Children can have both day and night time wetting. In fact, a third of children who wet during the day also wet when they sleep. The medical term for this is daytime incontinence, which means the loss of bladder control during the day. 

Now, interestingly enough, unlike bedwetting where it’s more common in boys, daytime wetting is twice as common in girls! About 3 to 4% of children between the age of 4 and 12 have daytime wetting, as is most common among young school aged children.

Understandably, daytime wetting can be very embarrassing for the child, particularly those of school age. 

Daytime wetting is most commonly associated with children who suffer from non-monosymptomatic enuresis, where there’s more than one symptom of bedwetting. It’s happening because the bladder is not working normally as it should. 

Most children gain daytime control of their bladder by the age of 4. So why do some children regularly wet during the day as well as the night?

It can be due to a number of things, but here are the most common reasons.

• An overactive bladder
• An underactive bladder
• Incomplete emptying of the bladder
• Leakage (void postponement)
• Constipation

Other less common causes include emotional stress, giggle incontinence, stress incontinence,  or urinary tract infections.

It’s also worth mentioning, children with developmental delay or autism may take longer to gain normal bladder control during the day, than their peers.

So, if your child suffers from daytime wetting as well as bedwetting at night, it’s very important that the daytime wetting is treated first before attempting to treat the night time wetting. 

If you can’t manage and treat the daytime wetting yourself, then an evaluation by your doctor or incontinence nurse is recommended. They can then determine what daytime strategies are likely to be most effective for your child and your child’s circumstances.