More Water, Not Less, Will Help End Bedwetting

Children are notoriously bad at drinking enough liquids. They are sobusy playing they sometimes 'forget' to drink. Sometimes, childrenseem like camels - able to go for ages without having a drink.Obviously, when they are thirsty they will rush indoors for a drink.But often they look for sugary, caffeine-laden drinks which are greatfor quenching thirst, but do little for the body's fluid levels.

That's because the caffeine in many drinks leads to extra urination.The result is that more liquid goes out of the body than is taken in.And therein lies a problem. Your child's body has inbuiltmechanisms to maintain the liquid levels. A lack of liquid intake,combined with the effects of caffeine in fluid output, means yourchild's body requires more liquids to maintain the right balance. Inother words, their body starts to demand more liquid.

That demand for extra liquids usually starts at the worst possibletime - early evening. Your child is home from school or from a dayplaying with friends and they suddenly want a drink. They gulpdown whatever you give them and demand more - and more. This isbecause their hydration levels are low and their body's self defensemechanisms have kicked in to ensure that they don't becomedehydrated.

However, the body always takes in more than it actually needs -just to be on the safe side. So that excess has to go somewhere. Itis taken out by the kidneys, converted into urine and placed in thebladder for urination. But this can take a few hours to occur. Theresult is that your child's bladder has often not completed fillinguntil after they have gone to bed.

If they have a poorly developed sense of bladder fullness whileasleep, they will simply wet the bed. Many children wet the bed notbecause they drink too much, but because they don't drink enough!

If a child drinks plenty of water during the day, they need lessduring the evening. Also, because their body has had time duringthe day to regulate it's water levels, there is less need for urinatingat night. Hence if a child drinks more during the day, the likelihoodof bed wetting is reduced. Preventing your child from drinking toomuch liquid is actually working against you; it makes bed wettingmore likely.

The problem for many parents is encouraging children to drinkenough water during the day. As ever, changing your child's habitsstarts with changing your own. Start drinking more water yourself -it won't do you any harm! Your child will see you doing this and willnot see water drinking as unusual.

Also, make sure you provide your child with water whenever they goout. Put a bottle of water in their bag and encourage them to drinkit. Equally, raise the issue with school, suggesting that childrenshould be encouraged to drink more. You don't need to mentionyour child's bedwetting - indeed you shouldn't as it will embarrassyour child. However, if you can get your child's school to encouragemore daytime drinking of water you'll be helping the overall health ofthe whole school - as well as reducing bedwetting in your ownchild.

For more information on how to deal with bed wetting and end the misery for your child visit Bed Wetting Info.