As a family: fighting bedwetting

You can count on me

Sharing this common experience with her daughter Katie, Marsha is able to offer her comfort and support. Marsha says her daughter often suffers from bedwetting, but rather than getting angry with her, she takes a gentle and calm approach when comforting her. “I remembered at first that the doctor said to take it one day at a time,” she says. “I found that difficult because I realized I was getting angry and upset when an accident happened. That’s not the right way to do it. Don’t get carried away. Remember that it’s not your fault, and it’s not your child’s.”

Marsha says the social stigma of bedwetting is the biggest challenge her daughter faces. She avoids sleepovers with her friends because she's afraid they'll find out about her bedwetting. "It's a real problem because she wants to go to sleepovers at her friends' houses, but she's afraid someone will discover it," Marsha says. "She hides her problem, and it's very upsetting for her."

We'll try anything

To help her daughter cope with bedwetting, Marsha has spent the last three years researching the subject, consulting different doctors, and trying various treatments. Most doctors suggest that Katie's bedwetting will disappear with age. "We've tried everything, and I've consulted many doctors who have all told us the same thing: children who have had kidney problems usually wet the bed," says Martha. "Most doctors tell us it's likely to last until Katie is 10 or 11, but in my research, I've read that for some children, it lasts into adolescence. I hope that won't be the case for us."

Unfortunately for Katie, traditional bedwetting treatments haven't worked. "We've tried everything, from avoiding caffeine and not drinking anything after 6 p.m., to cranberry supplements and waking her up in the middle of the night," says Marsha. "We've put alarm clocks in her room, but she still wets the bed. We even tried a psychological approach, asking her to take off the wet sheets herself and put them in the wash. The bedwetting hasn't gone away—for her, it's a medical problem that no doctor can explain."

Thank goodness for disposable underwear and pads!

Despite unsuccessful attempts to stop Katie's bedwetting, Marsha remains optimistic and believes her daughter's problem will lessen with time. She is grateful for disposable underwear, which saves her from having to replace expensive mattresses and change sheets every night. "We've already replaced an entire bed, so at least the disposable underwear helps Katie stay dry," she says. "They save the bed and ease my daughter's emotional distress. Disposable underwear or pads are a blessing for us."

While bedwetting is perfectly normal during childhood, we have chosen to change the names of individuals in our articles to protect their privacy. Remember that, according to the National Kidney Foundation, more than five to seven million children over the age of five wet the bed in the United States.