Statistics on enuresis - bedwetting

Here are some key figures to help you understand better:

5-6 years old: This is the age when the bladder and the brain that controls it are fully mature. Only from this age do we begin to talk about enuresis, or more commonly, bedwetting.

But should we be worried?

Let's look at some statistics to help parents put things into perspective. Enuresis - Bedwetting: Find some guidelines to understand it!

At what age do children become potty-trained?

• 18 months: the child indicates when their underwear is wet.
• Between 20 and 30 months: Daytime cleanliness is achieved.
• Between 30 and 40 months : (With the help of parents), nighttime cleanliness is achieved.
• Around 42 months: he is independently clean, with possible episodic nighttime incidents until around the age of 5-6 years.

Between the ages of 3 and 4, approximately 1 in 2 children still wet the bed, and that's perfectly normal! But: 37% of mothers still believe that the age for nighttime dryness is around two years old.

But when should bedwetting be considered "abnormal"?

We saw earlier that the maturation process of the bladder and brain is not truly complete until around 5 or 6 years of age. Therefore, we will only use the term enuresis for children aged 5 and older.

Enuresis - Bedwetting: 1 in 10 children are affected between the ages of 5 and 10 (10%)

A recent survey in France, on a sample of 4,000 children, demonstrated that bedwetting affects:

• 9.2% of children aged 5 to 10
• 11.2% of those aged 5 to 7

This reveals that in France, around 400,000 children aged 5 to 10 are affected by the problem of bedwetting.

Other data indicate that:

• 2 to 3% of children continue to wet the bed during adolescence
• 0.5 to 1% of adults are still affected by bedwetting.

There is more primary enuresis than secondary enuresis

• Bedwetting is said to be "primary" when the child has never been dry at night since birth or never for more than 6 consecutive months.
• It is said to be "secondary" when bedwetting appeared overnight in a child who had achieved daytime and nighttime continence before the age of 5 and for a period of at least one or two years.

Primary enuresis accounts for 80% of bedwetting cases.

Is there a hereditary factor in enuresis - bedwetting?

Let's dispel some myths: education and social environment have no influence on the stages of toilet training. Only 2% of boys and 6% of girls are dry at night by 18 months of age.

IMPORTANT FACTOR: The age of nighttime continence is partly linked to heredity. The acquisition of nighttime continence is directly related to the increase in bladder capacity, sleep organization, and the nocturnal regulation of urine production (hormones).

Did you know that?

Bedwetting has worried many generations of parents... It was first described 3,500 years ago by the Egyptians. So, don't be afraid and accept this situation as a normal stage in your child's development. Remind them often that bedwetting isn't a problem, and that they're not alone.