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Effective Bed-wetting Treatments

Reviewed By: Brunilda Nazario,

SOURCES: Steven Parker, MDDirector, Behavioral/Development Pediatrics, Boston Medical CenterWebMD Blog, Healthy ChildrenWebMD Message Board Expert

© 2008 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Narrator:

What are the most effective treatments for bedwetting?

Steven Parker, MD:

There have been studies done and far and away, the most effective treatments for bedwetting are urine alarms. And what happens is when the child begins to wet, the alarm goes off, or a potty pager vibration, wakes the child up, the child then gets up, pees, and then goes back to sleep. And the reason that these are the best treatment of all, is because once it works, and it is a lot of work, and it can takes weeks to months before it actually does the job, once you stop the urine alarm, the child usually remains dry, unlike any other treatment. So urine alarms I think are far and away the best way to go, but the child needs to be motivated to do it. They need to know you're not punishing them. The alarm is their friend. It wakes them up when they are peeing. The parents often have to help them and get up for a while at least, so it's a lot of work. You really need to be committed to it, and you really need to want to do it. But if you're going to pick one way to go, that's the way to go.

Narrator:

Can you describe the process of a urine alarm and how it works?

Steven Parker, MD:

So what happens is there's a sensor in the underpants, and when they get just a little bit wet, the sensor goes off and it creates a buzzing noise or a vibration that will wake the child up. And nobody knows for sure why it works, but for some reason, this seems to help the sleeping brain to learn that you gotta pee, hold it in, or else wake up and go pee in the middle of the night. And some kids don't wake up, they just stop peeing. Others wake up when they have the urge to pee. So, somehow the alarm changes the way the brain deals with this issue in a way that persists, maybe helps it to mature, and persists even when the alarm is gone.

Narrator:

Is the alarm loud?

Steven Parker, MD:

It needs to be for some kids, and in fact, that's why the potty pager was born, because some kids wouldn't wake up for the alarm. The parents might come in and wake them up. But a vibration can wake them up, so sometimes you have to experiment. But, yeah, it's pretty loud. You've got to wake the kid up.

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