We recently discovered that High Fructose Corn Syrup makes my son Bed Wet. He’s 5 and was clearly unable to control it. He has been pottying well now for a couple years, but then we let him have a wider range of Halloween candy this year and he started wetting the bed each night and sometimes during the day. Sometimes reactions can be to a food or additive that the child has eaten before with no trouble. I hear people say that dairy can cause this issue too.
I think what I’d do about the wetting is be very matter of fact about it. Not punishing, not reprimanding, not shaming. No drama. Just say something like “Oh, I see you need a change.” and then help her deal with it. If it’s attention she’s wanting, you can address that need more directly.
If you determine that it’s not a physical problem, maybe you can ask your child she feels about it, and what you can do to help her? Offer some solutions (I’ll remind you every 1/2 hour or so and make sure we always have extra underwear and pants with us) ask her to come up with some of her own. Try and give your kid lots of control over this. You might want to start treating pullups as a tool that your kid can use when she/he needs to instead of a punishment for wetting her underwear as some nurses seems to suggest. Don’t shame as this will eventually wear on her self esteem.
2 responses so far ↓
1 ananga // Dec 3, 2007 at 8:07 pm
again, wonderful advice. my 4.5 has recently begun wetting his bed again during the night. we don’t eat HFC, however. we don’t eat any sugar, actually because we see what the results of a diet full of artficial colors/flavours and sugars can be. and yes, I totally agree with you about allowing the child to wear night-time underwear. they are children and need to be nurtured not punished.
be well,
ananga
2 Heather // Dec 7, 2007 at 4:08 am
My oldest two both struggle with bedwetting as well as with a variety of food allergies. We have yet to pinpoint one that triggers it but we have found that by giving them food enzymes and having them wear pullups each night they have less accidents and often will go a few days between wettings. Allergies definitely have an effect on sleep and bedwetting–in fact after talking to our pediatrician we found that sleep apnea is also linked to it. In Rachel’s case she doesn’t breath right due to her allergies and dealing with them helps her have dry pants.
I guess I should mention that our children have a diet with zero preservatives and dyes and low sugar due to the oldest’s seizure disorder which is triggered by her severe food allergies to preservatives and dyes.
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