Are Night-Time Diapers Prolonging Bed Wetting?

Through studies, Pediatricians and Doctors have learned that 99% of all bed wetting (enuresis) cases are linked to children sleeping profoundly. The brain sleeps so deeply that, when signaled by the bladder that it is full, the brain does not respond. When the brain doesn't respond, the bladder empties involuntarily. This deep sleep problem is then usually exacerbated by a second fact: an underdeveloped bladder capacity and a weak and desensitized Urethral Sphincter muscle (The muscle that holds the urine inside the bladder).

Wearing a diaper (or any diaper-like product), exacerbates the problem on both accounts. Let's start with deep sleep.

Deep Sleep: Rip n Go vs. Night-Time Diapers

So we've learned that the child doesn't wake up because of undeveloped neural connection. The need to go pee isn't telling the brain to wake up. This neural link is strengthened when the child's brain (we could call it the subconscious) starts to distinguish between the wet bed and the dry bed. A wet bed should prompt the child to wake up. If the child is wearing a diaper, however, the child will not wake up when they've wet themselves because it's contained within the diaper. The neural link can't be forged because there is no difference between the bed before and after it's wet. If, on the other hand, there's no diaper and the urine is allowed to go on the Rip n Go pad, the child's subconscious will be far more likely to recognize that the bed has been wet. The child can then not only wake up, but also quickly change the pad. This way, the neural connections are strengthened: wet = awake, dry = sleep. 

Weakened Urethral Sphincter Muscle

Being able to wake up when the need to pee arises isn't the only thing which is going to help your child conquer their bed-wetting. They also need to be able to hold it while still asleep and while they make their way to the washroom. When you wear a diaper, it doesn't matter where you pee, it will be contained within it. There is therefore little impetus for the child to hold their pee. Thus the child goes as soon as they have to. As a result, the bladder is weakened, specifically the urethral sphincter muscle.