Bedwetting is only recognized as being a problem after the age of 5 and when a child regularly wets the bed three times a week or more. Most Children are able to remain dry at night by the time they reach 5 Years old; however if left untreated it can persist so that even at 7.5 Years 15 out of every hundred children sometimes wet the bed. This means that in a class of 30 Pupils 4 or 5 of them could be affected. It is generally more common in boys than in girls.

What Causes bedwetting?

Bedwetting often runs in families. Usually, the child becomes dry at about the same age as the parent did. Bedwetting is not due to laziness or nastiness.
It is now believed that bedwetting, also called nocturnal enuresis, may be caused by one or more of the following problems:

Urine Production does not slow down at night

We all produce a substance called vasopressin to slow down production of urine overnight. If you wet the bed, it is possible you do not produce enough vasopressin to reduce urine production.

Bladder capacity/instability

Some Children who wet the bed have a small bladder with a low capacity that holds less than the average amount of urine so they may need to pass urine more often.

Difficulty Waking

Some children are not able to wake up when their bladder is full and so when it empties, they wet the bed. However, difficulty waking does not cause bedwetting alone and is normally present with one of the other problems.

Ways to Help Bedwetting Children