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Home › Articles › Bedwetting › Bedwetting and Developmental Delays

Bedwetting and Developmental Delays

How the Urinary System Works in Kids

By Beth Skarupa

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The ureters are thin tubes about 10 inches long, connected to the pelvis of each kidney and extending down to the bladder. Urine travels down these tubes into the bladder. The walls of the ureters have a mucous layer, a muscular layer and an outer layer of connective tissue. Contractions of muscles in the ureter walls push urine through the ureters into the bladder.

Your urinary bladder is a balloon-like organ that expands as it fills with urine. It is located in your pelvis, attached to other organs and the pelvic bones by ligaments. As urine drains into the bladder from the ureters, the inner wall of the bladder expands and gets smoother. As urine empties out of the bladder, the inner wall retracts into many folds. Circular muscles called sphincters surround the neck of the bladder. They close tightly like a broad rubber band to keep urine from leaking out. When the sphincters relax, the muscles in the wall of the bladder contract to allow you to urinate.

The urethra is a tube connected to the bladder through which urine passes to the outside of your body.

How Does the Urinary System Work?

The main function of the urinary system is to remove waste from your body. The kidneys filter the blood to form urine. The urine travels down the ureters to the bladder, the bladder stores the urine until it is ready to be emptied, then expels the urine through the urethra.

Sensory nerve connections run from the bladder through the spinal cord to the brain. When urine is ready to be expelled from the bladder, a message is sent from the nerves in the bladder along this neural pathway telling you when it is time to urinate. You may first notice a sensation that you need to urinate when the bladder begins to fill with urine. The urge to empty your bladder intensifies as the bladder is progressively filled with urine.


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