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Catch Some Zzz's!
Getting to Sleep Despite Bedwetting
By Amy Carey-Bowman
If you're like most parents, bedtime can be a struggle: a struggle to get kids settled down at a reasonable time, a struggle to make sure everyone in the family gets enough sleep and a struggle to work around obstacles such as bedwetting while trying to ensure kids are well rested in the morning.
According to a study conducted in 2004 by the GoodNites® brand, based on an online survey conducted by Impulse Research Corporation, nearly two-thirds of the parents surveyed said their children sometimes have a difficult time winding down and getting to sleep at night. And for parents of kids who wet the bed, getting kids to sleep is only half the battle. So what can you do if interruptions such as bedwetting are preventing you and your child from getting enough rest?
Most of us are aware that sleep is important. But why is it important? And how much should kids be getting at night?
"Sleep is a basic need to enable all aspects of functioning, such as emotional regulation, behavior control, motivation, attention, memory and learning," says Dr. Tracy Kuo, staff psychologist at The Stanford University Sleep Disorders Clinic. "Sleep-deprived children are not ready to learn and are not in optimal condition to regulate their behavior and mood."
According to Dr. Kuo, children ages 6 to 10 need about 10 hours of sleep a night. Interruptions to these hours of sleep can be detrimental to your child. "Uninterrupted sleep means that children will avoid common sleep loss effects such as daytime drowsiness, irritability and difficulty focusing and concentrating," says Dr. Clete A. Kushida, director of the Stanford University Center for Human Sleep Research.
Evaluate your child's behavior to see if interruptions such as bedwetting might be preventing him from getting enough sleep. Dr. Kuo says to look for difficulty waking in the morning to go to school and/or being sleepy and lethargic at school. "Some kids' [behavior] can manifest [as] inattention, impulsivity, irritability and hyperactivity," she says. In addition, if you notice your child takes a nap after school, sleeps late on the weekends or becomes drowsy while riding in the car, he may require more sleep on a daily basis.