What is bedwetting (nocturnal enuresis)?

Bedwetting, medically called nocturnal enuresis, is involuntary urination during sleep in children aged five or older. It is not caused by laziness or bad behaviour, and it is nobody's fault. Most children who wet the bed are physically healthy.

Who does bedwetting affect, and how common is it?

Bedwetting is one of the most common conditions in childhood. Around 5–10% of 7-year-olds wet the bed, and it is somewhat more common in boys. It becomes less common with age, but about 1–2% of adults still experience it.

Symptoms and types of bedwetting

The main symptom is wetting the bed during sleep, at least once a month, from the age of five. Doctors describe two types:

Primary enuresis: the child has never been dry for six months in a row. This is the most common type.
Secondary enuresis: wetting returns after at least six dry months. Talk to a doctor to rule out underlying causes.

Some children also have daytime symptoms, such as sudden urgency or wetting during the day.

What causes bedwetting?

Deep sleep: the brain does not respond to the signal from a full bladder.
Night-time urine production: some children produce more urine at night (low vasopressin).
Small bladder capacity or an overactive bladder.
Heredity: if a parent wet the bed, the child's risk is much higher.
Constipation, stress or major life changes can contribute.

Is bedwetting hereditary?

Yes, bedwetting often runs in families. If one parent wet the bed as a child, the risk for the child is clearly higher, and higher still if both parents did. Heredity does not mean treatment works less well.

How bedwetting affects children and families

Bedwetting is not harmful in itself, but it can weigh on a child. Many feel shame, avoid sleepovers or school trips, and worry that friends will find out. Parents lose sleep too. Explain to your child that it is common, that it is not their fault, and that it can be treated.

How is bedwetting diagnosed?

A nurse or doctor asks about wet and dry nights, drinking and toilet habits, daytime symptoms and constipation. You may be asked to keep a bladder diary for a few days. A urine test can rule out infection or diabetes. Most children need no further tests.

How is bedwetting treated?

International guidelines recommend two first-line treatments:

The bedwetting alarm teaches the brain to react to a full bladder. It is the treatment most likely to give lasting dry nights.
Desmopressin reduces urine production at night. It works quickly, but wetting often returns when the medicine stops.

DryGuardians takes the alarm further with specialised sleepwear and an app that guides parents and clinicians step by step. After about four weeks, it shows whether the child is responding. Read the full guide to bedwetting treatment.

How to stop bedwetting at home

Bedwetting stops when the brain learns to react to a full bladder at night — by waking up, or by holding on until morning. What helps:

Start a bedwetting alarm and use it every night.
Drink well during the day and less in the last hour or two before bed.
Use the toilet right before sleep, and keep regular toilet visits during the day.
Treat constipation if it is present, as it presses on the bladder.
Stay positive. Never punish wet nights. Praise effort, not results.

With motivation and a clear plan, many families succeed on their own at home.

How long does bedwetting last?

Many children grow out of it slowly — around 15% per year. But waiting can affect self-esteem, sleepovers and family sleep. Treatment shortens the road to dry nights considerably, and most children become dry with alarm treatment within a few months.

Bedwetting in adults

Bedwetting also affects adults — some have wet the bed since childhood, others start later in life. Adults who begin wetting the bed should see a doctor to rule out causes such as infection, diabetes or sleep apnoea. Alarm treatment works for adults too. See the bedwetting FAQ for more.

When should you see a doctor?

Your child is seven or older and still wets the bed, or it bothers them.
Wetting starts again after six dry months.
There is pain when urinating, very frequent thirst, or blood in the urine.
Wetting happens during the day as well, or there is ongoing constipation.
Snoring or pauses in breathing during sleep.

Questions to ask your doctor

Is this primary or secondary bedwetting?
Is an alarm or medicine the best start for us?
How will we know if the treatment is working?
What should we do if it does not work?

Need protection while you treat? Pjama bedwetting pants look like regular sleepwear and keep the bed dry.

Ready for lasting dry nights?

Choose a DryGuardians treatment kit at Pjama.

See DryGuardians kits

Bedwetting guides

Bedwetting guides in other languages

Sources

The DryGuardians method was developed with Professor Tryggve Nevéus, Uppsala University Hospital. This guide draws on:

Last updated October 2026.

Bedwetting is common. Dry nights are possible.