Bed-Wetting
© American Institute for Preventive Medicine. All Rights Reserved. HealthyLife.com
Passing urine during sleep is called “bed-wetting” when it occurs after age 5 or 6. Children are usually expected to have nighttime bladder control by this age. Bed-wetting is a very common problem. In the U.S., about 5 million children have it.
Enuresis is a medical term for bed-wetting.
{Note: Bed-wetting can damage a child’s self-image. Explain that bed-wetting is not their fault and that it will get better in time.}
Causes
Children don’t wet the bed on purpose. These are some causes of bed-wetting:
- A full bladder does not wake the child up due to miscommunication between the brain and the bladder.
- A child’s small bladder does not hold urine for an entire night.
- Other conditions, such as a urinary tract infection and diabetes. (Daytime wetting and other symptoms occur with these conditions.)
- For children who have been dry at night for 6 or more months, sometimes, emotional upsets and major changes can cause bed-wetting. An example is having a new baby in the house.
- Children are more likely to wet the bed if both parents did when they were children.
- Sleep apnea, when a child’s breathing gets interrupted when they sleep.
Treatment
Most of the time, children outgrow bed-wetting. Until then, self-care measures help with the problem. Medication can be prescribed when no other treatment works.
- Drinks a lot of liquids
- Goes to the bathroom more than normal in the day or night
- Acts very tired
- Eats a lot more than normal and gains or loses weight
- Itches around the groin
- A fever
- Pain in the low stomach or mid back area
- Burning feeling when they urinate
- Bad-smelling urine
- Loud snoring that interrupts their flow of breathing
- Daytime sleepiness
Self-Care
- Be patient and give your child lots of support. Children who wet the bed can’t help it. Do not blame or punish your child for wetting the bed.
- Limit fluids in the evening, especially 2 hours before bedtime. Ask your child’s doctor how much your child should drink. Don’t give drinks with caffeine.