Bedwetting is a condition in which a child involuntarily urinates during sleep. It is normal for your child to urinate while asleep till the age of five years. Normally, with age, children gain bladder control. 10%-15% of children continue bedwetting at five years, and 6%-8% continue bedwetting until age eight. It gradually decreases to 1% to 2% by the time children reach 15 years of age. Boys are mostly likely to bed wet as compared to girls.
Occasional bedwetting is a normal occurrence in your child’s growing-up process. However, it is a health concern if your child continues to urinate in bed during sleep even after bladder control has fairly been achieved.
Bedwetting can lead to embarrassment and social awkwardness for the parents. If your child has bedwetting issues, it could be due to increased urine production at night, poor sleep awakening, decreased bladder capacity, or increased urine frequency in daytime with urine incontinence or urgency.
It’s important to know the cause of bedwetting to treat it. Medical treatment is available for children who have bedwetting. If left untreated, bedwetting affects your child’s self-esteem and negatively affects their social development. Homeopathy for bedwetting helps treat the condition naturally and is safe for use in children.
Role of homeopathy in bedwetting
Bedwetting can be treated effectively with the help of homeopathic medicines. These medicines correct the root cause of bedwetting. This helps your child gain control over their urinary bladder and keep the bed dry.
Top five homeopathic medicines for bedwetting
Equisetum hyemale (Equis-h.)
Common name: Scouring rush
Equisetum is commonly prescribed for treatment for bedwetting in children without any pathological cause. They have developed a habit of bedwetting at night during sleep. This medicine works well in cases of bedwetting due to nightmares and frightful dreams.
Kreosote (Kreos.)
Common name: Beechwood kreosote
Kreosote is suited for bedwetting in children with deep sleep. The child passes urine while in deep sleep, and it is difficult to awaken them. Kreosote yields good results in children who urinate frequently, even during the day. They have difficulty in controlling their bladder and rush to the bathroom when they get an urge. There is presence of red or white sediments in the urine and foul-smelling urine.
Acidum benzoicum (Benz.)
Common name: Benzoic acid
Benzoic acid is used to treat bedwetting with foul, offensive-smelling urine. The urine often leaves brown stains on the bed sheet.
Cina maritima (Cina)
Common name: Work seed
Cina is indicated in children who have bedwetting due to worms. The child may exhibit symptoms of worms like grinding of teeth during sleep, crying, or shrieking. They often get scared during sleep. Cina is indicated where urine is turbid, white, and turns milky on standing.
Causticum (Caust.)
Common name: Hahnemann’s Tinctura acris sine Kali
Causticum is recommended for unconscious bedwetting during the first part of the night. Bedwetting in these children gets better in the summer and worsens in the winter. These children are. The child is weak and lacks control over the bladder.
Urine leaks on blowing their nose, coughing, laughing, or sneezing. This remedy is suited for bedwetting due to paralysis of the bladder and weakness of muscles.
Causes of bedwetting
Delayed bladder maturation
If your child’s neurological development is delayed, it can lead to bedwetting. In this condition, your child may be delayed in learning to stay dry. However, there is no underlying pathology here.
Genetics
Kids have a genetic predisposition to bedwetting. If a child’s biological parents have suffered from bedwetting, they have an increased risk of having nocturnal enuresis.
Hormonal imbalance
A low antidiuretic hormone (ADH) makes the kidneys produce less urine during the day. However, this increases the chances of more urine secretion at night. This could be beyond your child’s bladder-holding capacity.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Children with ADHD have an increased risk of bedwetting. This is because they have difficulties regulating their bladder function, leading to more instances of bedwetting. Sleep disturbances are associated with ADHD that contributes to an increase in bedwetting.
Bladder capacity
Children or adults with smaller functional bladder capacity may have a higher chance of bedwetting. Although their bladder size is normal, they feel it is full even when there is capacity to hold more.
Caffeine
Caffeinated drinks act as diuretics and can increase urine production.
Constipation
If your child is constipated, it can lead to bedwetting due to the loaded bowel exerting pressure on your child’s bladder.
Urinary tract infection (UTI)
UTIs from bacteria or viruses can affect your child’s bladder control and lead to bedwetting.
Psychological issues
Emotional issues like fear, stress, anxiety, death in the family, sexual abuse, bullying, scolding, and sadness can cause bedwetting in your child. This becomes less over time and after counseling.
Type 1 diabetes mellitus
Diabetes type 1 can cause polyuria in children resulting in bedwetting.
Deep sleep
When your child is in deep sleep, their brain does not get the signal that the bladder is full, leading to bedwetting.
Symptoms of bedwetting
By the age of five, most kids are fully toilet trained. However, this is not a fixed age; some kids gain complete bladder control between five and eight years.
The most obvious symptom of bedwetting is your kid waking up with wet pajamas or wet sheets from urine. Most kids only know they have wet the bed after the act.
Although it’s a physical condition, bedwetting can take an emotional toll on your child. Your kid may feel embarrassed or ashamed. Other mental symptoms associated with bedwetting include:
- Increased irritability and embarrassment related to bedwetting
- Trying to hide their wet clothes or sheets from others
- Disturbed sleep and fatigue
- Unexplained mood swings and behavioral changes
- Social withdrawal
- Avoid sleeping at different places other than their home to avoid bedwetting that can happen around others.
Treatment for bedwetting
Treatment for bedwetting varies depending on the cause. Treatment options include:
Medications
The following medications are often used alone or along with behavioral techniques to treat bedwetting:
Desmopressin
Desmopressin is the artificial version of the hormone vasopressin. It causes the kidneys to produce less urine. Desmopressin acts by lowering sodium levels in children.
Oxybutynin
Oxybutynin, or tolterodine, is a medication for treating an overactive bladder. It acts by reducing your child’s bladder contractions.
Imipramine
Imipramine prevents bedwetting by increasing brain signals to your child’s bladder.
Solifenacin
Solifenacin is an anticholinergic medication. It controls nerve impulses to prevent an overactive bladder.
Trospium chloride
Trospium chloride helps your child’s bladder relax by blocking muscle cell receptors on the bladder wall. It prevents bladder over-activity.
Diet and lifestyle changes for bedwetting
Limit fluids before bed
Do not give your kid anything to drink for at least two hours before going to bed. Ensure your child drinks plenty of fluids during the day. This doesn’t always stop bedwetting, but it can reduce the quantity of urine produced at night.
Urinating before going to bed
Ensure your child urinates and empties his bladder before bedtime. Have your child urinate even if they don’t have the urge or desire to pass urine. Make it a habit to urinate or sit on the toilet and empty their bladder a few minutes before sleeping.
Setting an alarm
An enuresis alarm is a device that vibrates or makes a loud noise to awaken you or your child when its wetness is detected. This device has a sensor that triggers the alarm on sensing wetness so that you can wake your child and make them urinate in the bathroom.
Over time, your kid will learn to wake up when there is the sensation of a full bladder. Your child will eventually learn to sleep through the night without bedwetting. It takes several months to be successful.
Bladder therapy
This approach gradually increases your child’s bladder’s functional capacity. This helps them wait for a long time before going to the bathroom. Increasing the duration between bathroom visits helps enlarge the child’s bladder and allows them to hold more urine.
Conclusion
Bedwetting is a harmless condition commonly seen in children. However, children and parents often feel embarrassed about it. Homeopathic medicines and behavioral changes can help children with bedwetting.
References
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