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Wet Beds and Sound Sleepers

What's the Connection?

By Lyn Mettler

The medical community has long believed that children who wet the bed at night beyond the ages of 5 or 6 suffer from a sleep disorder. But recent studies have shown that sleep habits are no longer to blame.

Bedwetting, or enuresis, is often found in children who sleep very soundly, leading many to attribute its cause to sleep problems.

*Robin's 9-year-old son, *Brian, has been wetting the bed since he was a baby and she describes him as a very heavy sleeper. "He's like a rock when he's sound asleep," says the mother of two from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. "He's deadweight. Sometimes he's sound asleep and will sleep right in [the urine]."

Dr. Mark Stein, chief of psychology and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., explains that for many years enuresis was thought to be primarily a sleep disorder since children who wet the bed are often described as deep sleepers. "Controlled studies suggest that sleep problems or being a 'deep sleeper' are not the primary cause of wetting," he says.

Studies on children with enuresis show that they have no unusual EEG patterns when sleeping, according to Dr. Frederick Kaskel, director of the division and training program in pediatric nephrology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y. EEG, or electroencephalography, records the electrical activity of the brain through sensors attached to the head during sleep. Abnormal patterns appear in those with sleep disorders.

"Granted, some of them are deeper sleepers and need a little more arousal waking up," says Dr. Kaskel, who is also the chairperson of the Commission on Enuresis for the National Kidney Foundation. "This does not represent a true sleep disorder, just a variation from the norm."

So while Brian may sleep soundly, that's likely not the cause of his bedwetting, though it can exacerbate the problem.

So if not sleep, what does cause enuresis? Well, the jury's not back on that one yet, but there are a number of factors that likely contribute and when you mix them with a deep sleeper, you'll see how bedwetting often can result.

Want to see more?

• Good Mornings: Bedwetting and Your Child
• Wet, but Dry
• The Effects of Divorce on Children A Potential Cause for Bedwetting
• Oh Brother, I Wet the Bed
• Childhood Baby Blues: The Effects of a New Baby on Bedwetting
• Summer Camp or Bust: Your Bedwetting Child Can Do It!
• Talking About Bedwetting with Children