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Why Bedwetting Happens in Kids
Bedwetting鈥攕hould you be worried about it or not? It's actually something that's very common in kids, and it's something that a lot of people don't like to talk about.
So the one thing I want you to remember is it's not your child's fault that this is happening. That's one thing a lot of parents get really frustrated with is, "Ah, they wet the bed again." Don't worry. One, it's not your child's fault. Okay? Remember that. Two, the main reason it's not your child's fault is because your child's bladder is not as developed as yours, and so it takes longer for your bladder to know how long to hold the pee, and when is a good time for it to let go of the pee. And quite often, the bladder just doesn't realize when that time is, and just leaks.
Kids who are deep sleepers have this a whole lot more than others. The big thing that's also a risk factor for bedwetting is family history. If you have a family history of bedwetting, then you're probably going to have a child who bedwets as well.
When to Expect Bedwetting to Stop
Another question I get asked is, "How long is this going to go on?" Again, it depends on your family history. There are a lot of people, whom this will continue up until age 12. That's not unusual. Most kids between the ages of 6 and 10 will overcome this problem by themselves. Even without treatment, all children eventually will get over this.
How to Help Your Child Stay Dry at Night
How can you help your child through this? The first thing you can do is to help them get up and go to the bathroom during the night. Set an alarm, and when it goes off, no matter how sleepy your child is, get them to get up and go potty. Make sure there's a nightlight in the bathroom so they can find their way to the bathroom easily while they're still half asleep.
Adjusting Fluid Intake for Better Nighttime Control
Encourage them to drink during the day. After dinnertime, stop the fluids. So you want to make sure that your child stays hydrated, but you want them to do that by drinking during the day, not after dinnertime.
Simple Habits That Can Make a Big Difference
The other thing that you need to make sure that they do is, before they go to bed, make sure right before they go to bed, not, oh, I did it 15 minutes ago. Right before they go to bed, make sure they go to the bathroom to empty their bladder.
Managing Clean-Up
A lot of parents are worried about the bedding. Mattresses are expensive. You can actually get waterproof mattress covers that will help protect the mattress when your child urinates in the bed.
So you're also going to want to make sure, if they do bed wet, be sure that your child helps change the bed. That will help them also take more responsibility for this, and be more of an incentive for them to stay dry at night.
Hygiene and Morning Routines
And if your child is older, you want to make sure that they take a shower in the morning so they don't smell of urine when they go to school. That can also cause teasing.
Celebrate Dry Nights and Respond Gently to Setbacks
You're also going to want to respond positively on the nights that they stay dry. Make it a big deal. Make a little reward chart or something. And if they do wet the bed while they're really trying hard to stay dry, just respond gently.
Your child doesn't want to do this. Your child's going to be feeling guilty and embarrassed about this problem. They need your support with this. So the most important thing is for you to be there to say it's okay, I understand your body's not quite ready to stay dry at night. Let's figure out some things we can do together.
When Bedwetting Might Signal Something More
If your child has been dry for a while, by a while I mean like months, or even years, and all of a sudden has new bedwetting, talk to your pediatrician. It could be as simple as there's been a change in something going on in their normal routine. Sometimes a new sibling, sometimes a new school, and they'll start wetting the bed. And sometimes they'll even wet during the day, too.
If your child complains that it hurts to pee, go to your pediatrician and have them checked for a urine infection. Boys rarely get urine infections. That's much less common. Girls, it is much more of a problem, just due to anatomy. So it's always a good idea to get the urine checked on that.
The other thing is, if you're finding that your child is just drinking and drinking and drinking, and peeing and peeing and peeing, and it's way excessive, and they're complaining about belly pain, and you maybe notice like a weird fruity smell from their breath, get the urine checked, get their sugar checked. That's actually one of the first signs of Type 1 diabetes.
When It鈥檚 Time to Consider Medication
So if you've tried all these tips. You've tried the waking up. You've tried everything we've been talking about here, and you've talked to your pediatrician about things, then you may want to start talking about some medications.
Bedwetting is going to usually stop by age 12. So most kids, after about a year of medication, they're able to stop it. This is something that's very important, and it can actually help your child's self-esteem if you get your child involved in taking care of his bedwetting. And support him, or her, through this whole process.
updated: June 3, 2025
originally published: January 30, 2014
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