It is not uncommon for a child to wet at night after they are potty-trained, but he or she does need to see the pediatrician to make sure it is just normal bed-wetting. There are some important facts that your physician will need to know:
- Is it every night?
- Is there any discomfort or burning?
- Is there a history of urinary tract infections?
- Is there a family history of bed-wetting?
We should always get a urine specimen to rule out infection. Then, we can determine whether it is “run-of-the-mill” bed-wetting.
Bed-wetting usually runs in families, and your child will stop sometime around the same time as others in the family stopped. Meanwhile, there are a few things you can do to make life easier for the bed-wetter and the parents. There is a pill that your pediatrician can prescribe that replaces a hormone the child is not quite making yet but will. Your pediatrician will determine if this is a good step for your child, as not every child is a good candidate for this medication. Also, there are alarms to train the bladder and brain to work together to wake the child up when the bladder feels full. These are best implemented after age 6 because most children are starting to have dry nights by 6 years of age.