Reply from Adam, Child's Age na - 3/13/02 - IP#: 12.249.145.184

I'm not a parent yet, but I'm 24 and a (mostly) ex-bedwetter, and from what I read about genetics chances are I'll have to deal with this with my kids someday too. :) Bob, I share your concern. I too have always had to get up in the middle of the night, and like many young adults I still wet occasionally when I'm overly tired or stressed. My bladder (for whatever reason) simply can't hold all of my urine production most nights, and so if I don't wake up, I wet, and that will probably be true for the rest of my life. I tried diapers for some time while I was in college (my own idea, my parents didn't even know) and yes, it was much more convenient than getting up to use the toilet, especially since I also struggled with insomnia and had a really hard time getting back to sleep after I woke up. The problem is that it was SO convenient that very often I would let go in the diaper even when I woke up and could have gone to the toilet, and eventually I actually regressed in my sleep pattern and started to re-learn to wet in my sleep every night without waking up at all. My concern is that kids who experience nothing but wearing diapers will never be able to learn to wake up and use the toilet simply because they're so conditioned to urinating in their sleep as soon as their bladders are full. On the other hand, Maggie, I think you're right that some kids will have a terrible time learning to wake up no matter what you do, and having woke up cold and wet every morning for many years of my life (and trying every bedwetting remedy under the sun to no avail) I can testify firsthand that it wasn't the most pleasant experience. Still, I think any parent owes it to their kids at least to try taking them out of diapers periodically and let them experience the cold wet beds for a while so they have an incentive to learn to awaken when the bladder is full. Waking up at night isn't the easiest or most fun thing to do either, but in my mind it definitely beats wetting the bed and wearing diapers for the rest of my life. Diapers are nice for comfort and convenience, but just like training wheels on a bike, they need to come off eventually in order to learn to stop being dependent on them.