Bedwetting is a frustrating problem to endure, and 5 year old bedwetting problems can be a hard concept to deal with for many parents because most bedwetting is over and done with after the age of 5 years. It is considered to be problem bedwetting if your child is still wetting their bed at night at the age of 5 years.

What to do about your 5 year old's bedwetting?

A common approach for most parents of bedwetting 5 year old's will be to do some research on the internet and to look for advice on the first steps to take. Before we get to our recommendations, let's look at why your 5 year old will be wetting their bed.

Why does your 5 year old actually suffer enuresis?

At the age of 5 years, your bedwetting child will be experiencing, most likely, the typical traits of very deep sleep and over production of urine at night time. Contrary to belief, it is not too much to drink at night that stops your 5 year old from having a dry night – so don't be tempted to cut drinks to them. Heavy sleep is combined with a lack of the right amount of a hormone that signals the brain to produce less urine at night when the bladder is full. The result is producing too much urine and failing to wake, with the result that they wet the bed during sleep.

Bedwetting in 5 year old's is often genetic

Another factor underlying why your 5 year old child wets the bed is if you or the child's other parent was a bedwetting sufferer also. Bedwetting is genetic, and if your 5 year old is still wetting their bed try to remember back and decide if you also wet your bed at a young age. But remember, it can skip generations and often may not be talked about,  and so just because you or the other parent was not a bedwetter,  this does not rule out genetics.   However, knowing that the underlying mechanism causing bedwetting is genetic,  can help parents to understand and come to grips with the fact that their child is not bedwetting on purpose – it is beyond their control.

How to cure your 5 year old's bedwetting problems

Underlying physical causes are uncommon, but in case you have not already, have your  child checked out medically.   The most suitable and successful cure to stop your 5 year old wetting their bed is to use a proven bedwetting alarm system.  Alarms are the only proven method that actually cures bedwetting.  

The alarm works by sensing the first drips of urine, triggers the alarm and then wakes the enuresis child. This allows them to go to the bathroom and empty   their bladder before going back to sleep.

Learning to wake to the alarm will take time, but that is then followed by waking more and more quickly until the child is "beating the alarm" , that is, waking to  the need to urinate, or even sleeping through the night with no need to urinate.  The time period is around 6 to 8 weeks, but can vary widely.  

Apart from learning to wake without wetting, it also appears that using the alarm has some effect on encouraging the brain to produce a higher level of the hormone that reduces urine production at night.  This is why a child who may have been wetting 2 and 3 times a night, after successful alarm treatment,  will need to go to the bathroom just once, or not at all during the night.   This means happy child and happy parents!