firstly, it is important to point out that there is a difference in children who have never been dry at night (called primary enuresis) and children who have been dry for a long time then start wetting again (secondary enuresis). As your son was dry for a while we know that he is capable of being dry so we need to look more closely at the reasons for why he is now wetting. Stress is often one of the main reasons we see a return to bedwetting with the major causes of childhood stress being starting a new school, the birth of a sibling, parental divorce, the death of a family member and MOVING HOUSE! Other than the stress of moving house sometimes there may be things about a child’s new room that cause them concern – is there something that is frightening him causing him not to get up to go to the toilet? – sometimes just leaving a nightlight on can make all the difference. I’ve known children who have stopped wetting the bed after their parents rearranged their room – I think the Chinese would say this has something to do with feing shui. We often find that with children who are experiencing secondary enuresis that when whatever is causing the stress is rectified the bedwetting also disappears. When using a reward system it is helpful to keep in mind that your son does not have a lot of control over his bedwetting – reward only those behaviours that he can actually control like drinking enough water during the day or helping you change the sheets when he wets his bed.

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