Mythbuster!

"A kid who wets the bed is just too lazy to go to the bathroom"

•  Absolutely false! Nobody wets intentionally. Virtually all who wet never even wake up until morning or when they get chilled from the wet sheets.

"Cutting down on drinking liquids before bed stops bedwetting"

• This is false. It may reduce the amount of liquid discharged at night, but it will not stop night wetting.

"Drinking more water during the day increases bladder capacity and stops wetting at night"

• Data shows that drinking more water during the day will grow your bladder some, but it will not cut down on the production of urine at night.

"Waking the child up at night to go stops wetting"

• This is one of the myths that get repeated over and over. However, according to a number of studies, there is no correlation between waking a child to get him to go late at night and preventing wetting. He is just as likely to wet again later at night. Many kids will wet multiple times at night. Waking them up once may reduce the number of times he wets the bed, but rarely eliminates the problem.

"Wearing diapers prolongs bedwetting"

• Experts say that using diapers does not prevent a child from outgrowing enuresis on his own. In fact, diapers offer some benefits. For the bed wetter, diapers prevent them from getting wet and cold and removes urine from close contact to the skin.

"Rewards stops bedwetting"

• There is little proof that this helps. Most kids do not know they wet, so rewarding them for stopping a behavior they have no control over is frustrating for them and infrequently leads to rewards.

"Punishment stops bedwetting"

• This is absolutely and positively false. No child should ever be punished for bedwetting. It is not his fault! Do not even think about punishing a kid if he wets his bed, even if you are frustrated!