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Bedwetting is when your child passes urine at night while asleep.

Bedwetting is common in children age 5 and older.¹

There are two types of bedwetting.

• When your child has never been dry at night. This is the most common type.
• When your child starts wetting the bed after being dry for a time. This kind of bedwetting isn't so common. It might happen if your child is stressed or fearful. This may be because of bullying at school or problems at home. But often no one knows why it happens.

Most children wet the bed only at night and stay dry during the day. There isn't usually a serious medical reason. But some children have a problem or illness that makes them wet the bed. This might be an infection or an abnormality in their urinary tract (the part of your body that carries the urine from your kidneys through your bladder and out of your body). Or they might have diabetes.

Doctors don't know why children wet the bed at night. Bedwetting is probably linked to many different things, such as:²

• The genes passed down to a child from their parents (many children who wet the bed have a relative who did so too)
• Stressful things happening when your child is very young
• Your child's bladder only being able to hold a small amount of urine
• Your child maybe not having enough of a hormone called antidiuretic hormone (you make more urine if you don't have enough of this hormone)
• Your child maybe not recognizing when their bladder is full.

Some things can increase the chance of your child wetting the bed.³

• Feeling stressed. Your child might be feeling stressed due to bullying or other problems at home or at school.
• Being constipated. If your child is constipated, the stools (feces) in their rectum may press on their bladder so that they need to urinate more.
• Having drinks and foods that contain caffeine. These include cola, chocolate, tea and coffee. Caffeine causes you to make more urine.