Bedwetting : Causes, Prevention and Home Remedies

Bedwetting is involuntary urination in children over 5 to 6 years old. It may occur at any time of the day or night. Children develop complete control over their bladders at different ages. Nighttime dryness is usually the last stage of toilet learning.

Bedwetting in children may be due to immature nervous system due to which the child is not able to feel that his bladder is full. Sometimes it is also because of small bladder due to which the bladder is not able to hold all the urine produced during the night. In a very rare case it may be due to some defects in the urinary system.

Some medical conditions like urinary tract infection, constipation, diabetes, sickle-cell anemia, or epilepsy may also cause bedwetting. Hormonal factors, wherein there is inadequate antidiuretic hormone. This hormone reduces the amount of urine produced by the kidneys. It is also because of spinal cord abnormalities,genetic factors or deep sleep.

There are things that you can do at home to remove the bedwetting habit of your child. Some of these remedies will take longer duration to correct the bedwetting habits of your child.

. Give your kid six to eight oz. of cranberry juice, an hour before going to bed.

. Eat two walnut halves and one tsp raisins before going to the bed.

. Give massage inner thigh of your kid with St. John’s wort oil.

. A grown up kid should be asked to practice retention control by postponing urination during the day. She or he should do it first by a few minutes and then by eventually increased amounts of time.

. Take your kid in the bathroom before taking them to bed. Just throw water on their legs and they will urinate. This way you will be sure that their urinary bladder is empty when they are going to bed.

. Another home remedy for bedwetting is give a drink of herbal tea made from herbs like oak bark, horsetail, wormwood or bearberry.

. Avoid giving soft drinks and tea to your children. As these things will make them go to urinate more often than needed.

. Once you know that your kid is regular in wetting the bed, then make it a daily routine to take your kid to bathroom once again in the night.

. Kids sometime fear the dark and avoid going to the bathroom. For this reason make sure that you keep the nightlight on in your kid's room.

. Reward your child for dry nights.It is most useful in younger children, about 5 to 8 years old.

. Take some barks of parsley and give them to your child to either suck or chew, as it is well known remedy to avoid bedwetting.

. Give your kid herbal orange blossom honey at night before going to bed as it will help to stop bedwetting.

. One should eat about 2-3 bananas daily to cure the problem.

. Avoid sweets,chocolates, meat and artificial additives.

. Boil 4-5 dry dates in 1 1/2 cup of milk-ensure to remove the seeds. Crush them a bit and give this to your kid at night before going to bed.

. Calcium and magnesium supplements control bladder spasms, vitamin A helps in normal functioning of the bladder, zinc improves bladder function as well as the immune system.

. Do not scold your child or make him/her feel that this is their fault as it most definitely is not.

. This is often a sensitive issue for children so do not joke about it with friends or family.

Along with the use of these remedies, there is immense need for family support. Parent’s patience and love would surely help the child get through this condition.
Sometimes the reason behind bedwetting can be serious too. Hence it is better to consult your doctor and take his help.



~source:ncbi.nlm.nih.gov~