For Parents

What causes bedwetting, a problem which affects over 20 million people in the U.S. and millions more throughout the world?

In 99% of all bedwetting cases, the root cause is sleeping so deeply. It is an inherited deep-sleep disorder. The brain sleeps so deeply that when signaled by the bladder that it’s full, the brain cannot respond. The bladder empties involuntarily, and, as a result, symptoms begin to develop, such as an underdeveloped bladder capacity and a weak and desensitized sphincter muscle. (The sphincter muscle is the muscle that holds the urine inside the bladder).

As a result, many children with a bedwetting dilemma suffer from various daytime problems such as immediate "urges" to eliminate, having to go to the bathroom frequently, wetting accidents/leaking during the day, and bowel accidents.

According to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., a survey of 2,000 children in 1999 showed that wetting pants in class was the third biggest fear among school-aged children, just behind losing a parent or going blind

Get The Facts About Bedwetting

• Dr. Diane N. Rosenbaum, a psychologist at the Center to Assist in the Regulation of Enuresis, which is part of Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, said even many pediatricians did not know how to deal with bed-wetting, which is a common problem wth children.
• Frustrated parents are often told "don't worry about bedwetting. They will outgrow it!" A major study in the British Journal of Urology (May 2006) concludes that many children will never outgrow bedwetting - unless they get help.
• If a seven-year old wets every night,they will almost never stop without getting proper help. This study found that if a seven-year old is wetting just one or two nights per week, he has a 96% chance of wetting until at least age 15. If they wet three to six times, they have a 76% chance of wetting until at least age 19.

Will my child outgrow bedwetting?
Being told your child will outgrow bedwetting is one of the most unfortunate pieces of advice possible.

Not only is it entirely uncertain whether one will outgrow bedwetting--we see plenty of late teen and adult bedwetters who understand this fact all too well.

• If one were to outgrow bedwetting, then they are left with the sleep disorder that caused the bedwetting in the first place.
• Other symptoms of the sleep disorder can look like sleep apnea, sleepwalking, night terrors, even insomnia.
• For this reason, we see bedwetting as a "wonderful opportunity," so we can gain access to the serious underlying issue.

Moreover, bedwetting can be an assault on a child's self-esteem, even though parents often do their best to minimize the situation. Very often the bedwetting child will suffer silently…just because they don't talk about it doesn’t mean it doesn’t bother them. A bedwetter's greatest fear is being "discovered,” which often causes them to withdrawal or to harbor a secret to avoid being teased or humiliated. They'll even deliberately avoid participating in exciting childhood activities such as camp or sleepovers with friends. Ultimately, the longer bedwetting goes untreated, the greater the potential for psychological and emotional trauma.

Parents, you know your children. Let us answer some of your questions and address your concerns:

Why does the Enuresis Treatment Center succeed when other methods fail to cure bedwetting?

Most of the parents of our patients have tried many types of treatment, including alarms and drugs, and have come to us after years of failure, frustration, and disappointment. Our program focuses on reconditioning or changing the deep-sleep pattern, giving children the following advantages:

• 100% dry nights
• Increased ability to focus
• Dramatic improvement in grades
• Waking up refreshed
• Boost to self-esteem and social interactions
• Ability to attend sleepovers and camp
• Elimination of ADD/ADHD medication

Find out How Our Program Works

See Important Don'ts

Symptoms related to bedwetting:

Many children begin to experience a challenge in school caused by unhealthy deep sleep. For some, it starts early, and for others it becomes noticeable as the school work becomes more challenging. Often the symptoms are similar to those associated with ADD/ADHD, (hyperactivity, socializing at inappropriate times, not being able to focus, and having a difficult time concentrating).

Actually, many of our patients had been previously diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, and after our bedwetting treatment, the symptoms often disappeared. The deep sleep that the bedwetting experience is derived from is an oxygen-deprived, unhealthy sleep. It is because of this that many bedwetting children have symptoms similar to those of ADD/ADHD.

What does NOT cause bedwetting?
Psychological problems, laziness, drinking fluids before bedtime, toilet training mistakes, and poor parenting skills do not cause bedwetting.

What does NOT work to cure bedwetting?
Drugs - Alarms - Pull-Ups or Goodnights - Restricting Fluids - Taking to the bathroom in the middle of the night- Punishment - Reward Systems - Psychotherapy - Medical Procedures - Hypnosis - Changes in Diet - Allergy Treatment - Chiropractic Adjustments.