Bedwetting In Older Children

Bedwetting for an older child (also called enuresis, which means to spontaneously urinate while sleeping) can occur at any age or continue through the potty-training process.

Some children take longer to control night-time accidents compared to others. When a child is aged seven or older and either still wets the bed or starts wetting the bed, it’s a good idea to first take your child to the doctor to find out if something is physically wrong with them before taking any steps to change the situation.

Causes

There isn’t always a cause you can point to for enuresis. It can happen every night, a few times a week, or very occasionally. It usually occurs when the child is in a deep sleep. Most children can control their urination during sleep by age seven, but it’s not uncommon for children to wet the bed on occasion up through the beginning of puberty.

Symptoms

If your child is age seven and older and wets the bed at night, only while sleeping, two to three times a week, they may have enuresis. If they’re five and wet nightly and sometimes during the day, they may also have enuresis. Enuresis is not always a severe problem, but it’s something you may want to get checked out if you are concerned.

Diagnosis

The way the doctor will diagnose your child is to take a history from you. They may do some tests to determine if everything is physically right and that there is no infection, and your child isn’t diabetic. The doctor may also ask about your marital situation at home, as some kids experience regression if there is additional stress at home. Most of the time, though, no cause for night-time bedwetting is found.

Treatments

There is no way to avoid enuresis. If your child is going to experience it, that’s just the way it is with them. Every kid is different. You can try a few things to help, but the best thing to do is to set up the bedroom so that it’s easy to change the sheets and to protect the mattress.

You can limit fluids before bedtime, ask your child to use the potty prior to bedtime, and even set up a moisture alarm system on your child’s bed. You can try to use a reward system or chart too if you think that will help. The problem is that most children with enuresis are sound asleep and not aware of their “behavior” so they cannot change it willingly without some additional help such as an alarm, pull-ups, plastic covers, and easy-to-change clothing and sheets so they can take care of this themselves.

There are some medications that allow the bladder to hold more urine, but that may not be right for your child’s circumstances. Most of the time, patience and teaching personal responsibility is the best course of action when it comes to night-time bedwetting.