How to Build & Work in a Team to Fight Bedwetting

Build a team.

There are many people in your child's life that can help ensure that bedwetting is a solvable and un-stressful problem:

  • Teachers: You do not need to tell your teachers about your child's bedwetting, but you should be in contact with your child's instructors to make sure that your child's grades or social development is not suffering. An alert teacher can also often be your first alert of bullying or teasing that is taking place.

  • Paediatrician: Your child's doctor should be one of your first stops when bedwetting becomes a problem, as your child's pediatrician can run tests to determine whether there are any physical or underlying causes behind the bedwetting.

  • Therapists/Child Psychologists: If your child's grades, self-esteem, or social skills are affected by bedwetting, you may need to help your child develop a team of emotional support. Therapists and others can discuss your child's feelings with him or her and can help your child develop coping strategies for teasing and other problems.

  • Pediatric nephrologists or urologist (kidney or urinary system specialist): In some children, a medical problem such as a badly working urinary sphincter can cause bedwetting. Kidney specialists and urologists can tell you whether your child's urinary system is fine or whether there is some underlying medical problem or physical problem behind the bedwetting.

If bedwetting persists very late (such as into adolescence) or is a nightly problem even by age eight or so, medical or physical reasons should be explored very carefully as they are a likely culprit.

Work with your team

You should choose the specialists who work with your child carefully, choosing those who seem to see the problem in the same light as you, and choosing those whose treatment options agree with you. When looking for health care professionals to treat your child's bedwetting, you will also want professionals who listen to you and your concerns.

Once you have found a team you trust, however, it is just as important that you work effectively with them. This means following instructions to the letter (asking for clarification when needed) and being very frank about other treatments you are using and about which treatments seem to be working and which do not.