Ward off wetness. If a child is a bedwetter but not yet ready to work on resolving it, parents should take measures to keep her—and the bed—dry. So try pull-ups at night and encase the mattress with a waterproof pad. Youth diapers are also a great idea for sleepovers.

Limit liquids. Make certain your child doesn’t drink a significant amount of fluid for about two hours before bed, suggests Dr. Erhard. Limit the intake of carbonated and caffeinated drinks and foods, such as chocolate, throughout the day because they may increase urine production.

Observe bathroom behavior. “Make sure your child pees before bed—and doesn’t just say he did,” says Dr. Erhard. “Simple things like that can really help with the number of times a child wets and the volume with which he wets.” Keeping an eye on number two is also important. “Once children are toilet trained and taking care of their own wiping, parents are out of the poop loop,” says Dr. Bennett. “Pay attention to your child’s behaviour for three days. If he is having trouble pooping, that’s a clue that a medical problem may be responsible for the bedwetting.”

Set up pee patrol. If a child pays attention to his bladder during the daytime, it can help prevent bedwetting. “The more they drink and pee during the daytime, the more practice they get,” says Dr. Bennett. “We tell them not to hold back on urination but to pee as soon as their bladder wants to.”

Keep a calendar. On a calendar, have Junior check off when he had a dry night or woke up during the night to pee and reward him with a sticker or star. Once he gets 10 stickers, he’s earned an extra hour at the playground or on the computer. Positive reward systems are helpful and have been proven to work, says Dr. Erhard. While the child can’t consciously control the bedwetting, tracking it and seeing progress will help him stay motivated.

Consider an alarm. “A bedwetting alarm is the best technique you can use to help kids get dry,” says Dr. Bennett. Here’s how it works: a wetness sensor attaches to the underpants via a cord to the alarm unit, which gently buzzes or buzzes and vibrates when a child wets. (Reassure your child that there’s no risk of injury since the alarms are battery-operated devices that run on a small electric charge. Wireless models are also available.) There are a lot of theories as to why the bedwetting alarm is effective, says Dr. Bennett. Generally, though, children become better at responding to the alarm and their wet spots get smaller, which mean they are waking up sooner after the alarm goes off. Then, most children start having dry nights without waking up, possibly because the child’s bladder has been “trained” to hold more urine without spontaneously emptying during the night.

If behavioural changes don’t stop bedwetting, your doctor may consider medication. The most common is desmopressin (DDAVP), which reduces urine production. “It works better in older children (ages 9-13) but medication doesn’t cure anything. It just controls the symptoms until bedwetting resolves with age,” says Dr. Bennett. “I don’t use medication very often—mostly for sleepovers or camp where the child is concerned about being dry.” If a child drinks too much at night, this medication may cause a drop in sodium levels, which can lead to illness. In rare cases the medication causes seizures.