Bedwetting can be incredibly challenging to manage, particularly when it occurs on a regular basis. There are a number of reasons as to why children continue to wet at night – many of these are developmental in nature with children becoming dry as their bodies mature and become better able at storing urine overnight or learning to wake in response to a full bladder. Some children wet due to physical reasons such as a small bladder capacity or an underlying medical issue so it is always important to rule this out first. While our natural reaction is to reduce children’s fluid intake to try and place less pressure on children’s bladders this unfortunately does quite the opposite. The best course of action is to increase the amount of fluid he drinks throughout the day as this helps train his bladder into learning to store larger amounts of fluid. While it is OK to taper off in the evenings it is important that we do not restrict fluids completely as this places children at risk of becoming dehydrated or constipated – a known contributor to bedwetting. I would also avoid waking him to go to the toilet – as you can see this does not help him to stay dry nor does it give him the opportunity to learn to wake on his own, which is necessary if he is to become dry at night. Have you considered using DryNites to help manage his bedwetting? While these will not help your son to become dry they will reduce the stress associated with coping with his bedwetting and will make things a little easier for you in the short-term. Given his age I would also think about introducing some form of treatment. Bedwetting alarms experience the best outcomes – this needs to be introduced with the support of a continence advisor, so ask your doctor for a referral when you have your son assessed.

Regards,
Dr Cathrine

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