Just when you think your potty training and diaper days are over, your four-year-old starts wetting the bed. Are they drinking too many fluids at night? Was your potty training not sufficient? Perhaps your little one just doesn’t want to get out of bed during the night. These are all possibilities, but there may be other causes you haven’t thought about. Here are three other reasons that could explain why your child can’t stop wetting the bed.
Reasons Why Your Child May Be Wetting the Bed
#1 Difficulty Waking from Sleep: Some children don’t want to leave the comfort of their bed to go to the bathroom. Others are deep sleepers whose brains aren’t responding to signals from a full bladder.
#2 Malfunctioning Bladder: Some children have an overactive bladder that twitches even with a tiny amount of urine. This causes the bladder to contract even when it isn’t full.
#3 Overproduction of Urine: Children who produce too much urine in the evenings may have low levels of a hormone called vasopressin. This hormone is supposed to prevent sleep disruption by reducing the amount of urine produced at night. Not enough of this hormone can lead to full bladders at night.
Actions to Take for a Child Who Continues Wetting Bed
For one week, keep a diary of notes. Monitor how much fluid your child drinks a day, the times they drank, and the nights they wet the bed. Also include any psychological stressors they may be experiencing. This might include a change in family dynamics, social tensions, or school events. Stress and life changes can trigger enuresis, commonly known as bed wetting.
If you’ve tried restricting your child’s fluids before bed and re-trained them on nighttime pottying, and they still continue to wet the bed, you should take them to be evaluated by a doctor. The doctor can diagnose or rule out urinary tract abnormalities, neurological problems, kidney problems, or deformities in the genitalia or urethral opening.
For some helpful potty training tips, read Hospitality Health ER’s blog here or like our Facebook page to join our active online community.
