Your Concerns about Day or Nighttime Wetting

You said that you were concerned that your child wets his pants during the day or the bed at night. You said that this only happens once in a while. A lot of children your child's age have wetting accidents from time to time. 25% of 5-year-olds still have wetting problems at night.

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 the birth of 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.

Warning signs that things are getting worse:

Your child is wetting a lot more often.

Other children are teasing your child because s/he wets.

Your child refuses to go daycare or school because of his/her wetting.

Your child's wetting is causing problems in how you and your child get along.

If you think these things have gotten worse talk to your child's doctor, even if you have talked about it before.

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