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Dr Catherine
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Girl
8-15 years

My son wets the bed every night. He wears pullups and every night he wets through these and his bedding. We have tried bed wetting alarms (he sleeps through them) Medication - He has to take double the dose and they may sometimes be effective Chiropractor treatment Currently trying acupunture - no changes yet As far as i am aware he drinks enough during the day. We limit liquids from dinner time on, He goes to the toilet before bed. Where are we going wrong?? He is extremely embarassed by it now, and I am almost at the end of my patience

Bedwetting can be incredibly frustrating particularly when you feel like you have tried it all and still your child continues to wet at night. Unfortunately when it comes to the conditioning alarm the success rate sits around 75% meaning it does not work with everyone. About 10-15% individuals experience some relapse after the first cycle of use – when this happens you need to reintroduce the alarm treatment although you will find that you become dry much quicker the second time around. For some people it can take up to 3 cycles of treatment - with each cycle lasting for approximately 16 weeks - so it is important not to give up if it at first it does not seem to work. While medication on its own is not very successful, sometime medication combined with the alarm treatment can enhance the chances of experiencing a positive outcome. There are some more alternative methods that have met with different degrees of success. Please keep in mind however that these have not received the same level of research support as conditioning alarms or medications. Hypnotherapy has been successfully used to help individuals either hold their urine overnight or wake up and go to the toilet. This can be used on its own or in combination with the conditioning alarm. Your best point of contact for hypnotherapy is the Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association http://www.ahahypnotherapy.org.au/, which has branches in each state. They also have a free advisory line: 1800 067 557. Some individuals who wet the bed may benefit from restricting certain foods from their diet. Dairy, citrus and a diet high in sugar have all been linked with a higher risk of bedwetting, There are a number of ways you can try and determine whether food intolerances are contributing to your bedwetting. The easiest (and safest) approach would be to visit a Naturopath. They may recommend you begin an elimination diet, which involves removing all foods from your diet that could be affecting your bedwetting and then you carefully reintroduce the foods, one at a time. While it is not recommended we restrict fluid completely - tapering off in the evening or stopping drinking just before bed combined with the conditioning alarm has experienced some increased success. Fingers crossed!!Kind Regards,