Deep Sleep and Bedwetting

Can Deep Sleep Cause Bedwetting?

Updated August 2026

Many parents believe that bedwetting in children is due to their inability to wake from deep sleep. Indeed, waking a child who wets the bed can be so challenging that some may not stir even for a loud bedwetting alarm, often leaving the rest of the family awake and bewildered. However, it’s important to note that not all children who are deep sleepers wet the bed.

Many bedwetters are difficult to wake up!

Bedwetting happens at different times of the night for different children. Some may wet the bed early in the night, whilst others may do so in the early morning. For many chronic bedwetters, it can happen more than once a night.

Children, like adults, cycle between different types of sleep during the night. Understanding these sleep stages can help explain why some children are so difficult to wake.

Many parents say their child who wets the bed is also an extremely deep sleeper. This has led to the common belief that bedwetting happens mainly during deep sleep. However, children can wet the bed during different stages of sleep, so deep sleep alone does not explain it.

Let’s take a closer look at the sleep cycle to see when bedwetting is most likely to occur.

About Sleep Cycles

Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) Sleep

Stage One (N1): As you begin to fall asleep, you enter stage one of the sleep cycle. It’s easy to wake up from this stage, and if you were to be woken up, you might not realize you had been asleep.

Stage Two (N2): Upon entering stage two of the sleep cycle, you’re still in a state of ‘light sleep.’ Depending on how far you’ve progressed into stage two, you can be easily awakened. Your body starts to relax more, your heart rate slows, and your body temperature decreases. As we fall asleep, we sometimes experience a hypnagogic startle – a sudden jerk of the body that can wake us momentarily. This is quite normal.

Deep Sleep

Stage Three (N3): Next comes stage three of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep which is ‘deep sleep’ (formerly divided into stages three and four). Your brainwaves slow down and it becomes more difficult to wake up. In fact, someone calling your name would not necessarily wake you up. If you take your child to the toilet in this sleep stage, he or she may stay in a semi-sleep state and fall straight back to sleep with no recollection of going to the toilet in the morning.

This deep sleep stage is crucial for your body to go through restorative processes, including tissue repair, muscle growth, and boosting the immune system.

According to Dr Ferber, author of Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems, young children tend to spend more time in deep sleep earlier in the night.

REM Sleep

Finally, there is REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep when most of your dreams occur. Your eyes move rapidly, heart rate goes up, and your breathing becomes irregular. Although your muscles are very relaxed, waking up from this stage can be easier. REM sleep is believed to be crucial for cognitive function, memory, emotions, and creative problem-solving.

Sleep cycles repeat throughout the night. By around school age, a complete sleep cycle lasts roughly 90 minutes, although the length and pattern of each stage can vary.

At the end of a sleep cycle, we may briefly stir or wake without even remembering it the next morning. This is when you might notice you are too hot or cold, move around to get more comfortable, pull up the sheets or realize you need to go to the toilet.

So When Does Bedwetting Occur?

Bedwetting can happen during different stages of sleep. Some studies suggest it happens more often during NREM sleep, particularly stage two (N2) and deep sleep, and often earlier in the night. But there is no single sleep stage where bedwetting always occurs.

A 2026 review looked at 18 sleep studies and found mixed results. Some studies found differences in sleep stages and more broken sleep in children who wet the bed, while others found little or no difference.

Earlier studies also found that some children who wet the bed have fairly normal sleep patterns overall. So why do so many parents say their child is an extremely deep sleeper?

Senior lecturer Tryggve Neveus at Uppsala University in Sweden suggests that the main issue for many children is not simply that they sleep deeply, but that they are difficult to wake. They may not respond strongly enough to the sensation of a full bladder to wake and get to the toilet in time.

He also points out that ‘deep’ sleep does not necessarily mean good-quality sleep.

Studies have found that some children who wet the bed have more broken or disturbed sleep and move around more during the night.

Sleep deprivation can also affect the hormones that control how much urine the body produces overnight. Normally, levels of vasopressin, also known as antidiuretic hormone or ADH, rise at night and help the kidneys produce less urine. One study in children found that sleep deprivation significantly reduced night-time vasopressin levels and led to more urine being produced overnight.

Therefore, making sure your child gets enough good-quality sleep is certainly worth paying attention to. And many children simply are not getting enough. In one large US study, 37.5% of children aged 6-12 – almost 2 in 5 – were getting less than 9 hours of sleep.

How To Improve Sleep Quality

In some children, it may help to limit eating for two hours before bed.
Sugar, soft drinks, and caffeine before bed may hinder good-quality sleep and increase bedwetting for some children.
Reducing screen time before bed may help. Using phones and tablets close to bedtime can suppress melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle.
Over the years, I’ve had many parents tell me that reducing or removing milk in the evening made a significant difference to their child’s bedwetting.

Sleep-Disordered Breathing and Bedwetting

Another reason to look closely at sleep is that some children who wet the bed also have sleep-disordered breathing. This can include regular snoring, mouth breathing, gasping or pauses in breathing during sleep. These problems can disturb sleep, and research has found a strong link between sleep-disordered breathing and bedwetting. If your child shows any of these signs, it is worth discussing them with your doctor.

How To Improve Sleep Quantity

Set a regular time for bed and to wake up in the morning. Melatonin levels begin to increase approximately two hours before bedtime, so keeping a regular sleep schedule will aid the sleep cycle.
Set a regular and calm routine at bedtime so your child’s body knows what activities lead to sleep.
Ensure your child is getting enough sleep. Although children vary in the amount of sleep they need, parents often underestimate how much sleep children should be getting for their age.
Lifestyle is also important to take into consideration. If your child has started school, is undertaking tests, has various activities during the week or is close to the end of term, he or she may need more sleep. Likewise, if your child wakes up tired most mornings, this can also indicate insufficient sleep.
Ideally, the bedroom should be dark, with as little light coming in through the windows as possible. A bright night light can also make it harder to fall asleep and may affect sleep quality.

Looking for a Step-by-Step Plan to Stop Bedwetting?

Build brain-bladder communication – Help your child recognize bladder signals at night.

Identify possible bedwetting causes – Explore common and lesser-known contributing factors.

Follow simple step-by-step techniques – Use practical methods to support dry nights.

Strengthen bladder control – Improve bladder awareness, capacity and night-time control.

Get help and support – Guidance throughout the program.

Guarantee – 90-day money-back guarantee.

Conclusion

Children can wet the bed during any sleep stage. Although some studies have found that bedwetting happens more often during NREM sleep, including stage two and deep sleep, research has not found one sleep stage in which it consistently occurs.

Because children with bedwetting can also experience more disturbed or fragmented sleep, getting enough good-quality sleep is important. While this may not stop bedwetting on its own, it may help their ability to wake when they need to go to the toilet.

If you regularly wake your child to wee during the night, this could disrupt their sleep and be counterproductive. You can read more here: Should you wake your child up to pee at night?

It can also help to encourage your child to notice the times they naturally stir or briefly wake during the night and use that moment to check whether they need the toilet. Even if this does not completely stop the bedwetting, it can help build awareness of their bladder signals.

Is your child a deep sleeper? Does your child move around a lot while sleeping? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

References

Claussen, A. H., Dimitrov, L. V., Bhupalam, S., Wheaton, A. G., & Danielson, M. L. (2023). Short sleep duration: Children’s mental, behavioral, and developmental disorders and demographic, neighborhood, and family context in a nationally representative sample, 2016-2019. Preventing Chronic Disease, 20, E58. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd20.220408

Dhondt, K., Van Herzeele, C., Roels, S. P., Raes, A., Groen, L. A., Hoebeke, P., & Vande Walle, J. (2015). Sleep fragmentation and periodic limb movements in children with monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis and polyuria. Pediatric Nephrology, 30(7), 1157-1162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-015-3044-3

Fernandes, A. E. R., Roveda, J. R. C., Fernandes, C. R., Silva, D. F., Guimaraes, I. C. O., Lima, E. M., Mrad, F. C. C., & Vasconcelos, M. M. A. (2023). Relationship between nocturnal enuresis and sleep in children and adolescents. Pediatric Nephrology, 38(5), 1427-1438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-022-05818-5

Ferber, R. (2006). Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems. Vermilion.

Higuchi, S., Nagafuchi, Y., Lee, S. I., & Harada, T. (2014). Influence of light at night on melatonin suppression in children. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 99(9), 3298-3303. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2014-1629

Hougaard, N. B., Borg, B., Jorgensen, C. S., & Kamperis, K. (2026). Objective sleep parameters in children with nocturnal enuresis: A scoping review of polysomnographic evidence. European Journal of Pediatrics, 185, 440. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-026-07104-0

Mahler, B., Kamperis, K., Schroeder, M., Frokiaer, J., Djurhuus, J. C., & Rittig, S. (2012). Sleep deprivation induces excess diuresis and natriuresis in healthy children. American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology, 302(2), F236-F243. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.00283.2011

Neveus, T. (2008). Enuretic sleep: Deep, disturbed or just wet? Pediatric Nephrology, 23(8), 1201-1202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-008-0859-1

Neveus, T., Stenberg, A., Lackgren, G., Tuvemo, T., & Hetta, J. (1999). Sleep of children with enuresis: A polysomnographic study. Pediatrics, 103(6), 1193-1197. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.103.6.1193

Pedersen, M. J., Rittig, S., Jennum, P. J., & Kamperis, K. (2020). The role of sleep in the pathophysiology of nocturnal enuresis. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 49, 101228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2019.101228

Rezakhaniha, S., Rezakhaniha, B., & Siroosbakht, S. (2023). Limited caffeine consumption as first-line treatment in managing primary monosymptomatic enuresis in children: How effective is it? A randomised clinical trial. BMJ Paediatrics Open, 7(1), e001899. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2023-001899

Shao, S., Li, Q., Gao, C., Si, G., Zhou, Z., Wang, J., Liu, Y., Feng, Z., Fan, M., Xi, Z., & Wen, J. (2026). Severity-related association between sleep-disordered breathing and nocturnal enuresis in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Pediatrics, 26, 309. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-026-06607-x

Soster, L. A., Fagundes, S. N., Lebl, A., Alves, R. C., Koch, V. H., & Spruyt, K. (2024). Beyond bedwetting: How successful treatment is observed in sleep macrostructure. Sleep Medicine, 124, 331-337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2024.09.035

Ginny Laver

Ginny Laver BA (Hons), MSc, NLP, Dip. THP is a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner who specialises in helping children learn how to stop bedwetting naturally.