Parent Support: Seeking Advice from other Parents
A parent whose child bed wets not only has to deal with the child’s condition and seek treatment; they also have to come to terms that bed wetting is not an indication that they are failures as parents.
What Parents Think
It is not unusual for parents who have children that suffer from bed wetting to feel helpless and confused. Sometimes they even deny that there is a problem because of the stigma they might suffer, personally and socially. Additionally, they instinctively want to protect their children from the seeming “weakness” associated with any type of disorder.
Once a parent establishes that bed wetting in their child is not one time occurrence but a continuous obstacle to be hurdled, there are different ways that they deal with it. Some parents would choose to avoid having to face it and dismiss the thought that there is a need to seek help. When this is the path chosen, the danger is that the child will not be able to get the help he needs.
With other parents, they may think that bed wetting is a disciplinary problem. So, instead of seeking professional help, they turn to the form of discipline they know; they would subject the child to punishments and would grow even more frustrated when their child does not respond favorably and still continues to bed wet. The disadvantage to this is that; one, the child will not be treated and thus will bed wet until he grows up; and two, the child grows up thinking that there is something wrong with him and he withdraws socially. The child can also manifest his frustration with himself by being defensive about his condition or resign himself totally to his “fate.”
Changing the Perspective on Bed wetting
Nocturnal enuresis is not an abnormality and therefore should not be seen as one. It is a bladder disorder that can be treated effectively and totally. As a parent, it is your responsibility to see to it that you help your child overcome this hazard to normal development.
You not only need to seek help for your child, but for yourself as well. Usually, clinicians would have access to support groups that can help you further understand what your child is going through. Other parents of children with the same condition are one such group.
It would be very beneficial for you to get to talk to parents; there are questions that you need answers to that may be more acceptable if you know the answers are coming from someone who not only knows what bedwetting is about, but also has gone through or is still going through the same situation.
Although the advice of doctors would still come first, the possibility of you changing popular yet unfavorable explanations to bed wetting will double if you hear it from other parents’ points of view.
Online parent forums are also available to help you understand what you and your child are going through. You can ask your questions as they come to you and not wait until your pediatrician is available to give you a response. Some of these forums can even help you decide on the best and most effective treatments for bed wetting you should try.