My mum woke me up every morning with a spank for soaking my dress and bed with urine. At first I cowered at the sight of my wet bed each morning, but as time progressed I got used to being punished for it.
With all the spanking and yelling, I guess my bladder couldn’t understand simple English to obey the instruction of not wetting my bed, as we went on night after night, repeating the same pattern.
Some days I’ll wake up with confidence, telling mum I excused myself to urinate at night, but amidst all that, I could feel the wetness of my clothes. How come? I keep asking and expecting an answer. After much defense, it would dawn on me how it was all my imagination playing tricks with me as it was on my bed I urinated.
I despised it even more when Mum asked me to sun dry my bed because the thought of my friends pointing fingers at me as the girl who urinates on the bed made me feel ashamed. It went on and on until I was able to understand my body and wake up to urinate when nature called. Getting to understand my body started with mum constantly waking me up at intervals every night to urinate.
Bed wetting is a natural phenomenon that comes with a lot of shaming and punishment for kids by parents who forget that children who are bedwetting can’t help it. Funnily enough, some tag it as a spiritual problem. Is it really spiritual like they say?
Your child might be bed wetting due to:
SMALL BLADDER: Your child might be bedwetting because they have not developed their bladder properly. The ability to control urine is in stages. However, children do not develop at the same age. There’s a possibility your child has a smaller bladder that has the average capacity and a higher rate of urine production over night and a higher level of bladder muscle activity.
HORMONAL IMBALANCE: During childhood, some kids do not produce enough antidiuretic hormone, also called ADH. ADH slows down how much urine is made during the night.
FAMILY HISTORY: If one or both of a child’s parents wet the bed as a child, the child has an increased chance of wetting the bed, too.
STRESS AND ANXIETY: Stressful events may trigger bed-wetting. When a child plays too much and is stressed out during the day with involvement in different activities, most of the time it leads to bed-wetting.
DEEP SLEEPING: A child who is a deep sleeper can also be bed wetting. The child finds it difficult to wake up when the urge to urinate comes.
Any of the above could be the reason why that child bed wets, it’s a fallacy to say it’s spiritual. Rather than punish a child who can’t help himself or herself, why not derive methods to help him or her stop bed-wetting? You could do the following to help:
You can help your child master their body at night to help control their urine by:
BLADDER TRAINING: Set up an alarm at intervals to help your child urinate at night. Have the child urinate at least two times at intervals of 30 minutes before going to bed.
FLUID INTAKE: Limit fluid intake hours before bedtime. Make sure the child avoids taking anything fluid be it water, juice, or any caffeinated drinks.
LIMIT SUGARY DRINKS: Reduce the amount of sugary drinks you give to the child, it can irritate the bladder.
BE ENCOURAGING: Appreciate the child on days he goes dry all through the night, encourage and give the child the necessary support needed.
These steps have been proven to be effective and have worked on lots of kids, as there is no drug prescription to stop bed wetting, as it is natural and stops with time.