Inside the Box
A podcast for women and professionals alike, hosted by mums and Women's Health Physiotherapists, Kat, Tash, and Caitlin. Established and driven by our desires to share our passion for educating and empowering women to better understand their bodies, in particular - what's inside their 'box'. Amongst ourselves, real-life patients and leading industry experts, we’ll unpack a variety of topics including pelvic floor dysfunction, pregnancy, exercise, birth, postpartum, sexual pain, endometriosis, leakage, prolapse and beyond.
Inside the Box
Dry Nights: The Evidence Behind Bedwetting Treatment with Dawn Sandalcidi
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Bedwetting is one of the most common concerns families bring to a paediatric health appointment - and one of the most misunderstood. In this episode, Kat and Caitlin sit down with Dawn Sandalcidi, paediatric pelvic health physiotherapist, to dig into the evidence behind nocturnal enuresis: what’s driving it, how to assess it properly, and what actually works. Whether you’re a clinician seeing kids in your practice or a parent who’s been lifting a half-asleep child to the toilet at midnight for the past two years, this one’s for you.
In this episode we cover:
- How common is bedwetting, and when does it stop being “normal”?
- What’s actually causing it?
- How do you assess a child with bedwetting?
- Where does physio fit in?
- What does evidence-based treatment actually look like?
- Bedwetting alarms: the what, when, and how long
- Desmopressin: when does medication fit in?
- Should parents be lifting their child overnight?
- The myths and mistakes Dawn sees most often
From fluid restriction to punishment-adjacent responses to starting treatment before a child is ready, Dawn shares the patterns she encounters regularly and what she wishes families (and clinicians) understood earlier. This section alone is worth sharing with every parent who walks through your door with a bedwetting history.
Resources mentioned:
• ERIC (Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence) — eric.org.uk
• Bladder and Bowel Australia — bladderbowel.gov.au
• International Children’s Continence Society (ICCS) guidelines on nocturnal enuresis
About Dawn Sandalcidi @kidsbowelbladder
Dawn is a paediatric pelvic health physiotherapist and a trailblazer and leading expert in the field of pediatric pelvic floor disorders. She is a national and international speaker in the field, and she has learned so much from sharing experiences with her colleagues around the globe.
