Question
My child is now six and a half years old and often wets the bed. How can we stop this? The child’s father also wet the bed as a child and only stopped in adulthood. Is bedwetting genetic? What is the best treatment?
Answer
Bedwetting is not genetic. Bedwetting, also known as enuresis, refers to children over three years old who cannot control urination while asleep and thus involuntarily wet the bed. Habitual enuresis can weaken children, affecting their physical health and intellectual development, and frequent bedwetting can also bring trouble to the family. Bedwetting in children generally falls into two categories: functional and organic. The vast majority of children who wet the bed have functional enuresis, which is caused by dysfunction of the higher brain cortex. Common factors or causes include mental factors such as overexertion, mental tension, sudden fright, fear of shame, not adapting to new environments, and not developing the habit of urinating at night from an early age. A small number of children wet the bed due to organic factors, often caused by conditions such as spina bifida, myelitis, spinal cord injury, epilepsy, incomplete brain development, small bladder capacity, urinary tract infection, bladder stones, phimosis, anal fissure, and pinworm infection. For organic diseases, it is necessary to seek medical treatment in a timely manner; once the disease is cured, enuresis will also be cured. Functional enuresis can be completely cured; attention should be paid to the following points: 1. Parents should treat their child’s enuresis correctly; bedwetting is involuntary, and parents should show sympathy,