Parenting Win of the Week: A Solution to Nighttime Bedwetting
Are you and your child struggling with bedtime leaks? We're here to help.
Christopher Hopefitch
It’s amazing how chats with friends are different when you are a parent. Things that you wouldn’t normally discuss become regular topics of conversation. A few years back, my husband and I were catching up with friends at dinner and somehow, we got on the topic of nighttime bedwetting (sexy, I know). Their child had been potty trained forever but still wet the bed at night because he was such a deep sleeper. I was having the same problem with my oldest and the solutions offered by my doctor were to use an alarm system, take medicine to stop his bladder at night, or enroll in a Weight Watchers-style clinic for bedwetting. All of these sounded miserable.
Over appetizers and drinks, we learned that our friends had done extensive research and found this program started by an Israeli doctor, Dr. Sagie, who started a bedwetting clinic. He developed a solution for home use called Therapee. In fact, they recently partnered with a Harvard pediatric urologist and researcher to study nocturnal enuresis (nighttime bedwetting).
Nocturnal enuresis is not uncommon in kids age 7 and above; it seems around 10% are still having problems at night. And there was no surprise we both have boys — it is 2 to 3 times more common in boys than girls.
Of course, always consult your doctor if you think there is a medical issue.
First and foremost, this program is a commitment on your part. You will be waking up in the middle of the night changing sheets for a few weeks, but trust me — it is worth it.
You’ll receive a pad and an alarm that will go off if your child does have an accident in the night. But it goes beyond that. Dr. Sagie will record videos for your child to watch every few weeks. These videos will include different bladder strengthening exercises for them to do, and the best part is, it takes some of the pressure off of you to be the one to tell them what they need to be doing. The program is customized to your kid, so if he or she is dry after a week or two, he/she may have different exercises than a kid who needs a little more. There is also an electronic star chart to fill out daily with incentives when you have multiple dry nights in a row. And if you have any issues, customer service is really quick to help. It took us about 1.5 months before we were fully dry most nights and then the program will continue until you are at a graduating point. All in I would say give it 3 months, but it varies for everyone.
Of course, not everyone has this issue (although I will soon be starting this program with kid #2), but we’ve had a number of friends do the program with their kid after us, all with success.
If this wasn’t coming up in your dinner conversations, perhaps it was something you were researching late at night.
This was certainly a parenting win for us and I hope it can be for some of you, too!
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