Limiting what your child drinks after supper does not help and this common recommendation actually perpetuates the bedwetting!
About 75% of the parents who attend my clinic limit fluids in their bedwetting child. Most of the other 25% of parents experimented with this intervention and decided not to continue.
Some of the parents have limited evening drinking for years and their child still wets every night. “Has this helped,” I ask. “No,” they respond. “Ok,” I respond, "time for a new approach."
I ask the parents to insure that their child drinks every evening. They need the hydration. Optimal hydration is one of the foundations of good health.
The correct approach to hydration in a child with bedwetting is for the child to wake up in the morning and CATCH UP with their personal hydration by drinking LOTS in the morning. I recommend that a child drink about 40% of their recommended daily hydration before lunch. This works out to about 650 to 750 ml (22 to 25 oz) before lunch for an elementary school-aged child. After a child catches up, they should drink as per thirst or activity and they should AWAYS DRINK IN THE EVENING. With this approach the amount of overnight urine production by the kidneys decreases even though the child is allowed to drink in the evening.
Many bedwetting children soak through their pull-up even though their parents limit drinking after supper. If these children are allowed and encouraged to drink in the evenings but if they also appropriately catch up with their hydration by drinking lots in the morning, the soaking through into the sheets goes away! Try it and see.
The reason why limiting fluids perpetuates bedwetting is because this results in poor overnight hydration and this results in solid, pasty or hard poop that the bladder cannot push out of the way. Almost every child with bedwetting has a smaller bladder capacity than average. The bladder is smaller because the bladder cannot push the solid poop out of the way. Mothers understand this concept because during pregnancy their bladder was smaller because the bladder could not push the baby out of the way.
About 75% of the parents who attend my clinic limit fluids in their bedwetting child. Most of the other 25% of parents experimented with this intervention and decided not to continue.
Some of the parents have limited evening drinking for years and their child still wets every night. “Has this helped,” I ask. “No,” they respond. “Ok,” I respond, "time for a new approach."
I ask the parents to insure that their child drinks every evening. They need the hydration. Optimal hydration is one of the foundations of good health.
The correct approach to hydration in a child with bedwetting is for the child to wake up in the morning and CATCH UP with their personal hydration by drinking LOTS in the morning. I recommend that a child drink about 40% of their recommended daily hydration before lunch. This works out to about 650 to 750 ml (22 to 25 oz) before lunch for an elementary school-aged child. After a child catches up, they should drink as per thirst or activity and they should AWAYS DRINK IN THE EVENING. With this approach the amount of overnight urine production by the kidneys decreases even though the child is allowed to drink in the evening.
Many bedwetting children soak through their pull-up even though their parents limit drinking after supper. If these children are allowed and encouraged to drink in the evenings but if they also appropriately catch up with their hydration by drinking lots in the morning, the soaking through into the sheets goes away! Try it and see.
The reason why limiting fluids perpetuates bedwetting is because this results in poor overnight hydration and this results in solid, pasty or hard poop that the bladder cannot push out of the way. Almost every child with bedwetting has a smaller bladder capacity than average. The bladder is smaller because the bladder cannot push the solid poop out of the way. Mothers understand this concept because during pregnancy their bladder was smaller because the bladder could not push the baby out of the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment