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If you and your child have hit the bedwetting ‘speed bump’, you don’t let it get in the way of having plenty of fun in the sun!

Over the coming months, the chances are you and your kids will be planning holidays with the family, going on school trips, and having sleepovers with friends. So this month, relationship and family expert Jenni Trent Hughes has given us her tips and insights into how you can support your child through bedwetting and continue life as normal until this temporary phase passes.

Should parents consider a holiday/sleepover if their child has recently wet the bed?

Absolutely! It is very important to regard the bedwetting as ‘something that unfortunately happens at night’ rather than make it ‘something terrible that runs our lives.’ Removing as many of the negative implications as possible from any situation will always go a long way towards making it easier to solve, correct or change and bedwetting is no different.

What should parents keep in mind if they’re organising a sleepover/have a holiday planned?

How can they prepare themselves and their child? How can they build their child’s confidence before a holiday or sleepover?

The most important factor is probably going to be whether or not you will be present. What you will do when you’re all going to be together on a holiday will be slightly different than what you might need to do if they are going away on a sleepover at a friends. If you’re going on holiday then pack a disposable pyjama pant such as DryNites.

If there is an emotional component to your child’s bedwetting issues the last thing they need to be worrying about is whether or not the manager of the 5* hotel is going to be annoyed if they wet the bed. Even we grownups sometimes feel under pressure in strange surroundings so it is extra important that we don’t put additional pressure on the child. The chances that their first dry night is going to occur on your holidays aren’t particularly high, so go prepared for any eventualities and if a bedwetting incident happens just take it in your stride.

Try taking disposable mattress protectors like DryNites BedMats away with you - they can help give you and your little one peace of mind and will remove any embarrassment following a bedwetting incident.  Plus, you can stay with friends and relatives and no one needs to be any the wiser.

What advice can you offer parents whose child has wet the bed whilst on holiday? How should they react the morning after and later?

Your reaction to bedwetting should be the same if you’re at home, in Barbados or visiting Auntie Helen’s – but I know that is sometimes easier said than done. However nonchalant your child might seem to be about his or her situation no one actually enjoys waking up in a wet bed. Also they’re not doing it on purpose and given the choice 99% (at the very least) would wish it away immediately if they could. So with all this in mind the prescription is the same be you at home or on holiday: ‘It is normal’. ‘It will end eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later’. Be sure to downplay the bedwetting incident while highlighting something positive about the child or in the child’s life – ‘Oh dear that’s a shame, anyway why don’t you go and play with the dog in the garden while I take care of this’.

Jenni’s top tips:

• Stay positive.
• Separate the incident from the child. Wetting the bed is something that happens, it isn’t who they are.
• Try to keep your feelings of frustration to yourself – they feel bad enough without having to worry that they’re upsetting you as well or making you angry.
• Never forget – it does come to an end, and usually sooner than you might think.

For more bedwetting information and advice head to:

www.eric.org.uk
www.netdoctor.co.uk