Nocturnal Enuresis
Leigh R. Smith MD1
1 Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the model practice clinic at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston
Enuresis has long been a problem for children, parents, and physicians. Much has been written on the subject from various points of view. A brief review of the subject is presented, followed by a description of the author's approach to the problem. The emphasis is on removing enuresis from the category of a disease to be cured and placing it among those conditions which may be considered variations of normal development. The physician's role is to help resolve family problems which result from misconceptions about enuresis and to avoid overinvestigation of a largely self-limiting condition.
Nocturnal enuresis may be defined simply as wetting the bed at night beyond the age at which most children have stopped. Parents often consider enuresis a disease to be cured. The condition is seldom bothersome to the child, however, until parent, sibling, peer, or relative makes him feel that he is different from other children.
The concept of nocturnal enuresis as a disease is often reinforced by textbooks and literature which define a specific age after which bedwetting is unusual and which convey the impression that the etiology is frequently organic. The age most often assigned as an end point to bedwetting is 5 to 6 years, or school age.1-3
