Hi D. K. – parenting can be both incredibly challenging and equally rewarding. As parents, we can become frustrated or angry with our children especially at time of stress or if we feel overwhelmed. As a single parent it is important that you look to your support network to help you through those difficult times, this may be your extended family or friends. When it comes to your son’s wellbeing, the most important thing is that he feels loved and cared for. As parents we tend to carry around a lot of guilt and often feel responsible for anything that goes wrong with our children however this is not always the case. With respect to his bedwetting, while stress can be a contributing factor with secondary bedwetting, this is unlikely to be the underlying contributor with your son given he has never experienced nighttime continence. The most common cause of primary bedwetting (which is what your son is experiencing) is a neurological-developmental delay. Children who fall under this category have a nervous system that is slow to process the feeling of a full bladder consequently they do not wake up in time to go to the toilet. A small number of children wet the bed do so because they do not produce enough of the anti-diuretic hormone ADH. If nighttime ADH levels are low, your son will produce the same amount of urine at night as he produces throughout the day placing significant pressure on his bladder and resulting in him wetting the bed. If this is the cause, children will continue to wet the bed at night until their body begins to produce more of this hormone. A very small percentage of children who wet the bed (less than 10%), do so because of a smaller than normal bladder. This form of incontinence often rectifies itself once the bladder grows. If you have not already done so I would strongly recommend that you make an appointment to discuss his bedwetting with your GP, you should also use this opportunity to look into treatment options.

Regards,
Dr Cathrine

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