Persistent pant wetting 4 year old HELP ME

[cherrylola]

Simple really..my son decided he wanted the potty and not nappies at 2 years old. We followed his lead and went with the flow. Ten billion 'accidents' later he is now 4 years old and regularly has wet pants/trousers. I've tried not making a big deal of it. I've tried bribing him to stay dry. I've (ashamedly) gotten cross and shouted about it. I've told him it's ok just try again tomorrow. We simply can't keep going on like this. When asked why his pants are wet he will say his body didn't tell him he needed a wee. In honesty I think he gets distracted or lazy so just doesn't bother leaving the game he's playing.

There's no sign of anything wrong physically or any kind of infection.

Do boys just have wet pants a lot because they don't stay on the loo for long enough? Is this a normal thing?? What the hell is going on???

I've been stressed about this for two years now. There must be a bloody answer to stop it?? I'm really worried he has some kind of psychological problem around it, or will as a adult as it's been going on so long. I can't possibly see how it will stop.

[KingIrving]

Can you put him on pull ups for a week and tell him that if he keeps tweeting his pants, it means he is not ready to control his body yet.

As he doesn't want the nappies, it might be the trigger to control more.
Also are you teaching him to wee standing ?
Buy a little step to allow him to reach the toilet bowl. I read somewhere of hanging a piece of pasta shape on a string and ask the child if he could aim at it. I didn't it but it might be an incentive to empty the bladder even without the need to.

[cherrylola]

I actually think he wouldn't care, he's just accept that he wears pull ups now and wee in them all day! We've tried it a few times.

Yes he does to stand up wees, sometimes he sits but often he stands now.

[CaptainKirkssparetupee]

Have you been to see a doctor?
Constipation also causes wetting, so you need to put him on movicol to rule this out, even if he is poking every day there still can be a blockge pressing against his bladder, the Eric website may give advice about this.
Other than that going back to nappies is the only thing you can do.

[ThatsWotSheSaid]

Does he drink enough water? My dd has been told by the continence nurse to drink 8 glasses of water a day and it makes a huge difference.

[laulea82]

Hello there
We have the same issue. My dd has just turned 4 and is still not dry in the day. She has the odd dry day but usually it's at least 1 accident. At this age it's time to get medical help! We were referred to paediatrician and she is on medication which reduced the accidents from 2-4 to 1-2 and occasional dry day.
The main issue with our dd is that she has suspected ASD / Aspergers. This is at the heart of it all. They said she might not be totally dry until 7/8. 😝
And it's not just boys! Our 20 month old ds uses the potty!
I am no way suggesting ASD is the cause for you. Just that is time to get to your GP.
Good luck.