Urination - bed wetting

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Female urinary tract

Male urinary tract

Nighttime urinary incontinence in children over age 5 or 6.

Enuresis

Bed wetting is divided into two categories. Primary nocturnal (nighttime) urinary incontinence is when a child has never achieved full bladder control (never been fully toilet trained). Secondary nocturnal urinary incontinence is when a child starts bed wetting again after having achieved bladder control.

Most children who haven't achieved bladder control have at least one parent or first degree relative who also had a problem with bed wetting. Knowing this often helps the child feel less stressed about the situation.

Roughly 20% of children still wet their beds at age 5, only 5% do so by age 10, and 2% by age 15. Only 1 out of 100 childhood bed-wetters continues to have a problem in adulthood.

Primary bed wetting is usually simply due to a delay in the maturation of the part of the nervous system that controls bladder function. Secondary be wetting may be due to either psychological problems or medical disorders, such as a urinary tract infection, urinary tract abnormalities, or diabetes.

Review Date: 05/12/2006
Reviewed By: Daniel Rauch, MD, FAAP, Director, Pediatric Hospitalist Program, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.