Stop Bed-Wetting and ADHD Behavior - Do the Wiggle Worm
Bed wetting can be embarrassing for the child and exhausting for mom. Sleepovers are out of the question. All that money spent on laundry could be spent on food (which isn't getting any cheaper). Your time spent stripping the bed, washing the sheets and making the bed again, day after day, could be spent working from home and spending quality time with your child.
My son used to wet the bed every day. The pediatrician told me that it was nothing to worry about because the bladder doesn't mature until age 7. But, then why didn't all the other kids' moms I knew have bed wetters? As a working mom, I was tired of spending my valuable time and money washing sheets all the time.
From experience with my son, and as a Montessori preschool teacher, I have learned three simple ways to stop bedwetting and ADHD behaviors at the same time. This article will focus on a primitive reflex called the Spinal Galant Reflex.
What's that?
The Spinal Galant reflex is one of many primitive reflexes present at birth. Most people are familiar with sucking and rooting, grasping (Palmar Reflex), the startle reflex (Moro Reflex). These are all important developmental milestones that doctors observe to judge the child's development. The Spinal Galant Reflex exists to help the baby move down the birth canal. A light stroke to the lower end of the spine causes him to instantly and involuntarily move his back to that side.
This reflex is active at birth and is normally integrated and then inhibited by nine months of age. Children who are delivered c-section often do not integrate this reflex. Unless there is intervention, the reflex stays active into adulthood. My son was delivered c-section. So, it was natural that his Spinal Galant Reflex stayed active even into elementary school.
Many children who have an active Spinal Galant reflex have trouble sitting in their chair for any length of time and they tend to wet the bed. If you tell this child to sit up straight with his back against the chair, the chair will tickle his back and he will find all kinds of awkward positions to avoid having the chair touch his back. This hinders his ability to pay attention in class. Then, he gets tagged as an ADHD child.
An active Spinal Galant reflex can cause bed-wetting because contact with the bedding triggers that reflex. Tickling can have the same effect. At the preschool where I worked for three years, several children who had active Spinal Galant reflexes could not stay seated for any length of time. It seemed that their bottoms were spring loaded. They worked and ate standing up at the table. At circle time, they were rolling on the floor instead of sitting on their bottoms. Also, they tended to wear their pants like a plumber- below the waist. Those who were nappers tended to wet the bed at naptime.
We did a simple rocking exercise, wiggling the children's hips while the children were lying face down on the bed, every day at nap time.We call it the wiggle worm. This exercise comes from Rhythmic Movement Training and it helps integrate the Spinal Gallant reflex. After several months of this rocking, the reflex was integrated and the bed wetting stopped. I also do this exercise with my son. It helps him calm down. He is able to sit for an entire meal, now. He can even complete an entire homework assignment in one sitting. He rarely wets the bed anymore.
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