Bed-wetting in children: causes
The exact reasons for bed-wetting are not very well understood, but here are some possibilities.
- Bed-wetting seems to run in families the likelihood of a child wetting the bed is 40% if one parent suffered, and 70% if both parents suffered. So there is often a genetic element.
- One of the most common reasons for bed-wetting is the bladder muscle contracting and emptying the bladder when it is only half full of urine. This is because the child is just being slightly slow in developing the necessary nerve and muscle control there is nothing wrong.
- Some children produce a lot of urine at night, because the mechanisms that reduce urine production at night are slow to develop again, there is nothing actually wrong.
- There is very little scientific evidence to back up the idea that bed-wetting is a psychological problem. Some children do wet the bed if they have anxieties at home or school, but more often bed-wetting is a cause (rather than a result) of unhappiness.
- Parents often think that their child has a different, deeper sleep pattern than other children. There is no scientific evidence for this. The problem is more a difficulty with waking the sensation of a full bladder is not enough to wake the child.
- Occasionally, a medical condition such as a urine infection is responsible
Important points about bed-wetting
- Your child cannot help wetting the bed.
- Your child is not wetting the bed out of spite, or to attract attention, or by being too lazy to get out of bed.
- Try not to get irritated, and do not criticize your child for bed-wetting. Punishing a child for bed-wetting certainly will not help, and may make it worse.
- You and your child may feel depressed about the bed-wetting, and may feel it will never stop. Keep reminding yourself that most children grow out of it think of it as a temporary problem.
Written by: Dr Margaret Stearn
Edited by: Dr Margaret Stearn
Last updated:
Friday, February 12th 2010
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Posted by Anonymous on 30/07/2009 at 03:59:00 am
i disagree with the child be too lazy to get up. the reason is because if there was medical problem with his muscle control then why doesnt he wet himself during the day. which you are awake more hours durning the day than you are asleep. can you answer that
Posted by anoniimouse on 07/02/2009 at 09:55:00 pm
i wet the bed wen i was at a mates house first time in 5 years btw i am 11 and a half
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Bed wetting in children: causes
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Fascinating facts
Babies pass urine in the womb
Newborn babies may urinate 18 times a day
In Victorian times, children who wet the bed were allowed only plain and boring food. It was thought that cakes and pastries made bed-wetting more likely by causing irritating urine. (Of course, this is not the case.)
In an average class of thirty 10-year olds, there will be two who wet the bed
Bed-wetting affects 5-7 million children in the USA and 500,000 children in the UK
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