it is not unusual for your daughter to be wetting the bed at night – with about 10% of 7-year-old children continuing to do so. Most children her age will outgrow this on their own – with a decrease in the frequency of wetting one of the earliest signs that dry nights are on their way! What is most important is how we manage this phase so that it does not impact on her self-esteem or self-confidence. It is important to remember that the bedwetting is not her fault – she does not do this out of laziness or for attention. It’s great that she is willing to wear absorbent pants at night – many parents find the most frustrating part of the whole bedwetting experience is dealing with the constant washing of bed linen. You could perhaps try using DryNites instead of nappies as these are more suitable for older children – they encourage independent behaviour as children are able to put them on themselves. When it comes to formal treatments, consistency is the key – so unless she is adopting similar strategies while with her father any attempts that you make are probably not going to be particularly successful. There is however a few simple strategies you can try. Firstly, avoid waking her at night as this will not teach her to wake on her own. Encourage her to drink lost of fluid (preferably water) during the day as this promotes healthy bladder activity – avoid sugary and caffeinated drinks as this only stimulates the kidneys to produce greater amounts of urine. Make sure she fully empties her bladder each time she uses the toilet and stop those ‘just in case’ visits. Make sure when she goes to bed that she is not overtired as this will only make it more difficult to wake-up in response to a full bladder.

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