Today, I’m breaking down the connection between bedwetting and primitive reflexes!
Did you know bedwetting can be linked to the spinal galant reflex? This reflex develops in the womb and should integrate after birth, but factors like C-sections, positioning during delivery, or interrupted development can prevent proper integration.
I’ll explain how the birth process naturally helps this reflex integrate and why some children continue experiencing bedwetting when it doesn’t. I also share a game-changing tip about bladder control development: the pedaling motion! Using low-riding scooters or tricycles activates the transverse abdominis muscle, which sits right in front of the bladder and helps signal when it’s full.
*Note: Balance bikes don’t provide this same developmental benefit because they use a different movement pattern.
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Full Transcript
Introduction and Bedwetting Overview 0:00
Hi, everybody. Welcome to Connect My Brain, Truth Bonds. This is where I come in five minutes, lay something on you, and ask you to think about it. Okay, by any chance, are you dealing with bedwetting with your little one? So let me give you a little bit of background. Bedweting is part of a primitive reflex called spinal gallant. Spinal glunt happened when babies in the womb, anytime a stimulation to the back, the baby would urinate.
Birth Factors and Primitive Reflexes 0:31
When a baby is born, when the babies coming out of the birth canal, their mom's pelvis, primarily the pubic bone, is riding along the muscles of their back and the sacrum or the bigger bone in the back of the pelvis is actually on the front side of baby and it's actually squeezing out the byproduct of pregnancy. So babies will urinate at birth. That's why going through the birth canal is so important. And so we think about what could be some red flags. Some red flag could a C-section. A red flag could be the babies turned the opposite way and the pubic bone goes over their face versus the back.
It could something with that first notorious bowel movement and maybe they aspirated some, maybe were stained by meconium. So these are things that you can think about from the birth process. Now always remember, primitive reflexes have a beginning and primitive have an end.
Developmental Interruptions and Bedwetting Causes 1:44
And so if it does not integrate timely, that's when they could be laying in bed, wiggling around, any kind of stimulation, And they're wetting the bed. I can remember when I started off as a chiropractor, they told us there were typically two to three areas that was almost like a light switch. You could adjust this person and they wouldn't wet the bad again. And I saw a little bit where some kids had some dry nights, but they also had wet nights. And that was one of the inspirations that made me go deeper and learn about the development of our children.
There are so many pieces and if you don't go through development correctly or something interrupts that line of development, these reflexes may not integrate and they may also come back following some type of an event. And the events, the lists are very, very long. So consider that when you're thinking about why is my child still bedwetting? Now, let me give you an anatomical piece before we wrap up our truth bomb.
Bladder Control, Core Stability, and Bike Skills 2:57
If your child is bedwetting, reach out to connectmybrain.com. Send me, I'd like some more information and I'll reach to you and we can talk about it. But the ability to gain bladder control is a developmental sequence. And there have been many things that have interrupted these sequences. So one of the things is a child may not feel stable. There could be some other reflexes that are involved by making them walk on their toes. If they were to go backwards, they might be afraid they're going to fall.
That's another reflex. that's your eyes, that your vestibular system. But maybe then they avoid Riding a tricycle, or they just can't figure it out, Or they've got many other things going on and trying to coordinate that motion is not possible. Depending upon the age of your child, start with a low riding scooter. making sure that their feet are on the ground. If you do that pedaling motion just like we did when we do the bicycle abdominal move and we move our legs like pump them for a bicycle, you're going to feel the activation of the lowest abdominal muscle called the transverse abdominis.
When we bring tone to that muscle, it's in front of the bladder. So as the ladder gets full, It sends a signal to the brain, I gotta go. Balance bikes do not do this. When children are on a balance bike, they go tap, tap tap. They're not getting into the dynamics of what is really required to learn how to ride a bike. Okay, if you want some help in that area, reach out to Connect My Brain. you
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