Causes of Bedwetting

If your toddler is wetting the bed and you are wondering why this is happening, don't worry-you're not alone! Nearly all toddlers wet the bed during the early stages following potty training. In fact, most children will not begin to fully get through every night dry until about 4 years old although many potty train between the ages 2 and 3! So, what this means is that there is about a 90% chance that you will have to deal with your child wetting the bed following the initial potty training time when your child begins to stay dry throughout the day. Here is a look at some of the causes of bedwetting in toddlers and what you can do to fix it!

Causes of Bedwetting in Toddlers: Age and Physical Age

While your child may be 3 years old and potty trained during the day, chances are that he or she is not physically old enough to wake up during the night to go potty. Unfortunately, although most of us want our children potty trained at age 2 or 3, children often are not physically old enough to get the body signals at night that tell them to wake up to go to the bathroom. Receptors that send information to the brain to tell us to wake up if the bladder is full do not work the same in children. The receptors are not as strong until the child reaches the physical maturity of this point. For some children this happens during potty training but for the vast majority it comes about 6 months to more than a year later.

Causes of Bedwetting in Toddlers: Fluid Intake

For some toddlers, like my daughter, they have reached the physical age and can go all night without getting up to go to the bathroom, but fluid intake still plays a role in the bedwetting issue. If my little one would have too much to drink at bedtime then it was about 90% more likely that she would have an accident at night. The only difference here was that she had reached the age at which she would usually wake up and go to the bathroom, but on some nights if she had an overabundance of fluids at bedtime she just wouldn't make it in time. For children who wet the bed, a reduction of fluids in the evening hours can greatly reduce the likelihood of a bedwetting accident throughout the night.

Causes of Bedwetting in Toddlers: Stress

In the event that your toddler has stopped wetting the bed and then suddenly starts to wet the bed again you should check for other possible problems besides age factors or physical ability. In some cases, a sudden rise in bedwetting by toddlers is due to stress caused either at home, at daycare or somewhere else. If your child has experienced some recent changes in life such as just started preschool or a new day care then this may be the cause of bedwetting. Some other causes could include stress from parents fighting, a recent divorce, a move to a new house, changing bedrooms, etc.

Causes of Bedwetting in Toddlers: Urinary Tract Infection

Sometimes a toddler who doesn't wet the bed will start to wet the bed at night due to a health issue. If your child doesn't normally wet the bed and then there is a spike in the bedwetting-again all of a sudder-there may be an underlying health issue related to the problem. Children will often wet the bed if they have a urinary tract infection or some other infection such as a bladder infection. Both are cause for concern and should be checked by the doctor. If you notice that your toddler who doesn't wet the bed abruptly starts to wet the bed again at night you should consult your family doctor or pediatrician about the possible causes.