Your Concerns about Wetting

You said that you were concerned that your child wetsd his pants during the day or the bed at night. You said that your child's wetting is starting to cause problems for him/her.

Your child may be wetting for one of the following reasons.

Your child may:

• "forget" to go to the toilet (because s/he was too busy playing).
• have a fear of the toilet.
• be having trouble dealing with having a new brother or sister.
• be under a lot of stress at home or preschool/daycare/school.
• drink too much before bedtime.
• drink too much caffeine.

The wetting may be causing one or more of the following problems:

• Other children may tease your child when s/he wets.
• You and your child may be having trouble getting along because of the wetting.
• Your child may feel bad about him/herself when s/he wets the bed or his/her pants.

Here are some facts parents should know about bedwetting:

• About 15% of children wet the bed after the age of 3.
• More boys than girls wet their beds.
• It runs in families.
• Usually bedwetting stops by the teenage years.

Your child probably has a wetting problem. Your child's doctor will tell you some ways to help your child wet less often.

Adapted in part from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Primary Care (DSM-PC) (1996) .

AACAP Facts for Families. Available: http://www.aacap.org/publications/factsfam/bedwet.htm (May 13, 2004)