The insula is widely considered to be involved in bladder control.
Neurologic disease (problems with the brain or nerves).
Sometimes a spinal cord problem that develops with growth or that is present early in childhood can cause bedwetting. If your child has other symptoms like numbness, tingling, or pain in the legs, a spinal issue may be considered.
A hormone called antidiuretic hormone, or ADH, causes the body to make less pee at night.
Psychological or emotional problems: Emotional stress caused by traumatic events or disruptions in your normal routine can cause bedwetting. For example, moving to a new home, enrolling in a new school, the death of a loved one or sexual abuse may cause bedwetting episodes.
Several factors have been associated with an increased risk of bed-wetting, including: Stress and anxiety. Stressful events — such as becoming a big brother or sister, starting a new school, or sleeping away from home — may trigger bed-wetting. Family history.
Bedwetting can frequently occur in children with ADHD. The medical term for bedwetting is enuresis. Research has found that around 28–32% of people with ADHD may also have enuresis. Another study found that around 40% of children with ADHD may also have enuresis.
Although it is not completely understood why bedwetting occurs, it is thought to happen because of a delay in the development in at least one of the following three areas at nighttime: Bladder: less space in the bladder at night. Kidney: more urine is made at night. Brain: unable to wake up during sleep.
Stress and anxiety in and of themselves will not cause a child who never wet the bed to start nighttime wetting. However, stress can contribute indirectly to nighttime wetting. Emotional and psychological stress can cause a child to behave or act differently, which can lead to nighttime wetting.
Most experts agree that emotional stress can be a trigger for children or teenagers to start wetting the bed, even when they have been dry for months, or years. Big upheavals and stresses in a child or teen's life, whether at home or at school, can help explain why they start bedwetting.
Some causes of bedwetting that affect both adults and children include: Hormonal imbalance: The body produces antidiuretic hormone (ADH) to slow urine production at night. If the body is not producing enough ADH, or if the kidneys are not responding to the hormone as usual, it can cause bedwetting.
Many children will use the toilet well during the day long before they are dry through the night. It can be many months, even years, before children stay dry overnight. Most children, but not all, stop bedwetting between the ages of 5 and 6 years old.
If your child wets the bed after having been dry at night in the past, it is important that they be seen by a doctor. The bed-wetting may be a sign that stress or a disease is causing the problem. Chiropractic neurology can help by removing any irritation that may be affecting the nerves that control bladder function.
Children who wet their bed have lower self-esteem, restrictions on social activities and are at risk of physical and emotional abuse. Adult bed wetters have higher rates of depression, lower self-esteem and the condition has a significant impact on education and career choices.
Conversely, children who are depressed sometimes show up with symptoms common in childhood like enuresis or bed-wetting -- that's a common symptom of depression in young people.
Stress and anxiety.
Ongoing stress or anxiety about a situation you are going through may trigger adult bedwetting, which may last long after your stressful problem is over.
Research with people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental disabilities (DD) has found a higher prevalence of bedwetting. A study on sleep problems in children with autism found that 27.7 % of parents reported that their child had enuresis (Williams et al.
Behavior therapy with a urine alarm is the treatment of choice for simple bed-wetting. Over 50 years of research supports this claim. A permanent solution to bed-wetting can be expected for about 5 of every 10 children treated with a urine alarm.
It isn't uncommon for some people to wet the bed well into the teen years. Genetics, health conditions, psychological turmoil, and daily sleep and dietary patterns can all be factors. Your teen is likely to outgrow the problem in time.
But it's often a natural part of development, and kids usually grow out of it. It's most common in young kids, but can last into the teen years. Most of the time, bedwetting is not a sign of any deeper medical or emotional issues. Bedwetting often runs in families: many kids who wet the bed have a relative who did too.
Parents often also use pull-ups (larger-size diapers), trying to control the behavior and the mess. Pull-ups can be effective in reducing the mess of bedwetting, but in general, will prolong the problem.
In most cases, children wet the bed because the brain signals that tell the body the bladder is full haven't fully matured, Dixon says. Other factors include smaller-than-average bladder capacity, higher urine production overnight or a higher level of bladder muscle activity. Genetics are also a factor, he says.
Bedwetting is more common in boys—and in all children whose parents wet the bed when they were young. Your child's chances of wetting the bed are about 1 in 3 when one parent was affected as a child. If both parents were affected, the chances that your child will wet the bed are 7 in 10.