Does waking up my child to go to the toilet at night affect his sleep and growing taller?

Pediatrician Bao Xiulan

2024-04-25 20:00Published in the Department of Pediatrics, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Shaanxi

Do you wake up your child at night to go to the toilet?

Recently, a mother has been worried about this matter a lot, and she has quarreled with her mother-in-law a few times about it.

She said that the child no longer wears diapers, but every night when she sleeps until midnight, her mother-in-law has to wake up the child and let him go to the toilet, worrying that he will wet the bed. She didn't let her scream, saying that it would affect the child's sleep and make the child not grow taller.

So, waking up your child to go to the toilet at night will it affect your child's growth?

01. Does waking up at night to go to the toilet affect my height?

Before answering this question, let's figure out what are the specific factors that affect a child's height?

First of all, we all know that there are two main factors that determine a child's height: congenital and acquired. Among them, congenital factors are mainly determined by the genetic factors of parents, accounting for about 70%~80%.

Acquired factors include nutrition, exercise, lifestyle habits, and other factors such as illness and psychology. It is especially important during the critical period of children's growth and development, such as infancy and adolescence.

As we all know, balanced nutrition is necessary for a child's growth and development, especially protein, calcium and vitamin D, which all play a key role in bone development.

For example, studies have shown that cow's milk intake is positively correlated with bone growth in children. Children who consumed 500 ml of milk per day had significantly higher bone mineral density and height gains than those who consumed no or small amounts of milk.

In addition to moderate nutritional supplementation, moderate exercise is also very important for height development, which not only stimulates bone growth, but also promotes growth hormone secretion.

Some researchers have followed up a group of 12~16-year-old adolescents and found that the average height growth rate of adolescents who do aerobic exercise at least 3 times a week is about 0.5cm higher than that of those who do not exercise.

In addition to the above factors, there are some negative factors, such as diseases, adverse psychological states, etc., which will also affect height, such as long-term stress, anxiety, etc., which will inhibit the secretion of growth hormone.

It is now generally known that growth hormone may be secreted more during sleep. So does waking up at night and going to the toilet really affect the growth?

The answer is: not much.

02. What is the effect of nighttime sleep on children's growth and development?

A study in Japan that observed a group of children with nocturia for a year found that those who were woken up with nocturia did not have a significant difference in height growth from undisturbed children.

Although the night is the peak time for growth hormone production, studies have shown that occasional interruption of sleep does not significantly affect the total amount of growth hormone secretion in children, and that growth hormone production resumes after children are woken up and as soon as they can return to deep sleep, so parents do not need to worry too much.

Growth hormone is mainly secreted during the deep sleep phase. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has also issued recommendations for the best sleep time for different age groups.

For 4~12 months old infants, the daily sleep time should be 12~16h, 1~3 years old children should ensure 11~14h sleep time every day, preschool children, should have 10~13h per day, primary school children, should ensure 9~12h of sleep every day, and junior high school teenagers, sleep time should not be less than 8h.

It can be seen that it is very important for children to ensure adequate sleep, which is not only related to height, but also may affect children's attention, learning ability and emotional state.

Seeing this, some parents may be anxious again, since sleep is so important, should they wake up their children to go to the toilet? Although this does not affect the height, will it cause other problems?

03. How to balance the relationship between going to the toilet at night and sleeping

Whether it is a child or an adult, being suddenly woken up in the middle of the night can produce bad emotions, especially for those who have difficulty falling asleep, and may need more time to fall asleep again.

The reason why parents want to wake up their children in the middle of the night to go to the toilet is usually because they are worried that their children will wet the bed. Because bedwetting at night can not only cause discomfort and affect sleep quality, but also can hit your child's self-esteem.

However, before the age of 3, the child's ability to control urination has not yet developed well, bedwetting is a normal phenomenon, parents do not need to force the child to get up at night, but the child is still wetting after the age of 5, it is necessary to consult a doctor in time, and it is not a good way to wake up frequently for the child.

The reason why it is not recommended to wake up a child to go to the toilet at night is because under normal circumstances, after the bladder is "full", the central brain system will receive a signal to urinate and produce a desire to urinate. If parents intervene frequently, it may interfere with the child's ability to control urination on their own.

There are many other ways to prevent your child from wetting the bed and get a good night's sleep, but you don't have to wake your child up.

For example, you can give your child diapers before the age of 3, and if your child's diapers are dry for several days in a row, you can try to take off the diapers and use a diastatic mattress instead.

For example, avoid drinking water 2 hours before bedtime or eating foods that are high in water. Many parents will let their children drink milk before bedtime, and in order to avoid the embarrassment of bedwetting, you can drink it 2 hours before bedtime.

Another example is that children can get into the habit of going to the toilet before going to bed.

In short, when dealing with the balance between going to the toilet and sleeping at night, we can completely avoid artificially disrupting the child's sleep. By adjusting their eating and drinking habits, and developing healthy habits, we can help children grow better.

Waking up your child to the toilet at night has a negligible effect on height, but it's still important to make sure your child gets enough, quality sleep. Parents should choose the appropriate method according to the specific situation of their child. After all, a child's growth is no small matter.

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