Bed wetting can indeed be a sign of diabetes, but keep in mind that bed wetting in children is a fairly common occurrence. The age at which a child manages to successfully sleep through the night without urinating varies greatly. Some children are completely dry at night by age three, while others continue to wet the bed until they are 11 or 12 years old or even older. My older daughter had an issue with bed wetting and was close to 9 years old before she enjoyed a string of dry nights. At her annual yearly checkup, I discussed this issue with her pediatrician and questioned whether chronic bed wetting was an indicator of any serious health issues, including diabetes.
According to my child’s doctor, bed wetting can indeed be a sign of type one or type two diabetes. The presence of diabetes causes excessive thirst, which in turn leads to excessive urination. A full bladder from consuming an abundance of liquids during the evening can cause an incidence of bed wetting during the night. We discussed my daughter’s drinking habits and concluded that she did not appear to be drinking excessively. However, to rule out the possibility entirely, blood and urine samples were tested for the disease. Thankfully, she did not have the markers for diabetes, and I was able to put my worries to rest.
Although the presence of diabetes is one cause of wetting the bed, it is far from the only one. Most of the reasons for bed wetting are innocuous and require no treatment except for patience and a large amount of compassion and understanding. Heredity plays a role in whether a child will deal with this issue. The fact that I was a bed wetter myself during my youth made my children 50 percent more likely to follow suit. Had my husband also dealt with this issue, the odds that one of my girls would have issues with wetting the bed were almost 100 percent. For many children, the nuisance of bed wetting is as simple as a bladder that needs to catch up with the rest of the growing body. Time is the only cure.
Concerns about bed wetting should always be discussed with the child’s primary physician. While it is very likely that the underlying cause of the issue is nothing at all to be worried about, it is best to rule out any medical concerns such as diabetes or an infection of some sort. At the very least, the pediatrician will want to note the information on the child’s chart in order to keep a full and complete medical profile.
Bed wetting usually resolves itself on it’s own, much to the relief of the child and the parents. While the issue is ongoing, however, it is very important to handle the matter with compassion and kindness. As the child advances in age, he or she becomes more embarrassed about the incidents and needs comfort and assurance that he or she is in no way to blame, and that it will eventually end on it’s own.
Source:
Pediatric Affiliates, Manahawkin, NJ
