The psychological problems seen in some children who have urinary incontinence at night are not the cause but the result of the disease. Urinary incontinence does not occur due to psychological factors. However, its course may lead to psychological problems in the patient and his family over time. As a result of chronic stress caused by urinary incontinence in approximately 10-15% of children who wet their bed at night for years; decrease in self-confidence, introversion, shame, inferiority complex, depression and behavioral disorders are observed. Due to urinary incontinence anxiety, the child cannot invite his friend to his home, cannot stay with his relatives or friends at night, and has the anxiety of “my friends will hear” at school. The fact that he does not want to sit next to his friends because his clothes constantly smell of urine also increases the trauma. While children who are congenitally wetting the bed at night develop psychological problems at a rate of 5-10%, this rate rises to 10-20% in children who later start to wet the bed at night. These psychological problems, which develop as a result of urinary incontinence, are more common in boys than girls.
May cause fear in sexuality
Children who leak urine or wet the bed do not have any sexual problems when they reach adulthood. However, some children who have urinary incontinence at night or during the day may experience some fear and anxiety about sexuality by associating the sexual function with the way of urination. A significant part of the families believe that the treatment and especially the drugs used in urinary incontinence problems cause infertility in these children. For this reason, he hides the problem and refuses the treatment. This is a completely false belief and urinary incontinence should be treated in a timely, accurate and effective manner.
Bedwetting during the day requires treatment
15% of children who wet their bed at night have a chance of spontaneous recovery. Even if it is not treated for many years, it does not cause serious damage to the kidneys. However, the delay in treatment brings about psychological problems. If the problem of urinary incontinence is not treated with the right approach by experts experienced in this field, the child’s psychology and school success will be adversely affected. The situation is much more serious in children who wet the bed while awake during the day. This problem does not go away on its own, and the cause must be found and treated correctly. Delay in treatment can cause serious irreversible damage to both kidneys.
Bedwetting genetics
Bedwetting at night is 2 times more common in boys than girls. Bedwetting while awake during the day is twice as common in girls as in boys. If both parents had a bedwetting problem when they were young, this problem occurs in 75-80% of children. If any of the parents have experienced this problem, the risk of it being seen in children is 40-45%.
Medication and alarm treatment are applied
Children who wet their bed while sleeping Beginning from the age of 6; It can be treated with 80-90% success rates with behavioral therapies such as rewards and alarm devices, and drugs that reduce urine production or expand the bladder. Alarm therapy is more successful in children whose urine production is normal at night but whose bladder does not develop, and drug therapy is more successful in children who pee during sleep because their nighttime urine production is high. The goal of treatment in daytime urinary incontinence is to prevent this incontinence and damage to the kidneys. Urinary incontinence while asleep or awake should be treated by experienced pediatric surgeons and pediatric urologists.
Take him to the doctor instead of punishing him
The problem of bedwetting in children is not a situation that can be overcome by punishment and beating, due to the child’s laziness. Even in developed countries such as the USA, England, France and Singapore, the penalty rate is very high. In these countries, 20-30% of children who wet the bed at night are punished. In Turkey, 50-60% of these children receive general punishments and 35% receive heavy punishments. Children should not be blamed for this disease, which develops for completely concrete organic reasons. Families should consult a specialist instead of punishing their children.
