Bed wetting (enuresis) is involuntary nocturnal urination that occurs after a child has passed the age at which bladder control would normally be expected (usually around the age of five). Bed wetting is generally a poorly understood problem; many hypotheses about bed wetting blame the condition on immature sleep patterns or small urinary bladder capacity.
It’s important for the parents and families of children suffering from bed wetting to understand that the problem is out of the child’s conscious control. It is not bad behavior, and therefore cannot be cured with punishments or other inducements.
Some treatments for bed wetting include hormone therapy, antidepressants, and anticholinergic drugs (a class of medications that inhibit parasympathetic nerve impulses). However, most children experience bed wetting between the ages of five and ten years; while many adult medications are often prescribed for children, they are not often tested on children. The effects of these drugs on children are unknown.
One cause of bed wetting may be damage or disruption in the nerves leading from the brain to the bladder. Throughout life, falls and injuries can cause problems in the nervous system. Children, of course, fall down or have accidents more often than adults. During the first year of life, fifty percent of infants experience a significant fall from a bed, crib, or dressing table. Undetected distress can occur from these traumas and affect a child’s state of health. In these situations, vertebrae can move out of their natural alignment. This is the area in which chiropractic treatment can help.
