Millions of children over the age of five wet the bed. For most, time will solve the problem eventually. But how long will eventually be, and at what cost to parents frayed nerves or to the child's self-esteem? Parents can speed up the clock and children can wake up dry. The experts at America's leading centre for treating childhood enuresis - the Try for Dry program at Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago - offer proven techniques that bring bedwetting to a happy end. They cover the pros and cons of wetting alarms, drug therapies, biofeedback treatment, and changes in diet and sleeping schedules, and they provide friendly advice on how to replace punishment and shame with awards and praise. With diaries, calendars, and other visual aids that help the child share responsibility for a solution, this authoritative book gets parents and children over a most frustrating hurdle.
Providing care for children who wet."Getting To Dry - How to Help Your Child Overcome Bedwetting" began as a conversation between myself, (a then recent graduate of Northwestern University's Department of Urology) and Dr. Diane Rosenbaum, a specialist in child psychology.
It was a conversation over pizza and began with a simple question of how to help the majority of children who wet that had neither a urological birth defect nor important psychopathology.
Based on what we had seen in our patients, Dr. Rosenbaum and I were convinced that we could develop a successful program to treat the remaining majority of children who struggle each day with bedwetting.
Once nurse and parent educator Barbara Keating, R.N., M.S. was onboard, this spark of an idea soon developed into Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital's popular and successful "Try For Dry" program, on which the book "Getting To Dry" is based.
Our approach is unique because the program was developed by a collaborative interdisciplinary team, each bringing to the problem his or her own professional perspective and knowledge.
We knew that the "secret to success" was parent, child and medical professional working together. The program is expressly designed to put the control in the hands of the parent or caregiver. It is you who will help direct treatment.
Following our guidelines, you will determine the likely cause of your child's wetting, and develop a strategy for solving the problem.
With "Getting To Dry" -- we offer the first aggressive, carefully organized assault expressly aimed to solve wetting problems -- with the book as your guide you will be able to successfully help your child overcome his or her bedwetting.
In our country today millions of desperate parents and their children struggle with bedwetting. This book is an answer to that call for help.
On behalf of our entire Try for Dry team, I wish you the greatest success.
Max Maizels, M.D.
Division of Urology, Children's Memorial Hospital Chicago, Illinois
