While growing up, I’ve known that the one who wets the bed is usually embarrassed among his/her peers. But among siblings? I never knew until I began the parenting journey.
Children are different. Raising the girls, I hadn’t faced the bed wetting challenge until I had my third. Then with the odour of the aftermath, I needed to get a solution, and fast!
Things I did:
- I reduced her intake of liquid after 6 pm. She could take only a very little quantity of liquid after 6 pm. I seriously monitored her.
- Before going to bed, it became a routine to get to the loo first.
- At midnight when I get up to check that they are comfortable, I take her to use the loo again.
- The moment she’s up from sleep, the loo is the first place she visits before she’s out of the room for the day.
At first, this was a high hurdle to jump over considering that I didn’t have to go through the process with the older ones. So Yes! There were times I was too tired to do the needful and so she simply wet the bed! I noticed she dreaded such times because her sisters were beginning to make it look like “no one else could have done it, mummy!” This meant there were more tasks than I thought. That of stopping bedwetting completely, working on her esteem and cleaning out the mattress to avoid the odour. Felt seemingly huge. But yeah I love challenges, besides that was what I signed up for during conception.
- I made her sisters understand she didn’t do it on purpose. You should have seen her the day I spoke about it. She even contributed to the convo!
- We talked about this challenge every morning. I always would go like, “did anybody wet the bed?” Talking about wetting the bed became consistent such that she became very conscious of the challenge.
- She became freer talking about it because the days she didn’t wet the bed, we would praise her! So when she did, she would go, “it was a mistake, since this week I haven’t wet the bed” LOL. There were few times when others did same too and so it was like, “she wasn’t alone” in the bed wetting box.
We usually aren’t comfortable sleeping on waterproofed bed covers (Mackintosh), the kids too. I had to devise a means of getting the odour out.
- I take out the bed sheets and wash.
- Soak the area with detergent and bleach mixed in water.
- I then rinse out the part with same cloth I used to apply soapy water.
- Then I take it out to air.
Trust me, this has worked. She has even learnt to do it too because of course, she just turned five.
