Bed Wetting Causes - What Causes Your Child to Wet the Bed?

Understanding bed wetting causes will help parents to find the best solution for their child problem. Bedwetting, officially called nocturnal enuresis, is common in children aged four and over, and is defined as involuntary urination during sleep. Nightime wetting occurs when urine production during the night exceeds the bladder's ability to hold that urine. It is found in 3 to 10 percent school children. Bedwetting is considered a problem if it occurs once a week or more, especially if it affects the child, his parents, or the relationship between them.

Bed Wetting Causes

There are numerous bedwetting causes. Bedwetting is most likely the result of complex interactions between genetically transmitted physiological factors and exposure to different environments during growth and development. The causes of bedwetting may be divided into physical causes, family-related problems, parental pressure, faulty upbringing, and evironmental factors.

Bed wetting causes: Physical causes
As many as ten percent of all cases of bedwetting are the result of medical (physical) conditions. There are a number of physical problems that cause bedwetting. These include:

1. Sluggish development of bladder control mechanisms (mostly genetic)
2. Chronic or recurrent inflammation of the bladder
3. A deficiency of minerals such as calcium and zinc
4. General weakness after a serious illness
5. Anatomical defects of the urinary tract, muscular problems in the area, a small bladder, etc.

Bed wetting causes: Family-related problems
Emotional disturbance and stress in the family has been found to be linked with bedwetting under the age of 5 years. A change in the family, such as serious illness, the death of a relative, or the birth of a sibling, may cause the child to regress. In such a case, bedwetting may be an expression of jealously of the newborn sibling.
Sometimes, a child is unhappy with his position within the family, this often happens in large families. The child wants attention from his parents, and when it is not forthcoming, reacts by bedwetting. Moves of house also can cause of bedwetting in some children.

Bed wetting causes: Parental pressure
When there is pressure on the child to do well at school and the child does not live up to these expectations, he takes this as a personal failure and begins to feel"worthless." He may try to overcompensate for his failure at school by doing extra well in other fields, or he may regress.

Bed wetting causes: Faulty upbringing
Mistakes in the child's upbringing may lead to regressive behavior on the part of the child or to anger, which is then expressed in bedwetting as a way of "getting back" at the parents.

Bed wetting causes: Environmental factors
Environmental factors like dark passage to toilet or cold or fear of toilets or toilet at distance from bedroom are another bed wetting causes at night.