Bedwetting at night is a common problem in childhood. In addition, unfortunately, some wrong attitudes of families still continue in terms of approach to this issue. First of all, children who wet the bed at night should be evaluated by specialist physicians and rare but important diseases that can cause this situation should be distinguished. Recent studies have revealed the importance of genetic factors in bedwetting at night. Recently, revealing the real cause with the right tests, active participation of the family in the treatment and the use of alarm alone or in combination with a drug can bring successes up to 85% in the treatment.
Is bedwetting a disease at night?
The International Child Urinary Incontinence Association defines bedwetting in children as children over the age of 5 involuntarily urinating at least twice a week during nighttime sleep. Healthy children can also leak urine at night when they drink excessive fluids before sleep. However, in order for this event to be considered as a disease and a decision to treat can be made, it must be at least more than 2 times a week in 3 consecutive months. Nocturnal bedwetting can be like this from the start; we call this primary (primary) bedwetting. In some cases, this discomfort may occur later in the child who does not wet the bed at night; This is also called secondary (secondary) bedwetting. Both night and day bedwetting and urinary incontinence are different and require a prompt medical evaluation and approach.
How common is it?
Bedwetting at night is often the result of a delay in bladder (urinary bag) development. For this reason, its frequency decreases with age and it is more common in boys than girls. Families start to deal with this problem around the age of 5-6 and generally seek help from physicians at the age of 7-8. While 40% of three-year-old children wet the bed, this rate drops to 20% at the age of 5 and 10% at the age of 6. In our country, these rates are slightly higher than the world rates. In our country, it is reported that 16% of boys and 11% of girls in the 7-11 age group have bedwetting problems at night. Interestingly, there are adults over the age of 20 who wet the bed at night at a rate of 1-2%.
Is bedwetting a psychological problem?
Indeed, this question has been a serious discussion topic for our physicians who have been dealing with this issue for years. Of course, a number of psychological factors may cause this event, which is ultimately related to nerves. However, today, it is more important that the child’s psychological problems cause serious mental problems in the child, rather than causing it. The fact that, in general, psychological events do not cause the frequent primary night-wetting problem, it has been revealed that there is no need to look for a mental problem in the vast majority of these children. It is clear how intense the distress will be for a child who wakes up with a wet bed in the morning. Since the families do not accept that this is a disease, they blame the child and even punish them from time to time. However, most children are uncomfortable with this situation and want to get rid of it. This situation causes the child to avoid sleeping in a place such as a hotel outside the home, camping and a very intense feeling of embarrassment. Therefore, they may not want to participate in many activities. However, one of the signs of behavioral decline in childhood may be bedwetting at night. This school failure is accompanied by additional findings such as fear. Children with such findings must be seen by a child psychiatrist.
