Bedwetting Solutions: Various Reasons Why Your Child May Wet The Bed
A child who wets the bed is often one of the most common problems parents can face and while it can be a frustrating problem, there are bedwetting solutions that can help your child stop wetting the bed. It is believed that around 20% of all children up to the age of five will experience a bedwetting problem at some point.
This number drops as kids get older, and by age 10, it’s closer to 5 percent. Most professionals view bedwetting as a problem that the child will eventually get out of and believe that children who continue to have a problem after age 10 may have some type of medical problem.
Bed wetting can be caused by a number of things and primary nocturnal enuresis will be caused by more of one of two things. The most common cause is a neurological developmental delay where the child simply does not develop the muscle control necessary to control their bladder.
Another is simply hereditary. Studies show that most children who wet the bed will have at least one parent who also experienced the problem as a child. It is believed that parents who wet the bed have at least a 45% chance of having a child who will also wet the bed.
Still, you must be sure that your child does not have any other underlying causes. Although development and genetics are the most common causes, there’s no way to know for sure without your child seeing a doctor to rule out any other medical reasons for bed-wetting. I have listed several other causes of bed wetting in children that may not be genetic or developmentally delayed.
1. Urinary tract infections can cause about 5% of bedwetting cases, but there may be other diseases or infections that can also affect a child’s ability to control their bladder.
2. Abnormalities in their physical development, such as a smaller bladder which, of course, means a decreased ability of the bladder to hold urine. Your child’s bladder may be developing at a slower rate.
3. Pressure on the bladder can sometimes be caused by constipation, leading to the need to urinate more often than normal.
4. Children who have an attention disorder like ADHD are up to 3 times more likely to have a bedwetting problem.
5. Caffeinated beverages, such as cola or coffee, are likely to make your child need to go to the bathroom more often, and of course, if you give your child caffeinated beverages late in the day day, they are more likely to have accidents throughout the night.
6. Your child may have a chemical or hormonal imbalance. If your child does not build up the hormone ADH, also known as antidiuretic hormone, this can cause problems because this is the hormone that will slow urine production.
7. Sleep disorders such as apnea where there is a disturbance in the sleep routine that can cause shortness of breath when the person is trying to sleep. Some signs of this can be snoring or a sore throat along with bed wetting.
8. Your child may have a mild allergy to some foods and while there are no obvious signs of allergy, it may cause your child to pee the bed in some cases.
9. Stress or psychological problems can cause even adults to wet the bed. Divorce, death of a loved one, being bullied at school, or even sexual abuse can cause stress for your child. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list, there can be hundreds of things that can cause stress in a child, so try to be aware of what your child may be going through.
10. Other stress related issues could be moving to a new school district or bringing home a new baby. There are times when children who did not wet the bed before can suddenly feel overwhelmed and this can trigger a problem of bedwetting.
Having a better understanding of some of the causes of bedwetting will give you some of the help you need to start learning what may be the reason your child is having bedwetting problems. If you think your child may have some type of medical or psychological problem, you should seek professional help because it will need to be addressed before you can really start to see results from traditional bed-wetting solutions.