The bedwetting alarm is a tool that wakes your child with an alarm as soon as he/she pees in bed. Before going to bed, your child puts on “sensor pants” that connects wirelessly to the alarm. The pants can detect moisture and if this is the case, sends a signal to an alarm. When the bedwetting alarm goes off, your child has to turn it off, get up and go to the toilet. Because your child is woken up with a full bladder he/she will recognize the feeling of a full bladder. After a while your child learns to wake up on time and go to the toilet without the bedwetting alarm still having to go off. The bed stays dry! The bedwetting alarm is the most well-known and successful treatment for bedwetting. It is a scientifically proven method against bedwetting With the wetting alarm most children manage to become dry. Sometimes children go back to bedwetting after a while and it is necessary to use the bedwetting alarm a second time.
When is the best time to start with the bedwetting alarm?
Most children are potty-trained faster during the day than at night because you are more aware of what is happening during the day. This makes it easier to recognize the feeling of a full bladder and therefore you go to the toilet faster. This feeling is a lot more difficult to recognize during a deep sleep, the bedwetting alarm can help you with that. Your brain needs to recognize the signal of a full bladder during sleep and transform it into a wake-up reflex. If it is not recognized (in time), your child wets the bed.
There may be physical issues or indications that this process is not working properly. Do you suspect that your child has a relatively small bladder or produces a relatively large amount of urine, or do you suspect that there is a physical cause to the bedwetting? Please contact your doctor to discuss the bedwetting.
Is your child not suffering from physical factors but your child just doesn’t wake up or wakes up too late from having to pee? The bedwetting alarm training is scientifically proven to be the most effective method to train your child to wake up on time. The bedwetting alarm helps you recognize the feeling of a full bladder.
The bedwetting alarm is a tool for a very effective training. This means that the motivation of both the child and the parent is crucial. When you want to start the bedwetting alarm training you have to start it along with your child.
What is important before you start bedwetting alarm training?
- Motivation
Nobody wants to be disturbed in the middle of the night during a wonderful, deep sleep. With the bedwetting alarmtraining your child will be woken up when he/she wets the bed in a deep sleep. The sensor underwear gets wet and therefore triggers the alarm. Your child is forced to wake up, turn off the alarm clock and go to the toilet and motivation is very important during this time for both the child and the parents.
Of course, your child needs to be ready as well. They have to want to sleep without a diaper, otherwise they don’t see the urgency of it quite yet. Are you motivated, but your child is not yet? No problem, you can always discuss this with your child. It is very important that you do this without emotions or negative feedback. Emphasize all the benefits and convince your child to work towards a solution.
- The ideal age is 5/6 years
The bedwetting alarm can be used at a very young age, but because a number of actions need to be carried out for it to work, we often recommend ages 6 years and older. When it goes off in the evening you have to remove the transmitter from the sensor pants, turn off the alarm, go to the toilet, put on new sensor pants and snap the transmitter on again. The more your child is involved, the faster you can achieve results. When the child is younger you are more intensively involved as a parent and that complicates the awareness process for your child.
What if you would like to start the bedwetting alarm training at a younger age because your child absolutely wants to get rid of the diapers? Of course you can always try this, but keep in mind that you will have to stop the training more often than at a slightly older age.
- Reimbursed by the health insurer
The bedwetting alarm is not included in the basic health insurance but is included in more than 70% of the supplementary health insurance in the Netherlands. Please note that health insurers often reimburse it in full, but sometimes only do so partially. In addition, some health insurances stipulate conditions for reimbursement, such as a minimum age ranging from 3 to 7 years old.
If you are considering purchasing a bedwetting alarm, it is always smart to check whether you will be reimbursed for it.