Bedwetting facts for kids
It Happens to a Lot of Kids
You might be a little surprised, but did you know that one out of every ten kids aged 5–10 wets the bed. That’s quite a lot of kids from your school playground. Chances are they don’t tell anyone about it either.
If you’ve been on a group sleepover, chances are someone else there wets the bed too.
If you’re going on a school camp, there will definitely be other kids there who feel just the same as you.
Bet you’d never guess that 3 other kids in your class probably wet the bed too or that there are over 150,000 children in Australia and New Zealand with the same problem. If you put them all together they would make up over 9,000 soccer teams! Now, that’s a lot of kids running around on a soccer pitch – you’re definitely not alone.
Bedwetting is much more common among boys than girls. About 7 in every 10 kids who wet the bed are boys. But it’s more common for girls to have day time wetting problems than boys.
Let’s look at the number of children who wet the bed in each class of 30 children. In Infants and Primary School there are:
- At least five children in Kindergarten – age 5 (that’s around 17%)
- About 2 kids in every Year 2 class – age 7 (that’s around 10%)
- One or two kids in every Year 5 class – age 10 (that’s around 7%)
The great news is that about 97% of kids who wet the bed will be dry by the time they’re 12 years old and nearly 98% of children are dry by the time they reach high school. Often the best cure for bedwetting is simply time. Hang in there, we know how frustrating that can be, so this website will help you to learn some tips on how to cope until your body and brain are ready to respond.
Why do some kids wet the bed?
Lot’s of kids ask the question “Why ME?”. It’s a tough one to answer and something that a lot of study has gone into. Take a look at some of the common causes some kids wet the bed.
A Bladder that doesn’t stretch
Some kids can wet the bed because their bladder doesn’t stretch and hold much wee during the day, so at night their bladder gets too full and needs to empty. It hasn’t learnt to stretch and hold more wee. The good news is that with some treatment (a bit like sports training for your bladder) your body can learn to really stretch the bladder so it will hold enough wee to sleep the whole night and you won’t have to get up at all. You can look forward to having a great night’s sleep.
Family History
Just like you got your Dad’s long legs or your Aunt Sarah’s long lashes – you just might have inherited bedwetting from someone in your family, too! If your dad wet the bed when he was a kid, you’ve got the chance of wetting the bed (around 43%). If both your Mum and Dad wet the bed as kids then your chances go up to 77%. Sometimes families don’t talk much about this but rest assured just like they grew out of it – you will too.
Connecting your bladder and brain
Every thing you do is controlled by your brain, even when you’re asleep. When your bladder fills up during the night it should send a signal to your brain to say it’s full and then wake you up to go to the toilet. In some kids, the signal from the bladder to the brain is very weak and you just don’t wake up. If this is happening to you, there is a treatment to teach your brain and bladder to work together and wake you up when your bladder is really full at night. Until then, using DryNites Pyjama Pants is a good backup.
Hormones
At night the brain makes a special hormone called an anti-diuretic hormone (ADH for short). This special hormone has the job of slowing down the production of urine (wee) in your kidneys. The brain is pretty clever and knows that it’s more important for you to get a good night sleep rather than going to toilet as many times as you would during the day. Some kids’ brains just don’t make enough of the special hormone so their body keeps making as much wee as during the day and it means that you just have to go. This usually fixes itself with time.
Your Body at Night
Check out What Goes on in Your Body at Night Time:
- In your body there are two small parts called kidneys.
- All the blood in your body goes through the kidneys and they take out everything that your body needs to be healthy and then turns what your body doesn’t need into wee.
- At night when you go to sleep, your brain makes a special “hormone” that tells your kidneys to slow down and stop making too much wee.
- After the urine, or wee, leaves your kidneys, it passes into a round container called the bladder. The bladder is made out of muscles that stretch like a balloon and is the place that holds all of the urine until you feel like you need to go to the toilet.
- At night the full bladder is supposed to send a message to the brain to wake you up to wee.
- When you wee, it travels through the urethra which is like a pipe. When your brain doesn’t get the signal to wake up then you might wet the bed.
Sounds Complex? Well it is! There are a few common reasons why some kids wet their beds. Check them out in the information above.
What can I do?
This is one of the toughest questions. All the studies say that the best cure for kids who don’t wake up to wee in the night is to relax and let time take its course.
This is OK when you’re young but if you are one of the kids who are now in high school and still wets at night then this can be more than a little frustrating. One of the key things you need to remember is that it’s not your fault and wetting in the night does not define who you are. Read more of our tips for older boys and tips for older girls on how to cope.
Talk to your doctor and parents to get their advice and ask for some healthy living tips.
Why use DryNites?
DryNites® Pyjama Pants come in different sizes for both boys and girls.
