Few conditions are as misunderstood and mismanaged as nocturnal enuresis, aka bedwetting. Parents are told their child will “outgrow it,” that bedwetting is a “normal part of childhood development” and doesn’t warrant treatment until age 7, 10, or older. Common explanations run the gamut: an underdeveloped bladder, deep sleep, hormone imbalance, a bladder that “hasn’t caught up with the brain,” emotional stress or anxiety. All those explanations are wrong.

My older child has struggled so much with enuresis and encopresis that I would do anything to avoid all that misery with my youngest. What advice do you have to potty training to prevent constipation?

Goodnites' ad campaign is insidious. It’s designed to “tackle social stigma in a way that is sophisticated and thoughtful,” a worthy aim, to be sure. But what the project actually does is perpetuate medical misinformation and leverage families’ distress for the purpose of selling product.

As a doctor with many teenage bedwetting patients, I have two observations: 1.) Silverman’s story of shame and isolation rings true, and 2.) The Bedwetter, like many movies and TV shows, reinforces damaging myths about bedwetting.

When a child’s constipation has resolved, medication tends to work well; when a child’s rectum remains clogged with stool, drugs are pointle

Enuresis causes anxiety, not the reverse. Enuresis is actually caused by chronic constipation

We covered poop and pee withholding, bladder medication, Ex-Lax and Miralax, a recurrence of accidents in a teenager, and explosive pee acci

When I explain to parents that their child’s bedwetting and daytime accidents are caused by constipation — not an underdeveloped bladder, de

When a child is undergoing treatment for both bedwetting and daytime accidents, a frustrating pattern emerges.

Poop smears, aka “skid marks,” aren’t caused by a failure to use toilet paper; rather, they signal the child’s rectum is harboring stool an