My son does not wake up at night but just wets the bed when sleeping. Is he a deep sleeper? It is well known that children with bedwetting are unable to wake up when they pee at night. It has been believed for many years that the sleep of bedwetters is too deep but recent research has indicated that bedwetters have poor sleep quality with many incomplete arousals (awakenings). They also seem to have many ‘periodic limb movements’ during sleep, a sign that may be related to the arousal attempts.

My 6-year-old grandchild has always wet the bed and his parents had the same problem - is bedwetting a genetic disease? Bedwetting is clearly an inherited disease and in approximately 70% of cases there is at least one other family member who has or had the same problem as a child. For example, if a mother was a bedwetter as a child, there is a 7 times increased risk that her children will also suffer from enuresis. A specific gene that causes enuresis has not yet been identified but current research is focusing on this assignment.

I was told by my neighbour that my child’s bedwetting is caused by psychological disturbances. Is it true? Normally, enuresis is not caused directly by psychological disturbances but having enuresis may cause psychological problems, especially affecting quality of life and self-esteem. These changes normalise after successful treatment of enuresis.

What are the most common causes of bedwetting and is it possible to identify the underlying cause in my child? Increased night-time urine production (“nocturnal polyuria”) and reduced night-time bladder capacity are the two most common causes of bedwetting. It is important to know that these two causes may occur at the same time in a child. It is possible to recognise which of these two factors play a role in your child by simple home recording tools. By identifying the largest voided volume on a home diary (“frequency-volume-chart”) it is possible to ascertain whether a child is suffering from ‘reduced bladder capacity’ (by comparing with published normal values).



By home recording of nocturnal urine volume it is possible to evaluate whether the child has nocturnal polyuria. With this method, diapers are weighed at bedtime and again the following morning. The difference in diaper weight plus the volume of any urine produced during the night plus the volume of the first urine produced in the morning constitutes the total night-time urine volume. Also, there are internationally accepted normal reference values for nocturnal polyuria.