‘Punishing children for bedwetting will worsen problem’

Islamabad : As the World Bedwetting Day was marked on Tuesday, noted consultant paediatric urologist Dr Ijaz Hussain warned that punishing children for urinary incontinence would worsen the problem.“Unfortunately, the people subject the children suffering from enuresis (bedwetting) to physical punishment and rebuking without realising that this behaviour will do no good and instead, it will aggravate the medical condition causing more bedwetting and depression among minor patients. I suggest that the child be rewarded whenever dry and when required, the medication should be taken with the consultation of a paediatric urologist,” Dr Ijaz of the Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad, told ‘The News’.The bedwetting day was first observed by the International Children's Continence Society and the European Society of Paediatric Urology in 2015 with an aim to raise awareness among people and health professionals. This year, its focus was on highlighting the need for doing much more than what has been done so far to diagnose and treat those suffering from the problem.Refuting a common perception, the consultant paediatric urologist said bedwetting wasn’t a normal phenomenon, which would abate itself with the passage of time.“This condition (enuresis) is not simple. Now, it’s considered to be a heterogeneous disorder, which, if not addressed on time, can adversely impact on the child’s self-esteem, emotional well-being and cognitive functioning, including social and school performance,” he warned.Dr Ijaz said bedwetting was a very common medical condition in children.With the prevalence of enuresis varying at different ages, he said it was estimated that more than 70 million children suffered from the problem in the United States.“It is generally accepted that around 15 per cent of the children will have some degree of night-time wetting at the age of five years with a spontaneous resolution rate of around 15 per cent annually, while at the age of 15 years, only 1-2 per cent of teenagers continues to wet the bed. Also, it has been noted that the longer the condition persists, the lower the probability is that it will resolve spontaneously,” he said. The paediatric urologist also denied that psychological problems are to blame for enuresis.“There is a general misconception that the condition is caused by psychological issues. The reality is that it is the aftereffect of bedwetting.“There are various reasons for a child wetting the bed at night. In most cases, it is caused by the relative overproduction of urine at night, reduced bladder capacity or inability to wake up during sleep when the bladder is full,” he said.

from The News International - Islamabad http://bit.ly/2I7dcze