I have a 7-year-old son who has never been dry. I do restrict his evening fluids and I make sure he urinates right before bedtime. Sometimes I find it may be dependent on what vitamins he takes that day. Could that be possible? I have heard that St. John's Wort is beneficial for bedwetters. Any truth to this?
Answer
First of all, make sure your son is drinking plenty of water during the day as well as voiding frequently, about every two hours. Urination serves to rid the body of excess water as well as waste products. In some children that do not void frequently enough, the bladder begins to hold on to large volumes, which may come out at night.
I am not aware of any studies using St. John's Wort so I can't comment on the effectiveness for bedwetters and have not heard of this before. However, some vitamins and their metabolites are excreted in the urine, so it's possible that a connection exists as you've noticed. To test this connection, you might want to try either changing the time the vitamin is given or holding off on the vitamin if it is not needed for a week or two and determine the strength of the relationship with bedwetting.
Christopher Cooper
Director of Pediatric Urology Children's Hospital of Iowa
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