And that's not all. Afraid of waking up in a soaked bed, children who wet their beds may avoid going to pajama parties, friends' houses or summer camp. By age 5, one in five still wets the bed and at age 6, the numbers drop to one in 10. Just about all bed-wetting stops by the time children reach puberty.
Boys are more likely than girls to wet their beds.
Bed-wetting may start again during stressful times. No one really knows what causes enuresis, the medical term for bed-wetting. From the 1930s through the 1960s, it was commonly believed that children who wet their beds had psychological problems. Today, it is suspected that bed-wetting may be caused by slow development of the nerves that control the bladder. Even a small bladder unable to hold the urine produced during the night can result in bed-wetting.