| Ask Mom: Help with Bedwetting | | Posted on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 6:15am |  I received several posts this week and will answer one today and others in future posts. Please remember that ultimately my wisdom and experience means nothing, but the wisdom that comes from God is life-giving. So I’m asking the Lord to give us wisdom from the greatest counselor of all, the Holy Spirit.
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him, (James 1:5).
Dear "Mom" 
My six-year-old daughter has started wetting the bed again. I have her wearing pull-ups but feel she's getting too old for that. How can I help her to stop bed-wetting????
Thanks,
Rhonda
Dear Rhonda:
Bedwetting, or enuresis, is very common and usually not caused by anything that can be helped. One of our sons struggled with bedwetting until he was almost nine years old. What kept me sane was knowing that his father had the same problem as a child. That fact convinced me that it had to be hereditary and not something our son would “simply grow out of” as the doctor told me.
This advice comes from my own personal experience of asking God how to help several children overcome this problem. We tried everything with our son—from limiting water intake (which does help) to alarm pads. Just as something seemed to work and we thought this “phase” had ended, it would start up again.
Sleep Disorder
Recent studies have shown that it is definitely hereditary and not really a bladder problem, but a sleep disorder. You cannot grow out of a sleep disorder, but you can change sleeping patterns. Even today our grown sons struggle with their sleeping patterns and my husband has sleep apnea (stops breathing in his sleep). I share this to help you understand that it’s not your fault or your child’s. I learned from experience, blaming yourself or the child will only make it worse.
Heavenly Wisdom
In desperation I prayed, and God showed us that our son had difficulty falling to sleep, partially because of worrying about bedwetting, but then went into a really deep sleep, in which it was hard to wake him. He even often slept through the mild shock of the alarm pad!
The solution? During this deep sleep I woke the child up, the best I could, and walked him to the bathroom. We established a consistent bedtime at 8:30 and then took him to the bathroom around 10:30. I also took him early in the morning before he woke up on his own, but still in a deep sleep pattern. After many months of this, he started developing this habit on his own and waking up before wetting the bed. I’ve used the same technique successfully with several children.
I hope this bit of wisdom is helpful. Don’t lose heart. Pray with your daughter—that always helped our children in this issue. God created her fearfully and wonderfully—including her sleep patterns.
Post a comment if you want to share your own experiences with this issue.
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