Causes of Bed Wetting

For night bed wetting or nocturnal enuresis, the genetic factor (as measured by statistical data) is quite large. Meaning that parents who had a problem with enuresis when they were children, will often have children who also have a problem with enuresis. This leads researchers to believe that one of the causes of bed wetting is a developmental lag to which children are predisposed by their genes. It isn’t something that can be changed (like blue eyes) and if this is the cause of your child’s bed wetting then you will just have to wait it out.

The control of bladder function and bowel function is something that develops as the child grows. In the same way as first a child’s hands learn to hold a toy and this control develops later into being able to use a pair of scissors. All such physical development varies from child to child. Some control their legs quickly and walk early, some learn to talk early, other babies are content to just lie back for now and develop their control at their own pace after the first year.

The control of bladder and bowel function is being both developed and learned from birth. That babies control the aiding of elimination is obvious from their facial expression. The body can take involuntary control of elimination function if needed, as sufferers of diarrhoea are well aware. Control of bed wetting is a development, which in normal health, means that the brain can then give a go or stop command to any urge to eliminate when it occurs.

In day wetting, environmental or learned behaviours may be one of the causes of bed wetting. If parents do not toilet train at an appropriate time or when children spend too much time in childcare for toilet training to be properly given, the child doesn’t learn how to use their control even though their body has developed the ability to do so. They need to become aware that this is a habit that they have the ability to change and to be re-trained.

Kidney problems may be one of the causes of bedwetting. This is a physical cause that is difficult to  retrain unless  the underlying cause is fixed. When children have other illnesses such as autism, communication is a factor, these children are more prone to lack of control and bed wetting .

Generally speaking, medical professionals are certain that the causes of bed wetting or of weak or uncontrolled bladder and bowel in a child are not due to laziness or to attention seeking. This lack of control is involuntary not deliberate!

Another of the causes of bed wetting is the sleep stages. During deep sleep it seems likely that the internal command to wake up and use the toilet is not sufficiently strong to wake the child so they perform the action. This is the a common cause of enuresis and where bed wetting alarms are the most effective treatment. The alarm provides the stimulus to associate the first wetness with the command by waking the child and a parent reinforces this with an immediate call to action.

Although lack of control and bedwetting generally improve as children grow older, as you can see from the statistics, children do not always just ‘grow out of it’. Sometimes a slow development of their bladder control may occur and they do realize control, but by this late stage, their behaviour has become habitual and re-training is necessary to make the child aware that change has occurred. Mental aid is needed in this case.

It is therefore important that a child is assessed by a doctor, paediatrician or other health professional who understands incontinence and enuresis in children and their causes. If there is underlying causes of bed wetting these will need treatment before enuresis.

It is just as important for all family members to understand the causes and treatments for enuresis. Misinformation acted on aggressively, can damage the confidence and attitude of a child towards  solving their enuresis. Family members need to help and support the primary carer or parent and their child in order to end night bed wetting and enable the child and their family to live a normal life.