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Diaper Incontinence in Children

Diaper Incontinence in Children

When children over the age of 5 urinate unknowingly during night sleep, at least twice a week, it is called bedwetting.

Diaper Incontinence in Children

Healthy children may also experience urinary incontinence at night when they drink excessive fluids before sleep. However, this event must occur more than twice a week for 3 months for it to be considered a disorder and a decision to treat it can be made. There are two types of bedwetting at night. If it is present from the beginning, it is called primary bedwetting, and if the discomfort occurs later, it is called secondary bedwetting.

Some children who wet the bed at night will recover spontaneously, but treatment is recommended because it causes distress to the child and family, may reduce the child's self-confidence, and may cause other behavioral and emotional problems. Before starting treatment at Liv Hospital Pediatric Surgery and Urology Clinic, a detailed physical examination of the child is performed by a specialist and experienced physician, and all other causes that may cause urinary incontinence are reviewed.

Approximately 3 percent of children who wet the bed at night have other diseases that cause this condition, such as congenital disorders of the kidneys and urinary tract, kidney diseases, hidden spinal deformities (spina bifida), diabetes, epilepsy, parasites, and food allergies.

How to Treat Night Bed Wetting?

Placing a diaper on a child who wets the bed eliminates the child's discomfort with this situation, and bedwetting will never be eliminated by tying a diaper. Some children who wet the bed at night will recover spontaneously, but treatment is recommended because it causes distress to the child and family, may reduce the child's self-confidence, and may cause other behavioral and emotional problems. Before starting treatment, a detailed physical examination of the child should be performed by a specialist and experienced physician, and all other causes that may cause urinary incontinence should be reviewed.

The primary condition for successful treatment is full cooperation between the family, the child, and the physician. The main principle is to eliminate the feeling of guilt by reassuring the child and, if possible, ensuring that the child takes ownership of the incident. The first thing to try are programs that help the child or his family wake up at night. First, it is tried to make the children wake up on their own, if this is not possible, a program is applied that allows the family to wake the child up at night and go to the toilet.

If motivational therapy and drug therapy are applied together with the support of the family, the success rate of treatment in these children reaches 70-80 percent. The most important disadvantage of drug treatment is the high risk of recurrence of the disease after treatment is stopped. For this reason, in recent years, it has been recommended to use alarm and drug therapy together.

Alarm devices are tools that help the child control his bladder by waking him up as soon as he starts to leak urine. Alarm treatment must be continued for at least 3 months, and with this treatment, up to 85 percent improvement is achieved in children. The risk of recurrence after alarm treatment is quite low.