The History of Bedwetting

This latest article is an uncomfortable narrative of enuresis, more commonly known as bed-wetting. If you are wondering why anyone would be in need of a history of something we would all rather forget, you may find it worthwhile to read the full article on Ziddu. Hint: it's a Foucauldian treatment of the issue. 

Luckily, this contraption is now longer in common use.

Memorable Quotations: Bedwetting has posed a slippery problem for the human sciences. Between waking and sleeping, infancy and childhood, it exists in a fluid space. (49) Serious face. 

Praising the treatment of incontinence of urine by ‘mechanical means’, a doctor argues in a prominent medical journal in 1864 for the utility of a vice, which he describes as a ‘formidable rat-trap looking instrument’ for retaining urine in male children. ‘It must be accommodated to the size of the penis, and taken off whenever the patient finds an inclination to make water’ (53)

In his article, ‘Enuresis in Murderous Aggressive Children and Adolescents’, Michaels (1961) insisted that bedwetting was indicative of deeper psychological problems that posed a menace to the social order. (58)

Proctor & Gamble has added a size to its stretch diapers, accommodating children 36 pounds (16.3 kg) and up. The new diapers are advertised by celebrity paediatricians encouraging parents to let their kids toilet-train at their own pace. (60)

[I]n recent advertisements the stigma attached to bedwetting is heavily emphasized: ‘For him there’s nothing worse than waking up cold, wet and alone. Except waking up cold, wet and surrounded by friends.’ (60)

Strange Findings: Until the 17^th century, it was widely thought in Europe that eating the bladders of animals would help with bladder control. (51)

Taking your business inside was not a "natural" development. All the way until the 19th century in Europe public places were the primary sites for...erm...business. (54)

There is an increasing trend of longer delays in toilet training since the 1960s. (60)