If your child continues to wet the bed into their school years,
you’re probably thinking yours is a rare case.
You may be surprised to learn that you are definitely not alone.
If your child continues to wet the bed into their school years,
you’re probably thinking yours is a rare case.
You may be surprised to learn that you are definitely not alone.
As many as 3% of teenagers continue to wet their bed. To put that into perspective, if your child goes to a high school with 1000 children, then as many as 30 of them still wet the bed at night.
Most children stop wetting the bed at night when they’re still very young. By the age of 5 only 20% have night-time accidents, and within a couple of years half of them have stopped.
If you’re reading this article you are probably the parent of an older child that continues to wet the bed into their school years, and you’re probably thinking your older child is a rare case. You may be surprised to learn that you are definitely not alone; as many as 3% of teenagers continue to wet their bed. To put that into perspective, if your child goes to a high school with 1000 children, then as many as 30 of them still wet the bed at night.
You should have your child evaluated by a doctor to better understand what may be causing this issue, especially if your child stopped wetting their bed for a long period and it has now returned as a regular occurrence. This return-to-bedwetting is called Secondary Enuresis and it may have an underlying root cause that needs treatment, such as stress, anxiety, infection or a neurological issue.
It is however more common for bedwetting to remain a constant concern (it doesn’t stop for long periods and then start again) without a clearly identifiable underlying treatable condition. Interestingly it is also one of the very few incontinence conditions that is more common in boys than in girls.
Regardless, if you are concerned with any aspect of your child’s health, you should not hesitate to seek the guidance from a health professional. If you’re not qualified to diagnose the issue yourself then you should seek the advice of someone who is. It may be nothing, however the benefit of even knowing that it’s nothing is that your concern has been removed.
There is a long list of potential root causes of bedwetting, many of which are not of particular concern and your child will simply grow out of it.
For instance, it is common for bedwetting in teenagers to be caused by:
These are not specifically of concern, however there are a number of other potential root causes that are of more concern, and call for more active treatment, such as:
If the root cause requires medical intervention, then you’ll need to work with a medical professional to manage your child’s treatment. If you’re in the more fortunate majority and the bedwetting is something more simple like sleeping too deeply, then there are a few things you can do to minimise its frequency and severity:
While your child continues to be at risk of wetting their bed you should minimise the impact of accidents. There are a number of products that will help with this.
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Pull-Ups For Children and Teenagers
These are disposable absorbent pants designed for those ages between baby and adult that should be worn at night when bedwetting is a common occurrence, or in situations where bed protection is not readily available, for example at sleepovers
Washable Reusable Bed Protectors
Protecting the mattress is essential because it is essentially impossible to clean inside a mattress. We recommend a large protector, with a non-porous backing layer and optionally an absorbent upper layer to wick moisture away from your sleeping child. These are more expensive, however they can be washed hundreds of times and work out cheaper in the long run. Be sure to buy more than just one so that you can have one on the bed at all times while the other one may be in the wash or still drying.
These are relatively small square or rectangular absorbent pads with a waterproof backing that you’ll simply throw away when there’s an accident. Be sure to position it at waist height for your teenager, and place it underneath their fitted sheet to prevent it from being a choking hazard or from moving during the night.
If your child's bedwetting is severe, or if they have fecal incontinence as well, then they most likely will require the absorbency and protection afforded by a heavy need product from our slips range.
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