[nancynic]

Bedwetting is not a psychological problem. It does not mean a child is too lazy to get up, is using bedwetting as a control issue, or is manipulating the family. Misunderstandings about bedwetting have kept it from being seen as a medical problem. Bedwetting is a malfunction of the bladder-brain communication system. The child sleeps so deeply that the bladder overfills and wetting occurs.

[Keana]

It's interesting to read your post re: betting not being psychological. My siblings and I grew up in an abusive home, both verbally and sometimes physically. We spent much of our childhoods 'fearing' the stepmother. My little brother had a huge problem with bedwetting until he was about nine. Oddly enough, when we spent those 2 weekends a month with mum, as Dad had full custody, my bro hardly ever wet the bed. I always thought it was stress and fear. hmmm...maybe not?

Keana

[Jensboys]

Keana ... in cases of abuse etc ... yes wetting can occur HOWEVER I also have a 6 year old son that is the sweetest, most gently kid ever growing up in a happy home (if I may say so myself) and he only really wets at home. When we are on vacation, visiting friends etc he NEVER wets. Uts been this way since he was two ... he can sleep through a nuclear attack - I mean he has been thrown up on, stepped on, fallen out of bed and NEVER woken up during the night. However, when we are not at home, particularly for the first night or two, he is much more conscious of where he is and doesnt sleep as soundly. As soon as he "is comfortable" he again sleeps in his close-to-coma state and pees blissfully in his pull-up.

[BrandyHagz]

Hmmm.

I also thought stress and stuff could be a contributing factor in bedwetting. When I married my husband in Nov 2000, my son and I relocated to North Carolina from Texas. It was the first time that my son had been away from his “family” (my dad and step mom) and he took it really hard.

For about the first 3 months we were in North Carolina, he would wet almost nightly. I even took him for a number of tests…because it concerned me. All tests, including a contrasting bladder MRI, came back ok. We never “found the answer” to my son’s bedwetting…it just stopped as suddenly as it started. He has been dry since.

I had been a bed wetter as a child and suffered the wrath of an abusive adoptive mother because of it. I did have a medical problem that caused my bedwetting, and got it repaired when I was 6.

I still think it was psychological for my son…he had never been away from the grandparents, and never had to share mom with anyone…I’m sure I could have done more to prepare him for all the changes, but I had no idea it would affect him the way it did. We also dealt with some serious behavioral issues at school and a lot of anger at home.

I think once he realized that everyone wasn’t abandoning him, and the only things changing were the addition of my husband and a two-hour plane ride to the grandparents rather than a one-hour car ride…he was ok.

[nancynic]

thank you for your posts

the information about bedwetting came from Dr Sears and he, I think, was referring to children who are not in abusive/neglectful situations~

I think the way the information was stated was in an attempt to be helpful so that parents would understand that children are not wetting their beds to be manipulative or controlling, but that it is a physical condition.

Of course, when children are in situations of abuse and neglect, their behaviors as well as their psychological and physiological manifestations of behavior change radically from the 'norm'.

Thank you very much for showing another side to this issue.

Nancy