Common and involuntary. Constipation is the most commonly missed cause, and shame is the most common mistake.
Assessed and treated by a GMC-registered GP
Prescriptions, sick notes and referral letters included
A written treatment plan after every appointment
Your NHS records in the room, with your consent
Care led personally by Dr Khan
Attentive, unhurried care that listens properly
Five-star Google reviews from the people we have looked after
Registered with the Care Quality Commission
Bedwetting is passing urine involuntarily during sleep. It is extremely common: around one in five children at five years old, one in twenty at ten, and one or two in a hundred teenagers.
The single most important thing on this page is that it is not the child's fault. It is not laziness, not attention-seeking, and not something they can simply decide to stop. Children who wet the bed are asleep when it happens, and they have no more control over it than over dreaming.
The second most important thing is that constipation is the commonest treatable cause and is missed constantly. A loaded bowel presses on the bladder and reduces how much it can hold. Treating the constipation resolves a substantial share of bedwetting on its own, and it is the first thing worth checking.
It is also worth saying plainly: punishing, shaming or blaming a child for wet beds makes the problem worse, not better. That is not a soft opinion — it is in the national guidance.
Primary bedwetting — the child has never had a sustained period of being dry at night. This is much the commoner pattern and is usually a matter of development.
Secondary bedwetting — the child was reliably dry for six months or more, and has started again. This always warrants assessment, because there is more often an identifiable cause: a urine infection, constipation, new diabetes, threadworms, or something going on emotionally.
Not caused by: laziness, drinking normally during the day, deliberate behaviour, or poor parenting.
There is no test for bedwetting itself. The assessment establishes the pattern and excludes the causes that have specific treatments.
The most useful thing you can bring is a two-week diary recording: how many nights are wet, roughly how much, when the child drinks and how much, when they open their bowels and what the stool is like, and any daytime symptoms.
Blood glucose urgently where there is thirst, weight loss or excessive urination. Bladder ultrasound and specialist assessment are reserved for daytime symptoms, recurrent infections, or treatment that has not worked.
Bedwetting assesses well remotely, because everything useful comes from the history and from a diary rather than from an examination.
Treat a child under five. Bedwetting below that age is within normal variation and does not warrant intervention.
Seek same-day assessment if your child:
Book a consultation if:
No need to seek help for: a child under five who wets at night and is otherwise well. That is within the normal range.
Stop restricting fluids during the day. It is the commonest well-intentioned mistake. Concentrated urine irritates the bladder and reduces its capacity, so daytime restriction usually makes bedwetting worse. Children should drink normally through the day and simply taper in the last hour or so before bed.
Stop any punishment, telling off, or making the child strip their own bed as a consequence. Bedwetting is involuntary. Shame does not accelerate a developmental process, and it does real damage to a child's confidence. National guidance says this explicitly.
An enuresis alarm is first-line for long-term dryness. It wakes the child at the moment wetting starts, and over weeks trains the brain to respond to a full bladder. It takes commitment — several weeks, and disturbed nights for the whole household — but it produces the most durable results.
Desmopressin reduces overnight urine production and works quickly. It is particularly useful for sleepovers, school trips and holidays, and where an alarm is not practical. It treats while it is being taken rather than retraining anything.
Carrying a sleeping child to the toilet may keep a bed dry, but it does not help them learn. It is a reasonable short-term measure and not a treatment.
Start with your school nurse or GP. The specialist continence services are free, genuinely good, and most families do not know they exist.
This page follows NICE guidance on bedwetting in under-19s (CG111).
A child who has been dry for six months or more and starts wetting again should be assessed, including for infection, diabetes, constipation and emotional or social causes.
Reviewed against NICE CG111 current at the date shown above.
No. They are asleep when it happens and have no control over it.
This is the single most important thing to understand, and getting it wrong causes lasting harm to a child's confidence.
Taper in the last hour before bed, but do not restrict during the day — that is the common mistake.
Concentrated urine irritates the bladder and reduces its capacity, so daytime restriction usually makes bedwetting worse.
Yes, and it is the most commonly missed one. A loaded bowel presses on the bladder and reduces how much it can hold.
Treating it resolves a meaningful share of bedwetting on its own, which is why it should be asked about first.
Bedwetting under five is within the normal range and does not need treating.
From five upwards it is reasonable to act, particularly if it is bothering your child.
That is secondary bedwetting and it always deserves assessment.
Urine infection, constipation, threadworms, new diabetes or something emotional are the usual explanations, and most are straightforward to address.
Yes — they are first-line for lasting dryness. They train the brain to respond to a full bladder.
They take several weeks and disturbed nights for everyone, so they need commitment, but the results last.
Desmopressin reduces overnight urine production and works quickly. It is ideal for sleepovers, trips and holidays.
It treats rather than retrains — wetting usually returns when it is stopped, which is worth knowing in advance.
Yes, but reward the right thing. Reward drinking well, using the toilet before bed, and helping change sheets.
Never reward dry nights. The child cannot control those, so the chart becomes another way to fail.
The great majority do — roughly 15% of children who wet the bed stop each year without any treatment.
That is not a reason to do nothing if it is affecting your child's confidence or stopping them going on sleepovers. Treatment works, and waiting has a cost too.
August 30, 2026
Ongoing
Time to be seen
Appointment length
Your NHS record in the room
Written treatment plan
Told when a test isn’t needed
Cost
Same day, usually
20 minutes
Yes, with your consent
Included
Yes, and told why
£40 for 20 minutes
Varies by practice
Typically 10 minutes
Yes, your full record
Not routinely
Usually
Free
Same day
Often 10 to 15 minutes
Usually not
Sometimes charged
Varies by provider
Often a subscription
Same-day access is usually available, from 6am to 10pm, seven days a week. You choose a time that suits you rather than waiting on hold at 8am.
Yes. Care is led personally by Dr Mohammad Khan, so you are not passed between clinicians. Continuity is the point of a small practice: someone who knows your history and is listening attentively rather than working through a checklist.
Yes, with your consent. We can access your Summary Care Record during the consultation, so your current medications, allergies and significant history are in the room. That means fewer questions you have already answered elsewhere, and safer prescribing.
No. We are not here to replace GPs, only to support them. Your NHS practice remains responsible for your ongoing care, and with your consent we write to them after the consultation. We are useful when you need to be seen sooner, or want more time than a standard appointment allows.
Twenty unhurried minutes and a comprehensive assessment. A written treatment plan is included, along with any prescription, sick note or referral letter arising from the consultation, at no extra charge.
£40 for 20 minutes, self-pay. Membership is optional and never required. Priced for fairness, because we are not here to charge extortionate amounts for access to a doctor.
It means the diagnosis can usually be made from your history and photographs, and that treatment can be arranged safely without examining you. Where a condition is not marked treatable online, it is because examination is the diagnosis — listening to a chest, feeling an abdomen, examining an ear or a joint — or because a procedure or device is needed.
Yes, where there is a genuine bacterial infection — cellulitis, impetigo, bacterial urine infections, confirmed strep throat. We will also frequently tell you that you do not need one. Most sore throats, coughs, colds and earaches are viral, and an antibiotic gives you the side effects with none of the benefit.
If your problem turns out to be genuinely outside what we can do remotely, the doctor will tell you straight away, point you to the right service, and refund your fee in full. We would rather do that than fill twenty minutes to justify the charge.
Call 999 or go to A&E — do not book an online appointment and do not wait for a reply to an email. For urgent problems that are not emergencies, NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, online or by phone, and can direct you to the right service.
Patient reviews
