Consider bladder control exercise, urination control, visualization & night lifting to stop bedwetting

Give your child hope that the problem is not forever

If your child seems to be doing better, remind him or her again that most people overcome bedwetting with time and notice that their situation seems to improving itself. A child who does not believe that the problem will improve will simply have a harder time with the problem and for such a child the problem will seem larger and more dire than it really is. Help your child see that bedwetting will be resolved and your child will be calmer, happier, and so more able to work with you to get help for Enuresis.

Focus on normal bladder control

Most children who wet the bed have trouble at night. However, a small percentage of children have overactive bladders, which means that they frequently have to go to the bathroom and may even have a hard time controlling their bladder during the daytime. If this describes your child, take him or her to a doctor or urologist to see what treatments are available for your child's overactive bladder.

If your child only has trouble with control over the night, then it may be a good idea to focus on the fact that your child does do well in going to the bathroom during the day. Offer your child encouragement by pointing out that he or she can make it to the bathroom during the day and reassure your child that most people learn to control as well in the night, as well.

Night lifting

Night lifting is a technique that requires the parent to wake up the child in the night. Most children lose control of their bladder at a similar time each night (this is especially true if the child follows the same routine each day). If you can note when each accident occurs, you can set your alarm before this time, wake your child up, and lead them to the bathroom.

You can also try waking yourself and your child up twice a night. In many cases, this helps the child wake dry and encourages the child to keep trying to wake up before they are woken up. However, children may resist waking up in the night, especially if they are tired.

Bladder control exercises

Your doctor may prescribe exercises for your child to help him or her control their bladder more effectively. Some patients with Enuresis benefit from holding their urine as long as possible before releasing. The idea is to keep repeating these exercises in order to help the body develop more control.

Bladder control exercise:

  1. Have your child tell you when he or she has to go during the day.

  2. Explain to your child that you are doing an exercise to help him or her stay dry at night. Have the child hold the urine.

  3. Have your child go to the washroom

  4. Repeat daily, slowly increasing the amount of time you make your child wait.

Urination control exercise

Some doctors find that helping the child control urination helps control the urinary sphincter, or the muscle that holds back or releases urine. This exercise is often used in conjunction with the bladder control exercise and is completely safe.

Urine control exercise:

  1. When your child urinates, have your child stop urinating mid-stream - that is, have your child start urinating and then stop by squeezing the muscles (urinary sphincter) that control the flow of urine.

  2. Have your child start-stop three times.

  3. Repeat process during each bathroom visit.

Some parents find the two exercises above useful. The idea is that the child will control the bladder more effectively during the day, causing the control to be present at night, as well.

In general, these exercises work best with children over the age of six years and those who are willing to work hard to control their bladder. Some small improvement should be visible in about two weeks.

Try visualization

Visualization is a behaviour modification tool that has proven effective in helping people accomplish many things, from waking up without an alarm to quitting smoking. You can use the same technique to help your child overcome bedwetting:

  1. To begin, have your child relax and close their eyes. You should be in a quiet and comfortable room that has few distractions. Your child should be sitting down or lying down. Have your child breathe deeply and relax.

  2. Now, have your child imagine sleeping in their regular bed and in their regular sleep wear.

  3. Next, have then imagine having to go to the washroom. Your child should really imagine the pressure of having to urinate. Ask your child to imagine what it feels like to have to go during the day and have your child imagine that same feeling as vividly as possible in their imagining of the sleep.

  4. Now, have your child imagine waking up and going to the washroom.

Have your child imagine this several times over a period of time. People who use visualization sometimes practice seeing a goal several times a day for weeks. Experts think that visualization works by having the body imagine how things are to be done so precisely and intensely that the body actually accepts the minds visual clues as reality.

The body actually believes what has been visualized is real. If your child imagines waking up in time to go to the bathroom, then, he or she will have set a sort or emotional and mental precedent for doing so in reality. Visualization is especially effective with older children and can be used with other behavior modification techniques. It is very safe and will generally show results in about two weeks.