Dr Catherine
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Girl
4-7 years

Hi Aleks, unfortunately there is no quick fix when it comes to treating children’s bedwetting. Unlike toilet training, which is conscious and deliberate, nighttime bladder control is more dependent on maturation of children’s nervous systems and bladder so it is much more challenging to train a child. I generally recommend to parents that if children continue to wet the bed by the end of kindergarten (first year of school) then it is a good idea to have them checked by a GP just to make sure there is no underlying medical cause. Training at night usually involves the use of a conditioning alarm (also commonly referred to as a bedwetting alarm), this works by helping your daughter learn to recognise the need to pass urine and either wake-up and go to the toilet or learn to hold on until morning. In the meantime you can encourage healthy bladder habits by making sure she drinks water regularly throughout the day (tapering off in the evening), make sure she empties her bladder fully before going to bed and avoid food and drinks that are higher in caffeine (like chocolate) as these tend to stimulate the kidneys to produce larger amounts of urine than normal. All the best! Regards, Dr Cathrine