Bedwetting is a problem for many people. What causes it? What are the consequences and who can you turn to for help? Izabela Mader-Wołyńska, a pediatrician from NZOZ "Twój Lekarz", writes about bedwetting.

Bedwetting is the uncontrolled urination during sleep. Uncontrolled means independent of the child's will. Boys predominate among children with this condition. There are two types of bedwetting, depending on whether the problem occurs only during sleep or is accompanied by additional symptoms during the day, such as: more frequent urination, urgent need, leaking during the day. A child should be able to urinate by the end of the 5th year of life. If they do not have it, it means they are ill. Contrary to appearances, this is a big problem - from 5 to 7 percent of 7-year-old children wet the bed at night.

Control system

It is believed that bedwetting has a multifactorial basis. One of the causes is an underdeveloped control system. During the day, we produce approximately 80% of 24-hour urine correctly, and at night only 20%. Vasopressin deficiency (a hormone) causes the bladder to fill up at night as quickly as during the day, and we are unable to sleep peacefully through the night. With age, vasopressin production increases and the problem of bedwetting disappears.

Psychological basis?

Contrary to popular belief, it is not a psychological illness, although certain stressful situations (e.g. changing schools, moving, childbirth, death of a loved one) can intensify its symptoms. Long-term and untreated bedwetting causes low self-esteem in the child, emotional disorders, poor school performance, and even isolation from the peer group.

Medical assistance required

However, in most cases, the causes are medical in nature and to detect them, a visit to a doctor is necessary. A child can be cured of bedwetting. However, it is always necessary to first exclude the existence of diseases that may affect the disruption of urine production and functional disorders of the urinary system. Depending on the diagnosis, appropriate treatment is introduced, which is directed at the basic cause, and not at the symptom, which is bedwetting. In the treatment of bedwetting, the basis is behavioral treatment (i.e. behavior modification and appropriate motivation) and pharmacological treatment.