him sense of being in control if he no longer has to rely on you.
If you are sure using alarm device for behavioral conditioning, avoid nylon sheets and pajamas; nylon induce sweat, which can set of the alarm.
Prevent the mattress from getting wet by using the plastic lined mattress cover (which may cause the child to sweat) or, better yet, provide him with smaller, rubberized, felt-covered, pad that he can place over the wet area on the bed after an accident.
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