Firstly, let me reassure you that what your son is experiencing is perfectly normal for someone his age. There are a number of possible reasons why children wet the bed, the most common being a neurological-developmental delay. Children who wet the bed at night may have a nervous system that is slow to process the feeling of a full bladder so they do not wake up in time to relieve themselves. As with all areas of development some children reach milestones earlier than others. If this is the cause your son will become dry once his body ‘catches up’. It is not particularly unusual for children to continue sleeping even after they have wet themselves. When the bladder is full and requires emptying it sends a message to the brain. Children who are particularly deep sleepers often fail to wake in response to this message. The bladder then attempts to either store the urine or it empties while he sleeps. The good news is the majority of children your son’s age will outgrow bedwetting on their own without the need for intervention. One of the concerns of bedwetting is the potential negative impact it can have on children’s self-esteem. The fact that it doesn’t bother him suggests to me that you have been incredibly sensitive and patient in your management thus far. Waking him will not help him to learn to wake on his own so it is generally best to avoid this form of management. If you do decide to continue taking him to the toilet at night, try varying the times that you do this as you want to avoid conditioning his bladder into needing to empty at the same time each night. If you were at all concerned that his wetting may have an underlying medical cause then I would strongly recommend you consult with your GP.

Regards,
Dr Cathrine

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