Bedwetting in older children and constipation

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Random thoughts about bedwetting and constipation.

www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2012/03/bed_wetting_the_simple_cause_your_doctor_probably_missed_.html

What I understand is:
The child in the article is quite young but this applies to older children too.
Constipation can cause bedwetting.
Children who do not appear obviously constipated but constantly wet the bed may have undiagnosed constipation.
They can seem to be pooing fine but actually still have a load of stuff that's not coming out.
In a couple of (small but seem decent quality) studies, a high proportion of much older children who were longterm bedwetters responded very well to constipation treatment.
Masses of built up poo can press on bladder nerves causing 'twitches' as well as shrinking the space available for the bladder.


Personal experience:
My child (age 10) responded well to adding prunes to their diet each day in addition to upping the 'bladder training'. (No additional input was made by the enuresis clinic, I just didn't think it would hurt.) The fact I was sleeping on their bedroom floor to force getting up with an alarm every time they wet themselves may have pushed them to comply with the drinking and prunes though.
I also found forcing them to drink at breakfast much better than relying on them to remember to drink at school. In fact I fill up a number of cups and they all have to be emptied before breakfast - and the same at teatime. Then I know they are not lying about what they drank (yes, they were...). (Titchy 10yo drinks 2 litres minimum per day which is about 50% more than told to by the clinic).

The nurse suggested a small bribe - we used a small piece of chocolate by the edge of the loo so if they got up they could have it.

The alarm itself didn't work (v. heavy sleeper), but it raised the stakes so that they actually started drinking. And I think it maybe helped them learn how to pinch it off when they started wetting, but not to actually wake up and go to the loo.

It's worked for us - 3 months ago they were soaking wet every night and now they have not had a wet bed in weeks. They seem to be walking about 3 inches taller. They had 400ml with dinner the other day and were still dry. I know there may be setbacks but it's SO much better.

It seems like bladder training has more benefits than you get told about:

stretching the bladder ready to hold all that wee at night-time
helping to train the 'I need a wee' signal
reducing the likelihood of 'twitches' because the bladder is under less stress as it is more used to holding a lot.
All that water HELPS TO CLEAR OUT THE POO!

For those of you struggling out there, good luck. I hope this gives some of you a couple of pointers about other things you could try alongside whatever you are doing.