I've been thinking about having another child for a while now, I'm just wondering how I can learn to expect and help me child feel comfortable and yet still learn to not wet the bed? I already have one child who didn't bed wet.
Hi Genevieve, unfortunately whether or not your child wets the bed at night has very little to do with how well you prepare them or teach them to stay dry at night. Primary bedwetting can result from a number of factors with the three most common causes being (1) an overproduction of urine overnight – children who have low-levels of ADH (antidiuretic hormone) produce four times the amount of urine as those who have the hormone and are therefore at a greater likelihood of exceeding their bladder capacity overnight. If this is the cause children generally stop wetting their bed when their ADH levels return to normal; (2) Difficulty arousing from sleep in response to a full-bladder – these children are unable to detect the signals sent from their baldder to their brain telling it it is full and needs emptying. These children will stop wetting when their body matures to a point where they can wake-up in response to their full bladder; and (3) a genetic disposition – children who wet the bed are more likely to have a family member who also wet the bed as a child. If there is no-one in your family who wet the bed as a child, then there is a high probability that your child will not either. The reality is that we can never truly determine at birth which child may continue to experience challenges with bedwetting, the most important thing is however is that we manage this as positively as possible and be aware that it has nothing to do with child laziness or ineffective parenting. Regards, Dr Cathrine
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