Bladder Stretching

After several attempts to get Ella dry at night, we have sought the help of a well know physiotherapist here in Canberra who specialises in continence solutions. Ella is now into week 3 of stretching her bladder. The physio's theory acknowledges the 5 factors which contribute to bed wetting - heavy sleeper, family history, small bladder, too much urine production at night and constipation. Poor Ella has 4 out of 5 of these and combined with the fact that she doesn't drink enough early in the day results in leaking during the day and then flooding at night.

The main focus of the bladder stretching program is to increase fluids during the day (especially in the morning), so that the bladder increases it's capacity to fill and hold (as well as sending the right message to the brain).

Ella thinks it's great as she gets to drink juice and fruit boxes (making the extra drinking enjoyable for the kids is important) although we have gone backwards regarding wetting during the day. But that's to be expected as Ella now has 2 glasses (usually banana milkshake) at breakfast, a fruit juice popper at both morning tea and lunch, a glass of water at afternoon tea and 1 glass of milk or water with dinner.

Our aim is to get Ella dry by the start of school next year.....