Bedwetting and Your Child: What Causes Nocturnal Enuresis?

I'm sure we all have had an episode of bed wetting, either as a child or a child of our own experiencing it. Bed wetting has a scientific name " Nocturnal Enuresis".

Now what causes this condition? Well Genetics play a big part. Studies have shown that the children of parents who wet the bed are much more likely to have the same problem. If your child is under the age of five I would not even worry about this. Children who's bodies have not matured, and urine production has not yet slowed through the night do have a risk for accidents. At 5 or 6 years old the bladder should be matured enough to prevent nighttime accidents. If your child is in that age range still having accidents I would just mention it to the doctor at that time.

Bed Wetting is very common, and it is actually lot more common in boys than girls. Every child is going to have an occasional accident regardless of age. Some adults even do. You know we have all experienced " The bathroom dream".

Now if out of the blue your child starts bed wetting, and he or she has been completely potty trained with no accidents through the night for some time. Then I would visit a doctor especially if any complaints of burning, or if they have been or are sick.

Now there are some tips that can help you:

Take your child to the bathroom right before bed, as the last step in the bedtime routine.

When giving last drink of evening I do not fill the sippy cup full, I give them a regular cup with an inch or two of liquid at the bottom, this helps because my girls would sit back and drain most of the sippy cup.

Use training pants, they come in a variety of sizes now. If your child refuses to put them on then I would wait until they are asleep and slip them on them.

Mattress Cover- now this was a great investment, you don't know how many times I was scrubbing the mattress down after an accident, both of my girls sleep together.

Just remember 20 percent of children at age 5 have at least one bed wetting episode, that goes down to 10 percent by age 6, and 5 percent of these children are fine by age 15.

Overall 60 percent of bed wetters and more than 90 percent of nightly bed wetters are male.