Bedwetting...
The facts
Your child will almost certainly grow out of bedwetting.
A massive 70% of children overcome bedwetting before they are 7 years old. The stigma attached to bedwetting means that some parents might feel pressurised by family and friends to overcome the problem. The important thing is to be patient and supportive. Your child is an individual and will get dry in his or her own time.
Doctors refer to bedwetting as enuresis, pronounced 'en-you-ree-sis' which is "the involuntary discharge of urine after the age at which bladder control should have been established".
There are two types of enuresis:
- The most common type is primary enuresis, which is the medical term, used to explain when a child has never experienced being dry at night. This can be linked to physical maturity, as they have not yet learnt to recognise the feeling of a full bladder while asleep.
- Secondary enuresis is the medical term used when your child begins to wet the bed after a lengthy period of being dry and can be triggered by emotional reasons like starting school or family problems. However, sometimes there is no explanation at all.
