Hi Julia – bladder-stretching exercises are fine so long as it does not lead to daytime accidents. There are a number of causes of children’s bedwetting and a small bladder capacity is just one of them. Genetics also plays a large part in children’s bedwetting; you have a much higher incidence of wetting the bed if either or both parents wet the bed as a child. Unfortunately, children do not have as much control over their bladders while asleep, so incentives and rewards that are helpful in achieving daytime continence do not apply here. Conditioning alarms experience the best outcomes when it comes to the treatment of children’s bedwetting – success is highly dependent on how motivated children are to become dry, 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 (particularly with two!). Some parents have experienced success with the use of more alternative treatments like hypnotherapy (which can be used in combination with the conditioning alarm), naturopathy or chiropractic manipulation. Before commencing any form of treatment it is essential that you meet with your GP – this is also important in terms of ruling out any underlying medical cause. In the meantime I would recommend that you use DryNites over Pull-Ups as they are more absorbent therefore less likely to leak, and are designed to be more appealing to older children.

Regards,
Dr Cathrine

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