While many children gain daytime bladder control by age four, some will have difficulty maintaining control at nighttime. Even at age five, about 20 percent of children will continue to wet their beds.

There could be any number of reasons for the bedwetting, but it is almost never due to laziness or disobedience, so parents need to be aware of that and show support and compassion to their child about bedwetting.

Some causes include:

• Urinary tract infections
• Anatomical problems (bladder size is too small for age)
• Neurological problems (associated with nerve damage or injury)
• Heavy sleeping — the child does not wake up when the bladder is full
• Increased production of urine during sleep
  

Bladder control issues can occur both day and night and can be addressed in tandem with your urologist. Because urinary habits of children are different than those of adults, they must be evaluated differently. Many times the daytime wetting can be traced to poor toilet habits, or the child ignores the “full” feeling in the bladder because they are busy playing or involved in an activity and don’t want to stop.

Sometimes children experience bladder control problems when laughing. This normally works itself out with age and maturity.

Treatment options include modifying liquid intake (especially at bedtime), toilet habits, scheduled night waking (a parent or family member wakes the child and takes to the bathroom) wetting alarms and medications. The urologists at Cleveland Urologic Surgery, PA, can help evaluate your child’s particular needs and assist them with strengthened bladder control and urinary habits.

For more information on bedwetting/bladder control click here.