You may wish to see a doctor about your child's bedwetting if: your child is at least seven years old (treatment for bedwetting is not recommended before this age as treatment is less effective and many children get better on their own) you or your child are troubled or frustrated by the bedwetting.
Bedwetting is not considered abnormal until after five years of age. That being said, there isn't a specific age when you should become overly concerned about the issue. The rule of thumb is that you should seek treatment when your child starts to worry about wetting the bed or you start to worry about the issue.
Consult your child's doctor if: Your child still wets the bed after age 7. Your child starts to wet the bed after a few months of being dry at night. Bed-wetting is accompanied by painful urination, unusual thirst, pink or red urine, hard stools, or snoring.
A healthcare provider will see bedwetting as an issue if your child is over age 12 and continues to wet the bed two or more times a week for at least three months in a row. Although bedwetting isn't a serious condition, it can cause stress for your child and family.
Nighttime bedwetting (the medical term for this is nocturnal enuresis) is pretty common in young children. In fact, about 10 percent of 7-year-old kids have nighttime bedwetting. This usually goes away on its own over time. By the time kids are 10, only about 5 percent still have it.
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.
Psychological factors are clearly contributory in a minority of children with enuresis. These children have experienced a stress such as parental conflict, trauma, abuse, or hospitalization. In these few cases the wetting is seen as a regressive symptoms in response to the stress.
Bedwetting quite often is a result of your child's bladder not being mature enough to hold urine produced during the night. The bladder is a muscular organ that children learn to control, much like learning to walk and control your leg muscles. Difficulty recognizing a full bladder.
Bedwetting is a type of parasomnia, or a sleep disorder causing undesired activities or behaviors during sleep. Also called enuresis, bedwetting is common in young children while their brains and bladders mature. Most kids can control their bladder during sleep by ages 5 to 7.
Desmopressin acetate is the preferred medication for treating children with enuresis. A Cochrane review of 47 randomized trials concluded that desmopressin therapy reduces bedwetting; children treated with desmopressin had an average of 1.3 fewer wet nights per week.
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.
The range is very wide regarding bedwetting. Typically, a child becomes toilet trained between ages 2 and 4. But some won't be able to stay dry through the night until they are older. By age 5 or 6, 85% of children can stay dry, but some children still wet the bed from time to time until age 10 or 12.
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.
After age 5, about 15% of children continue to wet the bed, and by age 10, 95% of children are dry at night.
Secondary enuresis in older children or teens should be evaluated by a doctor. Bedwetting in this age group could be a sign of a urinary tract infection or other health problems, neurological issues (related to the brain), stress, or other issues.
When a child is anxious, their body can run low on vasopressin. This can then mean they might produce too much wee for the bladder to hold at night and increase the chance they might accidentally wet the bed.
If the doctor finds no underlying cause, the bedwetting is called primary nocturnal enuresis. If a separate medical condition, such as a urinary tract infection, diabetes, spinal cord abnormalities, or malformations of body parts like the urethra, is causing the bedwetting, it's called secondary nocturnal enuresis.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, nasal spray formulations of desmopressin (Noctiva, others) are no longer recommended for treatment of bed-wetting due to the risk of serious side effects. Calm the bladder.
It's worth eliminating these from your child's diet. And rather confusingly, real sugar can also be the cause of wet beds. Most parents would agree that sweet, fizzy drinks can also result in a bad night.
Offer support, not punishment, for wet nights. Be honest with your child about what is going on. Let your child know it's not their fault and that most children outgrow bedwetting. Be sensitive to your child's feelings.
Punishing your child: children aren't to blame for bedwetting, so there is no point in punishing them. It will only make your child feel worse. Embarrassing your child: be as sensitive as possible when discussing bedwetting with your child.
In fact, according to a study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, as many as 38% of children with autism experience bedwetting beyond the age of five, compared to only 15% of typically developing children.
Growing pains are not related to growth spurts. Bed-wetting is hereditary. Night terrors are one of the most common reasons parents bring their child to the pediatrician.