Child Health
Bed wetting not unusual for children
Sometimes, children might have certain problems that may create embarrassing situation to the parents. They do not like to share the problem with relatives and friends even. Few days back, a mother came to me with a boy of eight years old having apparently no problem. Her mother told me that her child wet bed every night. She was tired of cleaning beds and linens every day. She sought help from doctor before and showed me the prescription along with laboratory investigation reports. All of them were normal. This type of story is not very uncommon. We diagnose the problem as Enuresis.
By definition, Enuresis is the involuntary discharge of urine after the age at which bladder control should have been established — usually at 5 years of age. The prevalence of enuresis at age 5 years is 7 percent for males and 3 percent for females. At age 10 years, it is 3 percent for males and 2 percent for females and at 18 years, it is 1 percent for male and extremely rare in females.
Causes of this condition may be genetic or familial, sleep disorder, psychological problem, some congenital anomaly of the urinary tract, delayed neurological maturation etc. Sometimes causes are obscured.
Positive motivation is one of the best way to solve the problem, such as emptying bladder before going to bed, wake up the baby and do emptying of bladder again while the parents go to bed, keeping the chart of wet and dry nights and reward for the dry nights and not punishing your child for wetting bed. Bladder exercise, behavioural modification, enuresis alarm and drug therapy may be needed.
As it is not an unusual problem do not get panic, have patience and follow the doctor's advice.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments