What causes a child to wake up and go to the toilet?

As a parent, you might have asked yourself what makes a certain child to sleep the entire night without waking up at all, what makes another to wake up a few times a night and go to the toilet, and what makes certain children to sometimes do both. There are two main factors which influence the above scenarios – the bladder factor, and the sleep factor.

🟩  The bladder factor:

– How much urine is accumulated in the bladder?
The later it is in the night, the more urine is accumulated in the bladder. The more urine accumulated in the bladder, the stronger the signal from the bladder to the child’s brain is to wake up.

– What’s the volume of the bladder?
The smaller the child’s bladder is, the higher the pressure on it – as well as the chance he or she will wake up during their sleep.

– Is the bladder overactive?
A child with an irritable overactive bladder will usually wake up more often during the night.

🟪  The sleep factor:

– What stage of sleep is the child on?
When the signal from the bladder to the child’s brain to wake up is sent during stage 4 (Delta – the deepest sleep), there is a low chance of waking up. [Read more about deep sleep and bedwetting] When the same signal is sent during stages 2 and 3 (the lighter sleep stages), it’s much easier for the child to wake up, and go to the toilet.

– What is the child’s sleep pattern?
Each child has his or her own individual sleep pattern. These patterns can be affected by age, the child’s internal clock, activities prior to sleep such as stress, environment, weather, lighting, exercise and more.

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