Summary: If your child wets the bed, he or she is not alone.If your child wets the bed, he or she is not alone. In fact, did you know that there are about 5 million children over the age of six in the United States who wet the bed? Although bed-wetting is rarely caused by a serious medical disorder and often resolves itself, for these 5 million children, it's a condition that can create anxiety, embarrassment, and shame. These feelings are heightened when the child is invited to a sleepover — that familiar childhood rite of passage. There seems to be a combination of several factors that lead to bed-wetting: an increased production of urine during the night, a small bladder capacity, poor arousal from sleep, and constipation. The AAP advises a few things to keep in mind. First, bed-wetting is common, and children should not be punished for it. Second, parents should always remember that bed-wetting is a medical problem — it happens because a child's brain and bladder are not communicating with each other at night. Dr. David Hill helps guide you through some tried-and-true methods to help your child stay dry at night.
