Bedwetting in Children: Causes, Solutions and the Nervous System Connection

One of the Top 3 Reasons I see kids in my chiropractic practice in Mt. Horeb, WI is for nighttime bedwetting.

When kids are past the age of being potty trained and should be “old enough” to make it through the night without having an accident.

This range can vary widely but is usually between the ages of 3-11 when parents become  concerned.

Many parents address the issue with their pediatrician first, and the response is often “they’ll grow out of it”, and

The most common treatments are:

1. Restricting fluids in the evenings
2. Setting a timer to wake the child periodically throughout the night
3. Behavioral modification
4. Certain medications to decrease urine production or help with an “overactive bladder”

Very often, children who suffer with nighttime bedwetting also have

Other signs of sleep disturbance or disruption, such as:

• Snoring
• open mouth breathing
• night terrors
• sleepwalking
• sleep talking
• clenching or grinding teeth
• hard to wake in the morning.

Many children also have:

• constipation
• hyperactivity
• headaches
• sensory issues
• dark circles under their eyes
• “ants in the pants” or are constantly wiggling and have a hard time sitting still.
• As children get older, it can also mess with their confidence and mental health, as it becomes embarrassing, a source of constant tension in the family, and is hard to enjoy sleepovers with friends.

When assessed through the lens of the medical model, the urinary/bladder system is evaluated on its own, and treatment is usually centered around this. And this is often why these treatments fail, or do not work in the long term.

Chiropractors assess the body through the lens of the nervous system—the brain, cranial nerves, and spinal nerves working together to properly communicate with and control the autonomic functions of the body. When we see kids struggling with nighttime bedwetting, we understand that the signals between the brain and bladder are getting mixed, and that it is a nervous system issue, not a bladder issue.

What Pediatric Chiropractors Do

We assess:

1. The spine, pelvis and sacrum
2. Cranial bones (if properly trained)
3.  Primitive reflexes
4. Do a deep dive into past health history, and prenatal and birth challenges.

We understand that brain and nervous system development may have been impacted during pregnancy, delivery, or after the baby was born.

If there is a history of birth trauma, subluxation in utero or at birth, or any challenges postpartum, this can put the baby’s nervous system into a state of stress and lock up important areas of the spine and cranial bones, leading to miscommunication in the body.

Babies and kids should be able to eat, sleep and poop without an issue. If chiropractors see challenges in any of these areas, we know that subluxations are present. When we see multiple sleep issues (bedwetting + snoring/night terrors/grinding teeth), we know that the nervous system stress runs even deeper.

You cannot trick the brain out of this through alarms and frequent wakeups.

In fact, I would completely argue against this as a treatment because:

1. It is completely disrupting deep sleep in the child and may cause more issues
2. It trains the brain to need to be woken up externally to prevent bedwetting instead of correcting the root cause.
3. I am also not in favor of restricting fluids, as a potentially dehydrated child may cause other health issues.

Proper function looks like:

1. The child can hold their bladder until they wake
2. Or the child can sense the urge to go and self-arouse internally to use the bathroom during the night if they need to.

So what is actually happening in the nervous system that is causing the disconnect?

1. For some kids, they may have a subluxation in the lumbar spine or sacrum that is impacting the nerves that directly innervate the bladder, causing over-activity in the area. These kids may also have constipation or digestive issues, as the nerves that innervate the intestines are in close proximity. These kids tend to respond the quickest to chiropractic care.
2. Some children may also have a visible retained primitive reflex present in this region, which can impact nervous system input to the brain, and cause miscommunication. Having this specific primitive reflex present past the age of 9 months indicates there was stress in the brain that did not allow it to extinguish at the proper time. This could be from prenatal stress, injury or trauma from birth itself, or from stress or medications after birth. It is important to realize the retained primitive reflex is not the cause of bedwetting, but merely another signal that nervous system stress is present, and the child needs chiropractic care to help clear it out.
3. A child can also present with upper cervical (neck) subluxations and a cranial distortion pattern. Chiropractors see this the most when some of those other sleep challenges are also present. This area of the brain, brainstem and spinal cord control and coordinate many autonomic functions of the body, and misalignments here can show up in many ways. Sleep, digestion, immune system, mood, bladder and breathing can be impacted by tension here. Often caused by prenatal and birth stress, these areas definitely need to be assessed by a pediatric chiropractor to remove the subluxations and calm/rebalance the nervous system.

When the cranial bones and vertebrae in this region are out of alignment and a child presents with bedwetting, it is most likely caused by the higher parts nervous system. This is why alarms, restricting fluids or medications won’t work. None address the root cause—subluxation.

Children with:

1. multiple sleep challenges
2. digestive issues paired with bedwetting
3. cranial distortion patterns and upper cervical subluxations
4. and retained primitive reflexes,

tend to need the most chiropractic care but also have the most amazing results from their adjustments. I have had many parents bring their children in for bedwetting, but watch their constipation clear up, their headaches disappear, their sleep improve, their snoring stop, and their mood and behavior change dramatically. These kids are totally different people on the other side of their chiropractic care plan.

By clearing nervous system tension around the brainstem and upper part of the spine, the entire body responds positively and natural healing occurs. It is amazing to witness what can happen with time, frequency and consistency.

I would also like to note that as parents, we want to wave a magic wand and have nighttime potty training done early, quickly and easily. And if I could make this happen, I would be a millionaire (Ha!) It is so important to understand that each child has their own timeline for learning developmental skills, and nighttime potty training is no different. There is not a magical age of 2 or 3 that all children need to be trained by.

It is important to not compare siblings, what your friends’ kids are doing, and even recognize there can be variations between boys and girls. Keeping conversations around the situation light, managing stressful emotions, and not placing blame or shame are important considerations during this time.

But as you listen to your parents’ intuition, if you feel that something is not right, then it is important to get your child evaluated by a certified pediatric chiropractor. If they have any of the other sleep or health challenges listed above present as a baby or toddler, certainly get them in to be evaluated as well. These are definite signs of nervous system stress and subluxation and need to be cleared whether bedwetting is present or not. And if your child has been successfully potty trained at night, and then bedwetting started up after an injury, illness or stressful event, then it is also important to have them evaluated by a pediatric chiropractor.

At the end of the day, we want healthy kids, and we want sleep. It is important to realize that there may be a series of mini-red-flag events along the way before the bedwetting was apparent, and that’s why it is so important to have babies checked by a pediatric chiropractor shortly after birth. If you have any questions about your child and bedwetting and would like them evaluated, please give our pediatric chiropractic office in Mt Horeb, WI a call ASAP at 608-437-9990.