One of the most frustrating situations that parents often deal with is a child that just can’t seem to get the signal that it is time to get up from their bed and get to the bathroom before they wet the bed. This is a condition known in medical terms as nocturnal enuresis but most parents call it bedwetting. There are many factors that should be considered when attempting to correct bedwetting. A few of my favorites include considerations of the child’s body, mind, and emotional status.
Emotional Ease
Let’s look at emotional status first. Every child deserves to be raised in a calm loving atmosphere where they feel safe and where their basic life needs are provided. When this is not the case there can be a complete lack of ease in the child’s system that may negatively affect the neural pathways that are important to urinary function and bedwetting. If there is emotional dis-ease about your child it is time to reassess your responsibilities as a parent. Start by calming the household atmosphere by being mindful of what may be causing tension and discord and set about to make changes that make a difference. Calming your relationships is the usual positive direction that will make all the difference in how you communicate and how you gain trust, comfort, and confidence. If you are caught up in a sour relationship with your significant other you are responsible for finding a cure. Recognize that emotional and spiritual ease requires mindfulness.
Mental Ease
Separating mind and emotion is often difficult to put into words but I’m going to try. Think of it this way; there is a difference between our ability to think (cognitive processes) and how we feel (emotional capacity) about what we are thinking about. These two aspects are really one and the same because you can’t have one without the other, so for clinical reasons, it is important to make a distinction. Cognitive functions are often deranged by emotional discord and chemical imbalances. Chemical exposures to children (food, water, cleaning agents, vaccines and lawn care chemicals) to name a few, are a big deal in this day and age of ADD, Autism and a myriad of neurologically mediated diseases.
Keeping the cognitive functions balanced is a worthy pursuit for parents because the overactive mind can profoundly affect many bodily functions which may result in problems such as bedwetting. Proper development of children in the age group of 3 to 5 years is what may make the difference in solving the problem of bedwetting and many other aberrations. I question the wisdom of iPads, cell phones, computer time and too much TV time in this age group. Aside from the concerns of too much electromagnetic radiation exposure, many professionals and researchers question the information presentation of these media sources. A child’s brain at this stage is in a huge growth and development stage and is highly influenced by its environment. Learning to think and feel should be done without overdoing the information input. Just observing and interpreting what is happening in the natural world without the influence of popular mainstream media is enough for your child. Getting the basics first is the objective which will allow for more complex cognitive processes necessary to properly interpret TV or iPads. We are finding that proper development of the mind and cognitive processes are profoundly affected by media exposure and it remains a very controversial issue. I say, less is more at the younger ages.
Physical Ease
In the chiropractic world, when attempting to help the bedwetting child we, of course, think of the condition in holistic terms, taking into consideration all that we have discussed so far. With that in mind, a good look at spinal health and neurological expressions are considered. Problems in the communication systems between brain and body are often the culprit in bedwetting children. There are many things that can cause the vertebral subluxation complex in children. Vertebral Subluxation Complex is what the Doctor of Chiropractic is interested in because that is what we are most skilled at finding and correcting with adjustments. A good look at history often reveals reasons why this condition may exist. In utero-constraint is when the fetus becomes stuck in the uterus which may result in spinal stress and thus the subluxation. The child’s birth is another consideration as it often is traumatic. Too much pull pressure on the neck, breech, C-section delivery, forceps, vacuum extractors, etc. may cause injury to the spine and result in subluxation and nerve system interference. These changes may not self-correct which is where the skilled Pediatric Chiropractor is the helper of choice. The detection of vertebral subluxation in infants and children is often unrecognized by the Medical Pediatrician because they are not trained in this area. Other ways that a child’s spine is insulted and injured are more obvious such as falling, learning to walk and the many ways that children stress their little bodies. Equally important to physical injuries and insults is what we have initially discussed. It all works together: Body, mind and emotional capacity (spirit). Any imbalance in these aspects of being can result in the vertebral subluxation complex which is often a cause of bedwetting. Restoring homeostasis is the goal and the best way to do that is to restore the ability of the child’s innate intelligence by reducing interferences (subluxations) in the neural pathways with safe and effective adjustments. That’s what chiropractic does.
Proper adjustment usually results in successful resolution of bedwetting. In 35 years of chiropractic practice I have helped hundreds of children, and parents, overcome the bedwetting. This is a safe, effective method of help which is often overlooked because of fear of what a chiropractor does. You don’t have to wait for chiropractic to be the last resort. You will find many testimonies about how chiropractic care has been helping children have a healthier start in life.
John E. Weisberg, D.C., F.I.C.P.A.