Void meter
Download this voiding diary to help record all bladder and bowel movements during the day and at night. This will help your doctor to see if there are any underlying problems with your child’s bladder
Bedwetting is caused by various physiological or psychological factors, or by a combination of them. Small capacity of bladder, low level of anti-diuretic hormone during sleep, constipation, stress, arousal difficulties, and genetics factors are some of the causes of bedwetting.1
The bladder is like a pouch made out of muscular tissue which is gradually filled with urine coming from the kidneys. Normally, urine production decreases during the night and bladder storage capacity increases. The bladder and brain communicate so that you wake up when the bladder needs emptying.
However, in some cases, urine production is not slowed down at night and/or the signal to wake up doesn’t get through. The imbalance between night-time urine production and bladder capacity results in bedwetting.2-5
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Bedwetting is more common than you think.
For example, in Europe, over 5 million children wet the bed. In a school class of 30 children aged 7 years old, there could be 3 children who wet the bed.
Although it can very upsetting or embarrassing to wet the bed, you should talk to your mother, father or carer about it and they will be able to help you.
There are several reasons why you might wet the bed. Maybe it runs in your family - for example, your parents may have wet the bed when they were young. You might be producing too much wee at night. Or maybe you need to go to the toilet a lot because your bladder (the stretchy bag that holds your wee) tells you it’s full when it’s not.
It may be that you’ve had too much to drink before you go to bed or it might be because you are worrying about something.
Lastly, it could be that your bladder doesn’t tell your brain to wake up when you need to do a wee and you don’t get up in time to go to the toilet.
Whatever the cause, you can talk to your parents or carer about it and they can help you.
Bedwetting can be caused by a number of different reasons. If you do visit a doctor or nurse to talk about your bedwetting, there are a number of different things they can do to make it better.
Your doctor or nurse will have seen lots of children who wet the bed so there is no need to be embarrassed or shy – they will want to help you.
If you do visit a doctor or nurse to talk about your bedwetting, they will want to know a few things about you:
- How old you are?
- How many nights a week do you wet the bed?
- When did the bedwetting start?
- How much you drink during the day?
- How many times you go to the toilet?
There are some diaries and checklists on this website that you can print out and fill in. You can show them to your doctor or nurse..
Then the doctor or nurse will have a better idea about what may be causing you to wet the bed and will be able to talk to you about how to make it better.
Because bedwetting represents a significant burden on both the child and the parents, it is important to seek medical help early.
While many children respond well to medication or to a moisture alarm, one has to keep in mind that treatment of bedwetting may take time and requires patience. Use the help meter to record the support you may currently require.
Fill out the checklist here before you come to see me - it will help me understand more about you and your bedwetting. This will make it easier to try and stop the bedwetting happen.
Download the mood meter and fill it in to find out the impact of bedwetting on your child.
Various methods can be used to treat bedwetting. There are two main methods your doctor may try. He or she may even use a combination of them, depending upon the cause of the bedwetting.