Hi Shannon – helping your child to achieve nighttime continence can present many challenges but the outcome is incredibly rewarding! Bedwetting is unique to each child, for some it is a result of a small bladder, other children wet their bed because they are unable to wake in response to signals sent from their bladder to their brain. Your first course of action should be to make an appointment with your GP so that they can run some tests. Underlying medical causes are rare but it is important to rule these out first. When it comes to treatment, conditioning alarms are considered the safest and most effective way of stopping bedwetting. Alarms have a sensor that when wet sets off an alarm that is designed to wake-up your daughter. If your daughter is a particularly sound sleeper you will need to help her to wake at first. Before purchasing one of these it is important to discuss your individual needs with a continence advisor or pediatrician as the more support and guidance you receive the greater the likelihood of a successful outcome. In the meantime, it is important to reassure your daughter that this is not her fault. Bedwetting that extends into the later childhood and early adolescent years can be very damaging to children’s self-esteem and self-confidence, the more support and encouragement she receives, the better she will feel about herself in the long-term.

Regards,
Dr Cathrine

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