Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep...I Hope I Wake With Dry Sheets
The day has finally arrived...your child is potty trained. No more diapers or accidents during the day; life is good. Sure, they are still wearing a Pull-Up diaper at night, but that's no big deal. What happens if your child doesn't grow out of Pull-Ups at night? As our children get older, we hope that they'll be able to sleep through the night and wake up dry, or get up to go to the bathroom as needed, but for some that doesn't quite work out. This can be hard on both the child and the parents. The child may feel embarrassed or self-conscious, and that leaves parents wanting to help them even more.
Dealing with bed-wetting at home is hard enough, but when an opportunity to spend the night at a friend's house comes along, your child may not want to participate and may miss out on precious childhood fun. So what can be done? There are many techniques out there, such as moisture alarms, behavior modifications with rewards, waking the child every few hours to go to the bathroom, and even prescription drugs.
But, for thos parents seeking a more natural approach or something that doesn't involve unnecessarily waking their sleeping child, chiropractic care can help.
Nocturnal enuresis (bed-wetting) is defined as urine loss occurring at night, in a child aged 5 or older. Nocturnal enuresis is classified as either primary or secondary. Primary enuresis is when a child has never had a period of time in their life when they have been constantly dry. Secondary enuresis is when a child had been consistently dry for six months and then reverts back to a state of uncontrolled urine discharge. Both types of enuresis have been linked to delayed growth of the nervous system. When a child's nervous system is delayed, their body isn't able to send the appropriate signals from the bladder to the brain telling the child to wake up and urinate. This nervous system delay can be a result of misaligned vertebrae in the lumbar and sacral regions. The lumbar and sacral regions of the spins protect the nerves that go to the urinary system, so if they have misalignments in them , they may be blocking signals that can allow the child to wake up when they have to go. Successful chiropractic management of nocturnal enuresis has been reported in several case studies and a few larger studies. One case series done in October 2009 reported a 66.6 percent resolution of nocturnal enuresis of 33 children and teenagers wh underwent chiropractic treatment.
For those parents who are concerned about their child's bed-wetting, know that most cases are often self-limiting and resolve spontaneously; but for those cases that don't, chiropractic care can be a safe, gentle and natural way to help your child have more dry nights.
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Leboeuf C, Brown P, Herman A, Leembruggen K, Walton D, Crisp TC. Chiropractic care for children with nocturnal enuresis: A prospective outcome study. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1991; 14(2): 110-115.
Van Poecke AJ, Cunlifee C. Chiropractic treatment for primary nocturnal enuresis: A case series of 33 consecutive patients. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2009; 32(8): 675-681.