- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- preschoolers today articles
- preschoolers today q&a
- children today articles
- children today q&a
- message boards
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
 |
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Catch Some Zzz's!
Getting to Sleep Despite Bedwetting
By Amy Carey-Bowman
For children who wet the bed, just hitting the sack earlier may not be enough to ensure a proper night's rest. Bedwetting is a particularly challenging interruption to a good night of sleep because children are not able to control this condition. According to the GoodNites® brand study, less than half of parents can identify the leading causes of bedwetting. Some parents think their children just don't want to get up in time to avoid wetting the bed or that they are drinking too much before bed. But bedwetting is often caused by an underdeveloped bladder, or the child may have inherited the condition from one of his parents.
Terri Nelson, a mom of two young boys in Cupertino, Calif., has tried limiting her son's fluid intake before bed to help him avoid accidents at night. "My son has milk with dinner and a sip of water after he brushes his teeth," she says. "That is all he gets to drink after 6 o'clock." However, Nelson's son still wets at night despite their efforts.
Because there may be little your child can do to avoid wetting the bed, a positive step toward making sure he gets enough rest is to find ways to make bedwetting manageable. In the past, Nelson tried getting up in the night to take her 4-year-old son to the bathroom before he had a chance to we the bed, but he was difficult to awaken. "Sleep is very important to our family," Nelson says. "There is a huge difference in myself as well as my children when we don't get enough sleep."
