Causes of Bedwetting
Maturational delay, deep sleep disorder, small bladder capacity, sphincter inefficiency, hormonal imbalance or stress can lead to nocturnal enuresis.
Causes of enuresis include-
- Maturational delay in the development of bladder musculature and its ability to withstand the pressure of a large urine volume can result in bedwetting. It is often hereditary.
- Deep sleep disorder- In many bedwetting cases, the root cause is an inherited deep-sleep disorder. The brain sleeps so deeply that it fails to respond to the signals from the bladder, hence the bladder empties involuntarily. Sometimes, bedwetting is associated with sleep problems such as sleepwalking and nightmares.
- A small bladder capacity with a weak and insensitive sphincter muscle (the sphincter muscle is the muscle that holds the urine inside the bladder) may also contribute to the problem. In some children, the bladders do not hold as much urine as other children's do.
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- Some children have a tendency to produce more urine during their sleep than others and are unable to wake up once their bladder becomes full.
- Physical causes- They are rare, but may include lower spinal cord lesions, congenital malformations of the genitourinary tract, infections of the urinary tract or diabetes.
- A psychologically stressful event in the child’s life is often found to cause bedwetting.
- Food allergy has been found by researchers to be a cause for bedwetting in children.
- Hormonal imbalance- Insufficient production of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) can also cause bedwetting.
