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In the U.K. 1 in 12 5-19 years olds suffer from bladder and bowel conditions that include bedwetting, daytime wetting, constipation and soiling.
Wetting the bed can affect a person’s self-esteem and have a big impact on family life, but it can be treated. For many years it was thought that children would ‘grow out’ of wetting the bed, but we now know that for many children and young people that will not happen until late childhood or early teens. Without treatment it can sometimes last into adulthood
There are two main reasons why children and young people wet the bed:
We also know that all children and young people who wet the bed have a problem with waking up during the night when their bladders are full and they need to go to the toilet.
Children and young people often do not drink enough in the day especially when they are at nursery or school and so drink too much before they go to bed; many who wet the bed are also constipated. Children and young people rarely have a medical reason for wetting and children with additional or special needs can be supported to become dry.
In Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin we run clinics for those aged 5 years and over who wet the bed. Each individual is fully assessed and treatments including drinking 1-2 litres of fluid spread throughout the day, a bedwetting alarm to help them wake when wetting at night or medication to reduce the amount of urine (wee) produced at night.
For a referral to the enuresis (bedwetting) clinic please ring 03333583654
There is also information and leaflets to download from:
ERIC UK https://www.eric.org.uk/Pages/Category/bedwetting
Bladder and Bowel UK https://www.bbuk.org.uk/children-young-people/children-resources/
