Why does my 12-year-old child often wet the bed? How to treat it?

The child is already 12 years old, and the mother found that the child still wets the bed. She is very worried about the child's health. So why does the child often wet the bed at the age of 12, and how to treat it?

Why do children wet the bed?

Delayed development of the nervous system: Children who wet the bed do not have true neurological disease, but their neurophysiology matures more slowly. In particular, some studies have pointed out that the neuroanatomical pathways of these children are quite complete, but the integration of the nervous system for bladder urination control shows a certain degree of immaturity.

Reduced secretion of antidiuretic hormone at night: Antidiuretic hormone acts on the kidneys, promoting water reabsorption to reduce urine production. According to research, some children wet the bed because the secretion of this hormone is less at night, resulting in a large amount of urine at night.

Genetic factors: If both parents wet the bed when they were young, the child’s chance of bedwetting is as high as 77%; if only one parent has a history of the disease, the child’s chance of bedwetting is 44%.

Physiological diseases: Only a very small number of cases are caused by organ problems. For example, wetting the pants during the day is common. If accompanied by unsteady gait, constipation, and fecal incontinence, there may be structural abnormalities in the nervous system.

How to treat bedwetting in children

Analogues of antidiuretic hormones: currently the most commonly used oral preparations, the effects can last for seven to nine hours, the cure rate is over 70%, and it can immediately improve the condition of bedwetting. It is also the current international standard treatment, and generally needs to be continued for three to six months. Often after seeing the effect of bedwetting control, parents will want to stop taking the medicine immediately due to concerns about the side effects of the medicine, but studies have shown that this method will have a higher recurrence rate. In 2014, new studies have shown that taking a gradual approach when stopping the medicine can reduce the recurrence rate after stopping the medicine.

Antidepressants: The main effect is on the central nervous system and increasing the contraction ability of the urethral sphincter. Most children show significant improvement within two weeks of using the drug, but the relapse rate is very high after stopping the drug.

Bladder training: This is the training to control the bladder to store urine. During the day, the interval between two urinations can be slightly extended to increase the urine storage capacity. In addition, children should be advised to drink less water before going to bed and be woken up at night to go to the toilet.

Strengthening the sense of responsibility: This can also be said to be psychological support treatment. For example, children are given clear principles of rewards and punishments. If they wet the bed, they should be appropriately reprimanded. However, if there is a slight improvement, they should be rewarded and records should be kept to let the children have a sense of responsibility.

The impact of bedwetting on children

Most children who wet the bed silently suffer from inner inferiority complex. As long as they are given appropriate treatment in the early stage, they can definitely be helped to get through this embarrassing period.

Children often feel inferior and anxious as a result, which may have a negative impact on their personality and social development.

In fact, most children who wet the bed silently suffer from inner inferiority and guilt, and the frustration of their parents is incomparable.

As long as we can provide the most appropriate treatment to children at an early stage, we can definitely help these innocent children get through this embarrassing period.