Bedwetting can be upsetting for children and frustrating for parents who are regularly faced with wet beds. A child can feel a sense of shame and that they are different from their friends. Even parents often feel uncomfortable talking to anyone about their child’s problem. Bedwetting is very common though. At the age of five one in seven children wet the bed regularly. By 10, one in 20 are still affected.

Studies show that children who receive professional help and advice are more likely to achieve dryness at night than those who don’t. Given that one or two in every 100 children will continue bedwetting into adulthood, getting help at the right time is really important.

What causes bedwetting?

It’s thought that children who regularly wet the bed after the age of five are slower than others to develop the complex co-ordination between nerves and muscles necessary to control the bladder. They may also not be producing enough of an anti-diuretic hormone called vasopressin, which concentrates the urine at night.

The tendency runs in families. More than three quarters of school age children who wet the bed have a parent who was affected too.

Other factors linked to bedwetting include stress, or change in a child’s life such as moving house, starting school or the arrival of a new sibling.

Occasionally there can be a physical cause such as a urinary tract infection (marked by cloudy, smelly urine) which is easily treated with a course of antibiotics. It’s also a good idea to exclude constipation which can affect bladder capacity. Diabetes and kidney disease, both rare in childhood, are linked with bedwetting but in those cases there would be other symptoms too.

Does my child have a small bladder?

Children who wet the bed do tend to hold less urine in their bladders than those who don’t. This isn’t because their bladders are structurally small. It’s more to do with them being less used to holding on when their bladder is half full.

Is my child sleeping too deeply?

There isn’t any evidence to suggest that children who wet the bed sleep more deeply than others. The problem is they may have difficulty in waking from sleep.

Is lifting my child to visit the toilet at night helpful then?

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