Bedwetting mostly a boy thing

Submitted by shelbydburns Sun 03/27/2011

About 5% of kids between six and eleven wet the bed. Boys are twice as likely as girls to wet the bed at night according to a new study of more than 6,000 children. The numbers showed seven out of 100 boys and three out of 100 girls were wetting the bed at least once a month.

Bedwetting can be hereditary, about two out of five case show some genetic connection. So some, not most can be attributed to genes according to Dr. Joseph Barone, pediatric urologist st the Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

He also explained that sometimes the link between body and brain hasn’t developed yet. Since girls develop faster than boys, you can see why they are less frequently the ones having midnight accidents. Bedwetting decreases with age for boys and girls.

The best way to treat bedwetting, if you are so inclined to treat it at all, is the an alarm. This is a sensor in the child’s underwear which goes off as moisture is detected. At that point, an alarm in a wristband will go off, hopefully catching the child mid flow so that he can learn to recognize and wake at the sensation. They can cost $50-$60, and up to $150 for models with more features.

There are also medications, but unless there is a medical need, the side effects from the drugs may not be worth it.

Researchers also looked at sleep apnea to see what its relationship is to bedwetting and they found no relationship at all.

Source: Journal of Pediatrics, Reuters

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