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Home › Articles › Bedwetting › Wetting the Bed

Wetting the Bed

More Common Than You Might Think

By Laura Lyster-Mensh and Lyn Mettler

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When you're trying to help a child cope with bedwetting, it may feel like you're the only person in the world dealing with the issue. The good news is that you're not – by a long shot. And while it may seem like bedwetting is not often discussed, there are probably several moms on your street handling the same problems day in and day out.

Ann*, a mother in Kansas whose stepdaughter wet the bed, says she was comforted when she learned about another parent going through the same thing. During a casual conversation with her friend, also her pediatrician, Ann learned that the pediatrician's son, about the same age as Ann's stepdaughter, also wet the bed. "It was a relief to discover that here was another parent who had a wealth of knowledge about kids and health who was in the exact same spot as I was," says Ann. "Just knowing I wasn't alone helped."

If you haven't been fortunate enough to find someone with whom to share your experiences, consider some of the following statistics and a timeline of normal urinary development that shows just how common bedwetting really is, no matter the child's age.

By the Numbers

To begin with, bedwetting is considered to be totally normal until about the age of 4 or 5. All babies start out in this world unable to control their bladders. According to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NKUDIC), babies' bladders fill to a set point, then automatically contract and empty. As they grow older, however, the nervous system begins to develop, allowing the brain to send messages to the bladder to keep it from automatically emptying.

According to a study in the journal Pediatrics, by the time kids are 2, only one in 10 actually have dry beds at night. And in 2 to 4-year-olds, it's normal for anxiety in a child's life to lead to periods of incontinence before the child achieves total bladder control, according to the NKUDIC.


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