Frequent questions

A child has primary nocturnal enuresis when he wets the bed at night, at an age when night control should already be present (over 5 years).

Enuresis is not a leakage of urine, but an involuntary and unconscious urination that occurs during sleep.

Approximately 15 out of 100 children over the age of five suffer from this problem by waking up with a wet bed.

Here are some tips that can help your child:

• Encourage your little one to go to the bathroom regularly throughout the day.
• Encourage your child to pee before bed.
• Make sure your child drinks a good amount of fluids during the day, and avoid drinking fluids near bedtime (about 2 hours before going to bed).
• Each time your child urinates, advise her to push 3 times in 10-second intervals to ensure a complete emptying of the bladder and strengthen her muscles.
• Seek help from your doctor, in almost all cities there are doctors or clinics specialized in enuresis.
• Don’t be afraid to discuss this with other parents, bedwetting is more common than many people imagine.

The use of diapers does not offer a solution to enuresis and further affects the child’s self-esteem.

A 5-year-old child who wants to stop getting wet cannot be a baby “in diapers” and so we will also ask him for certain minimum responsibilities of his age (control of nighttime fluid intake, going to the bathroom before going to sleep, among others. ).

It is usually a helping factor in those children who already show some nocturnal control but cannot handle so many hours of sleep.

It is important that this fact does not alter the routine of the house (wake him up only once before the last of the family goes to sleep and / when the first one wakes up).

It is very important that the event occurs naturally and does not transmit to the child the burden of having to wake him up at night or in the morning.

In this case you should consult the doctor, if your child is older than five years and still wet the bed. Currently, there are no reasons to delay treatment for a child who does not control urination properly.

Going to the consultation with the specialist doctor is the fundamental step that parents must take to help their children.

• Pediatric urologist
• Pediatric nephrologist
• Pediatrician

The doctor, based on an adequate diagnosis, will determine, if necessary, the treatment to be followed or its referral to another specialist.

Several clinical studies with enuretic children and parents have revealed that enuresis, in many cases, can lead to social isolation, decreased self-esteem and family conflicts.

Proper treatment has been shown to restore normal self-esteem and improve social and family relationships.

No, this condition is involuntary and unconscious and cannot be changed voluntarily.

It is from the age of five when doctors begin to evaluate the need for some treatment to solve this problem.

In general, it is the same child who asks for help in different ways, but it is usually related to the beginning of school age and their greatest social exposure (1st grade).

Dawn with a “wet bed” generates, almost without exception, restrictions in the child’s social activities, especially after entering school, affecting their self-esteem and intellectual performance.

The impact of the symptom on your personality or your self-esteem can play an important role. Everything will depend on each child and each family situation.

The concrete answer to this question is that we must act to prevent our children from suffering.

Children who live with this symptom feel frustrated because they cannot change it voluntarily.

They know very well that whatever they do to prevent urine leakage, they will inevitably get wet.

In response to this and to better coexist with the problem, they develop any kind of explanations or excuses.

But they suffer inside so as parents we must support them to overcome the problem.

No, wetting daytime clothes can be a sign of infant incontinence.

Many times when children laugh and continue with the game they can pee, and this is not the same as wetting the bed during sleep.

There are daytime symptoms, which are often not taken into account by the family, which make it possible to associate urinary control problems with inadequate bladder activity.

When involuntary urination situations are observed in children at some time of the day or at night, it is very important to consult with the doctor to be sure that the child does not present any of the types of enuresis.

Some of the urine retention maneuvers during the day can be crossing the legs, squatting, squatting with the heel against the vulva, jumping in the same place, compulsive pinching of the penis in the male and frequent urination.

Any time you have any doubts about your child’s urinary continence, regardless of age, you should consult your doctor.

In the particular case of children who only wet the bed at night, it is advisable to wait until they are 5 years old; From this age it is convenient to discuss it with the doctor and together decide what to do.

The emotional problems associated with enuresis, almost always, arise as a consequence of waking up daily with a wet bed, that is, psychological problems are not the cause of the enuresis but the consequence.

Those who wet the bed at night, in addition to feeling disturbed, perceive this as a personal fault.

Growing up with these difficulties can lead to behavior disorders, anxiety problems, fear and isolation. And as they grow older, these conflicts can worsen and set a trend in the formation of their personality.

To avoid these undesirable consequences, it is advisable to consult a specialist doctor, in search of information and possible treatment. In some patients, enuresis begins after an emotional disturbance (death, moving, separation from parents, etc.).

Most of these cases correspond to a secondary enuresis: children over five years of age, who after completely controlling their urination for a minimum period of at least 6 months, begin to wet again.

Remember that by definition, there is no enuretic under 5 years old; therefore, what happens before this age must be considered as expected irregularities during normal learning of urinary control.

When the child is over 5 years old and wakes up wet at least once a month. In this situation we would be facing a problem so it is convenient to consult with the specialist doctor:

• Pediatric urologist
• Pediatric nephrologist
• Pediatrician

In general, with a good diagnosis, there are specific treatments that allow them to sleep soundly and wake up in a dry bed.

From the age of five, waking up wet becomes a difficult situation for those who suffer from it and also for their parents.

If it persists over time, this condition will inevitably have a negative impact on the quality of life of the child and her family.

Enuresis is a common condition in childhood. It affects approximately 15 to 20% of the child population over 5 years of age and is more common in boys than girls.

Each year, only 10% of these children solve their problem spontaneously, which means that 9 out of 10 children who wet the bed today will continue to do so the following year. By age 15, at least one in 100 teens continues to wet the bed at night.