World Bedwetting Day -Time to take action in bedwetting. Bedwetting alarms are one of the treatments used for bedwetting.

Bedwetting does not have a psychological cause, in most cases it is caused by over-production of urine at night or reduced capacity of the bladder. This medical condition can have a serious detrimental effect on the child's self-esteem, emotional well-being and day time functioning, including school and social performance.^1-3However, the impact on the child and their family is often underestimated and trivialised. The International Children's Continence Society (ICCS) and the European Society for Paediatric Urology (ESPU) are launching World Bedwetting Day (WBD) on October 17th 2015 to raise awareness among the public and healthcare professionals of the facts around this common medical condition. WBD 2015's slogan is 'Time to Take Action', in recognition that much more can be done to diagnose and treat children who suffer from bedwetting.

A bedwetting alarm is an option to treat children who are wetting the bed at night. Using an alarm reduces bedwetting in about two thirds of children during treatment, and about half the children remain dry after stopping using the alarm.

A bedwetting alarm is a device that wakes a child who wets the bed. There are various types. For example, the mini or body-worn bedwetting alarm has a sensor which is worn in the pajamas or pants. The sensor is linked to an alarm (bell or vibration alarm). If the sensor gets wet, it immediately activates the alarm. The pad and bell is similar but the sensor pad is put under your child.

The sensors are usually so sensitive that the bedwetting alarm goes off as soon as your child starts to wet (pass urine). This wakes your child who then stops passing urine. Your child should then get up and finish off in the toilet. This conditions your child to wake up and go to the toilet if he or she starts to wet the bed, or is about to start. In time, your child is conditioned to wake when his or her bladder is full (before wetting begins), or learns to sleep through the night without wetting the bed.

It is not fully understood how a bedwetting alarm teaches a child to control the bladder during sleep. Bladder filling and emptying is controlled by several centres located in the brain. It is believed that the noise of an alarm in some way can influence these centres and modify their function in a positive way. Most children using the alarm will start to wake up and pee before the alarm goes off and after a few weeks most children will then sleep through the night and postpone any bladder emptying until the morning. It is known that alarm treatment does not influence night-time urine production but it increases the capacity of the bladder during night.

It is essential for the bedwetting alarm treatment to be a success that your child wakes up when the alarm sounds and goes immediately to the bathroom and completes the bladder emptying. If he does not wake up by himself when the alarm goes off one of you parents should rush to the bed and wake him up - everynight!