Getting to Dry – continued
Bladder Training (Part 3 – continued)
There was an interesting experiment a few years ago at a hospital in Helsinki, Finland. The researchers divided a number of enuretic children ranging in age from 6 to 13 into 2 groups.
One group was repeatedly instructed NOT to drink anything at all in the evening. The other group was urged to drink more than normal during the entire day.
By the end of the experimental period, the fluid restricted group’s average functional bladder capacity had decreased by 9%. None of the children in this group stopped wetting, however 17% were wet less often.
The children in the second group were encouraged to drink throughout the day. They received no other instructions or handling.
By the end of the experiment, the group’s functional bladder capacity had increased by 20%, 33% of the children had stopped wetting entirely and 39% were wetting less often.
The researchers concluded:
– more fluid intact = more urine production = larger functional
bladder capacity = dry bed
The key to this experiment was to load up on water throughout the day.
How much water – it appears the more the better !
Next post – I will give some advice that parents have shared with me regarding implementing bladder training.