Hi Pauline, given the strong genetic link it is not unusual to find a number of children in the one family who wet the bed – however, if neither you nor your husband wet the bed as children there is a very good chance that your youngest son will be fine. There are a number of possible reasons why your son continues to wet at night. Children who wet usually do so because their bladder has yet to mature to a point where it can store the amount of urine their kidneys produce overnight. Some children produce more urine than normal because their body fails to produce sufficient ADH hormone, which is designed to reduce the amount of urine the kidneys produce. When this occurs children’s nighttime urine production is comprable to what they produce during the day. Others wet the bed because they have a small bladder capacity – if this is the case your son would most likely urinate frequently throughout the day. The good news is that many children who wet the bed do outgrow it by the time they reach 6-years of age. If he continues to wet after this I would strongly recommend you speak with your doctor about ways in which you can help him to stop. In the meantime if you are at all concerned about the amount he wets you should have him checked by your GP just to rule out any possible underlying medical cause. Try using DryNites rather than Pull-Ups, these are much more absorbent and better suited for older children. Given that your younger son is now dry you need to make sure this does not impact negatively on your 5-year-old – assure him that this is not his fault and with time he too will become dry.

Regards,
Dr Cathrine

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