Information pack: An information pack on bedwetting is to be sent to every primary school in Ireland this week. An estimated 46,000 Irish children over the age of five are believed to suffer unnecessarily from bedwetting.
The Dry Nights Bedwetting Information Pack aims to reassure parents that bedwetting (enuresis) - a distressing condition affecting children both physically and mentally - is a treatable medical disorder.
Only one in six parents of children who wet the bed consult their GP and 91 per cent are unaware that medical treatment is available. The Irish Enuresis Advisory Group (IEAG), in association with the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN), is appealing to schools to help identify children who may be suffering and to encourage parents to seek help and advice.
"Bedwetting is a very misunderstood condition that can cause immense stress for both parents and children," said Dr Sami Ahmed, consultant paediatrician at Bon Secours Hospital in Cork and IEAG chairman. "Most parents don't talk to their GP about bedwetting as they think it is something all children go through or is caused by laziness or stresses such as starting school. Bedwetting is more likely to create emotional problems than to be caused by them, and not all children simply grow out of it."