Jasmine is my 3rd child and first to my second husband. She has a little brother who is 5 and my youngest from my 1st marriage is 17 and lives with us. Taught my son to become dry at night when we were living in Taranaki (she was also). I was working early early mornings, during the day, and milkings at night. When Jas started school I wasn't there to help her get ready for school my teenager did. I would pick her up. She started wetting after starting school. She had probs fitting in and didn't help when she broke her arm badly and had operations. We moved to Bay of Plenty and didn't like her teacher and the farm hours were worse for us. This year she likes school and has come away in leaps and bounds. We have moved to a farm down Palmerston North and try to spend time with kids as much as possible. She and her brother fight, in fact whole household gets like that quite a bit. Kids fight for attention. My husband and I have become frustrated by her wetting and with each other over what we can do to stop it.
Hi Diana – bedwetting can be incredibly challenging for the whole family, not just the child who wets the bed. The first thing to understand about bedwetting is that it is not your fault – bedwetting is not the result of poor parenting skills. Your daughter’s wetting would be considered secondary nocturnal enuresis, which describes the condition where a child returns to nighttime wetting after at least 6 months of nighttime continence. While there are underlying medical issues such as chronic constipation, urinary tract infections and juvenile diabetes (which need to be ruled out first), psychological stress is also a potential cause. Common stressors for young children include starting school, difficulties with peers, hospitalization – all things that your daughter experienced in a very short timeframe. While family disharmony can also cause a return to wetting, this is usually in extreme instances where there is abuse, or constant marital arguments, everyday arguments between siblings is less of an issue. Often when stress is a contributing factor you can find children stop wetting when they begin to feel more secure and less anxious although for some the bedwetting can continue. In these instances the treatment for secondary bedwetting is similar as for children who have always wet. Conditioning alarm treatments continue to experience the best outcomes – success is highly dependent on correct instruction as well as the level of support you receive from a continence nurse advisor or other professional so do not try to go it alone. All the best!
Regards,
Dr Cathrine
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