Rewarding Dry Nights: Some Things You Need to Know

Most children wet during their sleep and have no idea when the wetting occurs.

Do not ONLY give rewards for completely dry nights.

This is something most children have no control over. How frustrating for your child to do their best but still not have a dry night! There are other ways to reward your child in their quest for dryness, however.

Pick behaviors that are within their control.

These are all behaviors that your child can successfully do on their own. These behaviors also contribute to dry nights. Double voiding before bed Changing into the proper underwear Helping to remove wet sheets or pads Drinking enough water throughout the entire day

Pick meaningful rewards.

You know your child better than anyone so you know what motivates him or her. Some young children are motivated by a sticker chart but older children may be more motivated by tokens for a larger prize. Outline the reward system with them and stick to it.

Reward cooperation when using their bedwetting alarm.

Introducing a tool, such as a bedwetting alarm, to help him to make a change is very effective. Instead of sleeping through the wetting episode, now both your son and you will be alerted that wetting is occurring.

Cooperating with hooking up the alarm at bedtime, getting up when it sounds (even if you have to remind him what to do), and walking to the bathroom are all positive behaviors. He may not have had a dry night yet, but he is doing his best on these things that he can control. He should be rewarded for these.

The important thing is that all of these things are necessary steps on the road to dryness and you're helping to condition him to do these things. Dry nights will follow. Once he does begin to have dry nights, if you want to add two stickers or tokens for dry, that's fine. Of course, the best reward will be waking up dry and being free to do sleepovers with friends.