Bed-Wetting Often Caused by Diet--Follow These Tips to Help Your Child

As many as 30 percent of young school-aged children wet the bed, but while there are medications available to help, doctors say something as simple as changing what kids eat and drink can be just as effective.
They are known as the three C's: caffeine, carbonation and citrus. These three things should be avoided by kids who are having trouble with bedwetting.

Kirk Pinto, M.D., pediatric urologist on the medical staff at Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth, says that parents bring their kids to his office everyday complaining of frequent bedwetting and many are surprised by the treatment he recommends.

While medications to help stop bedwetting are available, simply avoiding certain foods and drinks can help a majority of kids.

"For bladder problems anything that is an irritant is bad. Caffeine is number one and it's the most common thing that these kids get from all the soda they drink," says Dr. Pinto.

But soda isn't the only caffeine culprit.
Chocolate is another huge thing and many moms and dads report that they flavor their kids milk with chocolate so they will drink it," adds Dr. Pinto.

Citrus fruits and their juices, such as orange juice, grapefruit juice and even lemonade can also be irritants.

"You want to get those things out of their diets. Get back to milk and water - reasonable amounts of both - and generally you can get the child to feel better," explains Dr. Pinto.

Also, red dye can be an irritant so read the back of packages and bottles and keep kids away from that as well. The changes in diet usually help and can often be tried along with medication.

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