Bedwetting Not Uncommon Among Children

By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The medical term is enuresis but frustrated parents know it simply as bedwetting. Officially the medical definition is intermittent urinary incontinence in a child at least five years of age.

It is not uncommon. It affects five to seven million children in the US and about ten percent of all 7-year-olds.

There are several things at play.

The first is that the urge to void does not necessarily wake up the child. In addition, the nightime urine production in some children is greater than in others.

Counseling - particularly of parents - can help as well as attempts to change behavior such as with nightime alarms. A medication called desmopressin can help as well.

But, maybe the most important step is understanding that your child is not alone..in fact far from it.