Bedwetting: Enuresis

Enuresis or bedwetting is a very common disorder that many children suffer from. This condition affects more boys than girls and is often ignored thinking of it as a childhood problem.

Causes of Enuresis

Some of the possible causes of enuresis are as follows:

1. Genetics. This disorder is hereditary and runs in families. However, it is a recessive disorder, and the likelihood of getting this decreases with each generation.

2. When children experience difficulties in waking up from their sleep, this could cause them to release bladder pressure on the bed itself.

3. Stress is also a major contributing factor to bedwetting.

4. In some children, the development of the central nervous system is very slow. This slow development causes poor hold of the brain on the renal functions. The child is not able to control the bladder and ends up wetting the bed.

5. There are many other hormonal factors that cause the production of urine to increase during the night. The hormones that act as diuretics function to slow the production of urine. In their absence, the child wets the bed at night.

6. An infection in the urinary tract can also cause the child to urinate frequently. The child may inadvertently wet the bed because of this condition.

7. Sometimes, the urethral valves of the young children are not normal. Such abnormality can cause the child to have lower bladder control.

8. If the bladder of a child is abnormally small, then too this problem can be experienced.
Although it is often mistaken as a normal childhood problem, bedwetting has more to do with problems related to behavior. A child may also have some mental problems because which are manifested in the form of bed wetting.

Not all children achieve their bladder control easily. Usually, after a child has been toilet trained around the age of 5 to 7, bedwetting stops as well. However, when it doesn’t, it is obviously frustrating for the parents of the children. Sometimes though, the parents, because of their own embarrassment, end up inadvertently fueling the causes of bed wetting. In such cases, it is better to talk to a doctor that the child is familiar with and get an opinion. Usually when you examine the bathroom habits of your child, you may be able to tackle the problem. However, in some cases, treatment and medication might be necessary.

The doctor usually calls for a urine test to check for signs of any infection or diabetes. The doctor will also have an intimate conversation with the child to rule out emotional stress. Treatment is done according to the diagnosis of the doctor. In maximum cases, full recovery is possible by treating the underlying cause.