Bedwetting - Growing Up

What Causes Bedwetting?

The exact cause or causes are unknown. Various factors or causes that have been implicated include:

• Hereditary cause. Bedwetting often runs in a family.
• Inability to wake up to void urine. Bedwetters are known to be deep sleepers.
• A delay in maturation of bladder control at night. Bedwetting tends to improve with time and the majority of sufferers will ultimately become dry. But this may take years and a small percentage of them (1%) will continue bedwetting beyond puberty.
• Lack of the production of a naturally occurring body hormone called Anti-Diuretic Hormone (ADH) during sleep in 20-30% of children with bedwetting. This hormone is important for reducing urine production at night.

Is Bedwetting Due To Psychological Problems?

Absolutely not.

• Bedwetting is involuntary and the child is actually helpless and has no control over wetting
• In fact, punishing or blaming a child for bedwetting may actually lead to psychological problems in a child

Are there underlying diseases like kidney and bladder problems in bedwetting?

No. The vast majority of bedwetters are healthy with no underlying diseases.

• Only rarely is bedwetting associated with other diseases. When this occurs, it is almost lways associated with symptoms like wetting in the day, pain on passing urine, fever, excessive thirst. large urine volume or failure to grow.
• When bedwetting occurs in a child who has been dry for months, this may be due to an underlying urine infection or sometimes due to stressful conditions like a change of environment, change of school etc.