Bedwetting (nocturnal enuresis) refers to children three years of age or older who involuntarily and unconsciously urinate during their sleep. Many children and their families experience bedwetting at some stage. While it rarely has lasting effects and generally resolves over time, it may make your child feel embarrassed or ashamed (1) and creates a lot of stress in the family, driven by sleep deprivation.

Bedwetting in Chinese medicine

In Chinese medicine, bedwetting is most commonly associated with a weakness of the Kidney function. When Children wet the bed, it involves a ‘weakness of the lower gate’. The Kidney and bladder are the representative organs of the Water element, the element that governs courage and willpower. Besides, there can be other influential aspects of body and mind, which may call for balancing. For a dry night, the child needs to be in a relaxed state, the brain and bladder need to be communicating and the child needs to be able to wake up.

Bedwetting is as old as the history of mankind. In his ‘Canon of Medicine’, dating back to the year 1025, Avicenna said:

What to Do When Your Child Wets The Bed?

It is very important to create a circle of support for your child involving every member of family:

• Always be patient and encourage your child. Make sure everyone including the siblings understand that making fun of the situation, or getting frustrated or angry may make the situation get worse.
• Emphasize the positives, the good nights, without creating pressure as it can happen when promising rewards. Get your child onboard your treatment plan (which may include toilet and drinking habits, diet, massage, wetting alarms).
• Use protection (pads, covers) for the bed as this may help you relax you in the process of your child getting dry.  

Acupuncture, Acupressure and Tui Na Massage for Children

Chinese medicine offers a multitude of very gentle modalities that can support children. Here at the Bright Side Family Acupuncture in Brisbane, we see little patients of any age from babies to teenagers and treatments may include acupuncture, acupressure or gentle Tui Na massage, moxibustion and cupping depending on the child’s needs and preferences. Paediatric appointments are of short duration (30min) and there is no need for the child to sit still. I can work with your child’s needs for movement and/or comfort. Whenever acupuncture is applied, it is very different from acupuncture for adults. Paediatric acupuncture usually only involves one or two points, it is very brief (speaking of seconds) and it is often very well accepted by the child. If a child does not want acupuncture or is at an age where we see it’s not suitable, there are other highly effective paediatric modalities, such as medical massage, seeds and acu-stickers or cupping which are well accepted and loved by children.

I will often provide the parents with instructions how to follow an acupressure/medical massage routine at home, possibly as part of their bedtime routine in between their regular appointments, to achieve the best outcomes.

Do you have questions whether acupuncture, acupressure or Tui Na massage are suitable for your child’s needs? Please contact our Brisbane Family Acupuncture clinic and I will be happy to have a chat with you!

Resources

Bedwetting. Children’s Hospital General Medicine department. Reviewed July 2020. Retrieved from https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Bedwetting/