How does food influence production of urine during the night?
Our son (about 7 years old) has a massive problem with bed wetting. He doesn't wake up at night, if he needs to pee.
see also Bed gets wet nearly each night although diaper is worn
What we do:
meal time normally ends 6:30 PM, he goes to bed between 1 and 1.5 hours later
(no snacks after that and it practically not the case that he gets thursty again and then drinks something after the end of this meal time)
he goes to the toilet directly after the meal and then a last time directly before going to bed (between 7:30 and 8:00 PM normally)
he puts the diaper on directly before going to bed (to avoid that it is already used for convenience instead of using the toilet)
He still wears a diaper in bed
We wake him once in the middle of the night (between midnight and 2 o'clock), send him to the toilet and change the diaper!
Still there are some days where even the second diaper is not enough and clothes and bedclothes get wet!
I heard that the food he eats in the evening might influence how much urine is produced during the night and that sweet food could stimulate production of urine while salty food could decrease it.
Where can I find more information about those biological relations?
Remarks:
yes, I'm sure he puts the diapers on correctly, it's just that he really often produces a lot of urine during the night!
the specialised doctor advised us to try to increase the amount of drinking during daytime and decrease drinking during the evening meal, which is difficult.
I know that there is just a certain small percentage of children at this age (or older) with that problem (for the medical explanation see my older question: Bed gets wet nearly each night although diaper is worn). So that's "OK" for us, but we only try to find a practical solution which does avoid changing and washing bed clothes nearly on a daily basis, which takes a lot of time and effort.
(Water usage and the cost for sure is an environmental and economical problem, but in this case not our concern.)
(3)3 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
Certain foods directly influence the production of urine if they are diuretic. Diuretic substances are those that increase the production of urine.
I would advise to have your child avoid diuretic foods at dinner time. If you search for "diuretic foods" you'll get many pages, most with similar results(such as Bembu and Livestrong).
Diuretics are well-established in the medical community, and many foods and substances are known to be diuretics. There's not much I can find in the way of anti-diuretics (besides salt). So, this would seem to primarily be an issue of avoiding certain foods, rather than partaking in certain foods.
Many foods indirectly influence the production of urine based on their water content. Fruits and sauces, for instance, have high water content. About 20% of your daily water intake is from food alone.
Food influences aside, you may also need to monitor your child's bathroom usage earlier than immediately after the meal and before bed. If your child has a habit (conscious or not) of holding in his urine, then urine evacuated before bed might still be a "backlog" from the food and drink consumed before his evening meal. Once a child is old enough to know how to hold their pee in during the day, they're old enough realize going to the restroom might take time away from play, and go less often than their body tells them to. (Speaking from experience, here.)
Small bladder conditions aside, if his body is trying to catch up throughout the night with eliminating the remaining excess water from the day, then it'll inevitably lead to needing to urinate at night. Ideally, this would wake him up and he'd use the restroom on his own (easier said than done).
I don't know about sweet vs. salty, but most food has at least some water content, and some food has a very high water content (think cucumbers). It's entirely normal to need to urinate some time after eating, even when you don't drink.
About one in forty children aged 7 will wet the bed at night.
This website gives some information about bedwetting, including information about treatments.
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Bedwetting/Pages/Introduction.aspx
sweet food could stimulate production of urine while salty food could decrease it.
Do not give your seven year old child salty food in the hopes of preventing bed wetting. That's borderline abusive.
Sometimes people make the mistake of restricting fluid intake by too much. This means the child never learns the signals of a full bladder. So, during the day you should make sure the child has enough to drink, but you should try restricting fluid intake in the evening.
Waking your child during the night is unlikely to help.
If you live in England you can try applying to get a reduction in your water bill. Most water utility companies have schemes where people with medical conditions that require a lot of washing machine use (eg people with eczema will use a lot of emollient which means they need to wash their bed sheets a lot) can get cheaper bills.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2026 All Rights reserved.