Food Allergies and Bed Wetting

I know, I know, this is SUCH an exciting topic I'm about to discuss ;).  Yes, you read that right.  Today, I'm going to blog about bed wetting... WOOT! 

(For those of you who follow our blog, you probably faintly remember a post about Conner's food allergies.  You can read it here for some background on Conner's allergies.)

About 3 months ago, I noticed something odd with Conner.  He had eaten something with a decent amount of dairy and wheat/gluten, and wet the bed that night.  Hmmmm......  I thought it was odd, but then thought maybe it was just a coincidence.  I mentioned it to David and he thought there was no way that food allergies and bed wetting could be connected, so I just brushed it off.

A while later, Conner got in to something again that had dairy and wheat, and again, he wet the bed!   I started thinking back about his bed wetting in the past.  I realized that since we have been gluten, dairy, wheat, and peanut free, Conner had zero nighttime accidents.... until he ate something with dairy and wheat.  I was staring to think there was a connection for sure, but still wasn't convinced.  A few weeks ago, David gave Conner real yogurt that had wheat and dairy in it (cake batter yogurt).  Sure enough, Conner we the bed.  Last night at our Church celebration, I had forgotten to get the kiddos dessert and felt bad, so I let them split an ice cream sandwich and that was a big mistake.  Conner wet the bed again.  Crazy, right????  Apparently not!  Even though Conner's "allergies" are more "sensitivities" that only showed up on IgG testing, not IgE, it still effected him.

I was curious as to WHY this could happen, and found some information about the link between allergies and bed wetting.  Apparently it has not been very well researched, because I'm having a hard time coming up with actual research reports.  I did find many links discussing the possibility, though.  Here are a few links.....

• Food allergies provoke bladder instability  
• Gluten sensitivity can trigger bladder problems
• Foods kids go for the most are ones they are most sensitive too, and these can cause night wetting
• Dairy and artificial colors may cause bed wetting
• Food allergies can cause a swollen, and therefore smaller, bladder
• Wheat, dairy, soy, corn, eggs, citrus, chocolate, peanuts, and cane sugar may cause bed wetting if a child has a sensitivity.

Since we began the diet, the ONLY time he wet the bed was when he had consumed foods he was highly sensitive to.  Before we started the diet, he was wetting fairly often.  It seems to go together for him.  It's pretty interesting!  I'm also wondering if David has some undiagnosed food sensitivities and would like him to get tested eventually.  I noticed that David gets up at least once a night to urinate (thankfully he doesn't wet the bed ;)), and it drives him nuts. 

Anyhow, if anyone out there has a kiddo that frequently wets the bed and no medical link has been found, it couldn't hurt to have them tested for food sensitivities to rule it out.