Breastfeeding and Enuresis

Can Nursing Prevent Childhood Bedwetting?

By Teri Brown

A study published in the journal Pediatrics gives breastfeeding advocates another weapon in their arsenal. The study, headed by Dr. Joseph G. Barone, chief of pediatric urology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, concludes that breastfeeding longer than three months may protect against bedwetting during childhood.

This makes complete sense to Heather Cook, mother of two from Calgary, Canada. "This doesn't surprise me," she says. "Kids who are breastfed or who co-sleep tend to sleep lighter. Since many kids who wet the bed are deep sleepers or don't wake when they have the urge to go, it stands to reason that their early life of waking more often would predispose them to waking more often during the night when they have to go to the bathroom."

The news also makes sense to breastfeeding mother Sissel Chapman from Alberta, Canada. "My youngest daughter was dry at night before she was weaned," Chapman says. "She was dry all night at 2 1/2 years, and we didn't try to make it happen; we just discovered her diaper was never wet and went on to let her sleep without."

If such a connection does exist between childhood nocturnal bedwetting and breastfeeding, one has to wonder why. Dr. Barone believes it has to do with development. "Bedwetting is associated with developmental delay and breastfeeding to developmental advantage," he says. "Since they are both related to development, we asked if breastfeeding might provide a developmental advantage as far as the development of bedwetting is concerned."

According to Dr. Barone, there are many developmental advantages that are associated with breastfeeding, including better vision and improved cognition. This study supports the hypothesis that breastfeeding is also protective against the development of bedwetting, though additional studies are needed to confirm these preliminary findings.

Dr. Carol Steltenkamp, associate professor of pediatrics for the University of Kentucky's Kentucky Children's Hospital, believes it may be due to improved neurodevelopment. "Essentially, what the authors suggest in their results and conclusions is that clinical evidence strongly suggests that many cases of nocturnal enuresis result from delayed neurodevelopment," she says. "Multiple previously-published studies align improved neurodevelopment with breastfeeding. Neurodevelopmental maturation is essential to prevent the development of nocturnal enuresis." However, Dr. Steltenkamp is quick to point out that the study does not prove this; it merely says that a connection could exist.

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