Children and adults require plenty of fluids through the day to keep them hydrated and to promote healthy liver and kidney function. Many parents come to the conclusion that if their child is urinating during the night, that maybe they should limit the overall amount of fluids that the child consumes in order to make less urine in the body, and reduce the chance of the child wetting the bed.

This is not the case, and fluids should never be removed in order to fix a child’s bed wetting problem. Fluid management should be carefully monitored. Making sure the child has the required amount of eight glasses of fluids spaced out evenly through the day can do this.

Often older children forget to drink during the day, and after they return home from school, they do the majority of their drinking late in the day. Parents should discourage children from doing this. By giving children, a cold bottle of water to take to school each day will encourage them to drink more often through the day.

There is one time that parents may need to restrict the amount of fluids that a child drinks; this is just before bed, around about two hours before. By reducing the amount of fluids, the child drinks will reduce the amount of fluids in the child’s bladder, and hopefully help the child stay dry through the night.

Parents need to keep in mind that children do still get thirsty at night time, and if a child is thirsty at night, they should still be allowed to drink fluids, just not large amounts before bed.

Children should avoid sugary, fizzy, or caffeine infused drinks at all times, especially at night before bed. Caffeine contains diuretics, which cause the body to urinate more often, and sugars do little for the fluid levels. These drinks will actually make the child thirstier.

Parents should take special care to explain to their children that by spacing drinks evenly throughout the day, and not having one big drink all at once they can help to reduce the likelihood of wetting the bed. By involving the child in the process, they will feel more in control, have a better understanding of why they should space their drinks, and cut down their drinking before bed.

Additionally parents should encourage their children to stop wetting the bed by offering them incentives and praise, rather than criticizing them or making the child feel like they have done something wrong by wetting the bed. It is also important for parents to openly discuss the child’s bed wetting problem and ask them if they experience pain or discomfort when going to the toilet. In rare cases, bladder infections or early onset of diabetes may be the cause of unexplained bed-wetting.