Bedwetting

My nine-year-old wets the bed

Treatment for bedwetting child

Question

My 11-year-old son has suffered from night incontinence since birth. The rest of the day he can control himself for up to eight hours.

What is the best way to treat him?

Answer

Bedwetting is a common problem in children. At the age of five, more than one in six children still wet the bed, at age 10 it's 1 in 20 and even in adulthood 1 in 100 still suffers from this problem.

A child is more likely to suffer from bedwetting if one or both of their parents had the same problem when they were young.

It's now thought that children can inherit a gene from a parent that makes them more likely to suffer from bedwetting which may explain why the problem can run in families.

Thankfully bedwetting often improves as a child gets older and there are treatments available which can help children remain dry at night.

You details show that your son is taking the medicine Ditropan oxybutynin, so I presume that either your GP or a doctor at an enuresis clinic has started him on this treatment. This drug is often used when it is thought that the underlying problem is one of 'bladder instability' meaning that the bladder muscles contract at times when you don't want them to (for example during the night), causing incontinence of urine.

Oxybutynin works by reducing the unstable bladder contractions, thereby allowing the bladder to hold larger amounts before emptying itself. If this drug doesn't seem to be working very effectively you should have a chat to the doctor who prescribed it. The dose of the drug may need to be increased or a different drug tried.

Although it must be very difficult coping with a bedwetting problem that has been going on for 11 years, one of the most important things you can do to help your son is not to blame or punish him for his problem. This is likely to make children feel even more guilty and ashamed of the bedwetting than they already are, and can make the problem worse.

It really isn't his fault, so if you can view it like that it may help you to cope without getting angry at your son.

I'm sure you could do with support yourself in trying to deal with your son's problem, so if he hasn't already been referred to an enuresis clinic you could ask your GP if there is one in your area, or you could contact the Enuresis Information and Resource Centre (known as E.R.I.C.); their website is at www.eric.org.uk.

Yours sincerely

The Medical Team

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