Bed Wetting in Older Children

Bed wetting in older children can be a source of acute concern for parents and children alike. Kids are embarrassed by wetting their beds, and parents get exasperated having to get up every night and change sheets and pajamas, not to mention the mountain of laundry that bedwetting produces.

Bedwetting, in medical term known as enuresis, is that act of urinating in bed repeatedly and involuntary urination while asleep at night. Bedwetting is normal in infancy, but can cause of embarrassment if this remains in school age or the early teen years.

In many young children, the most common bed-wetting causes are biological. Your child's kidneys aren't delivering a signal to his brain when he's asleep, his bladder hasn't already grown big enough to contain a full night's supply of urine, his bladder overproduces urine at night, or he sleeps so deeply he doesn't wake up to go to the bathroom. As children grow, all of these conditions are self-correcting. So if your child has been wetting the bed since he was a toddler, he doesn't require any treatment; all that he or she needs is patience and love to help him through what can be a very difficult period in his life.

How to Help an Older Child Stop Bedwetting


Many children do not acquire complete nightime control before 5 to 7 years of age, and occasional bedwetting may be seen in children as late as 9 or 10 years. However, a small percentage of children will continue to wet the bed until they are 10-12 years old. If your child is older than age 12 years, if bedwetting is impacting his or your family's life, or it's distressing to your child, there are a number of things that you can try to temporarily stop or decrease the likelihood of bedwetting:

• Minimize fluids in the evening especially after dinnertime
• Avoid caffeinated products because they tend to increase urination
• Try awakening your child from sleep to use the bathroom before you go to bed for the night or at the time when he usually wets the bed.
• Sticker charts and reward systems can help encourage your child to stay dry at night.
• Bedwetting alarms are the most effective behavioral treatment because they help teach a child to respond to the sensation of a full bladder when asleep.
• Medications are also available that can reduce bedwetting. Some medications supplement the hormone naturally produced by the body to decreased urination during sleep.

Additionally, have your doctor check out secondary erunesis, or bedwetting that starts suddenly after a child has been dry for a while. Your child may have a urinary tract infection or some other medical or emotional problem that is causing the bedwetting. Sometimes bed wetting in older children begins when a sibling is born and the child wants to be a baby again and get mommy and daddy's attention.