Daytime wetting in 5yr old dd

[gigi73]

This is my first and rather desperate post.. My dd is 5 year old and we are still having enormous problems with daytime wetting.. She has never really been totally dry and I am beginning to feel like it's never going to happen.
The GP was less than useless & now school are losing patience with her. I have been contact with HV & continence team but just seem to constantly suggest reward charts which really have no effect tbh..
Any suggestions would be much appreciated and also just need some assurance that I'm not alone!

I have no experience, but does regular prompting for her to go to the loo help?

I feel for you- we had the same problem with all our older children- the girls in particular came home from school smelling of wee every single day until they were about 8.

Imo it is worth checking with your DD if there's anything worrying her about toilet arrangements at school- does she find them smelly or dirty? Is she shy and having to ask to go mid-lesson beyond her? Do they have a difficult system for little ones re going to the loo? (my children's infant school at the time only allowed 2 in the loo at once, and they had to have a special token that they had to ask the teacher or TA for before they could go, which they found deeply embarrassing and terrifying). FWIW my girls are now 14 and 16 and are dry- in fact they became dry simultaneously when we moved to Canada for a year.

Good luck- I didn't want to pass this by and not answer.

Hello, I have exactly the same problem with my 5.3 year old DD. We have tried everything - first thing - go to the GP with a urine sample to rule out infections, then try colouring reward charts with one bit coloured for every hour she tries to go (even if she is unsuccessful a bum on the loo gets to colour one in) - get them from Netmums. When she has managed twelve 'goes' she gets to pick an activity for 15 minutes (mine seem to like baking cakes). This does seem to help.

Check the loos at school are not scary or smelly. Also check the protocol for going to the loo - some schools have this stupid idea they have to ask to go or worse, wait to go. Talk to the teachers. Don't worry, it's very, very common.

Also have a look at the ERIC site for some great advice.

Hang in there, it will get better. Until then, just remember it's just one tiny part of development and things will improve naturally with time. :)

Ah I see you have tried reward charts - did you try the colouring ones, the star ones did not work at all with DD. But the colouring ones do seem to be.

Have you checked she's not constipated also? And increase her fluid intake (counter intuitive I know but it helps her build bladder capacity).

Thanks v much for your advice.. Especially good to hear I'm not alone! Yes have seen school loos & teacher allows her to go whenever she needs and also prompts regularly. Will give colouring charts a go.. All know a 5 yr old girl loves colouring in ;-)

There are loads but my DD likes this one a lot l.nmimg.net/images/rewardchart_eighteen.jpg

We had thus problem too, dd1 was never really dry until recently (age 10). Day and night.

The eric website is really good and has lots of advice.

It took us ages to find a professional that knew what she was doing.... She was put on a low calcium diet from 2 hours before bedtime as apparently calcium can irritate the bladder. Also told to up her fluid intake. Her problem was an overactive bladder, whichour last dr picked up on a scan. Basically her bladder would send msg of being full even when just half full, and to ger it went from no signsl to needing to go urgently, also had recurrent infections which made her urine smell really bad, but they were a result rather than the cause of her overactive bladder.
As well as the diet snd drinking mire (which was outlined as the most important factor) , she was put on this drug oxybutinin, that is a muscle relaxant. It made an immediate effect and after year she was off it.

I thought in thd uk there were incontinence clinics, I read about them on the Eric forums? We are abroad now so cant poing you in thd right direction but do try and get a referral with a specialist. I think they wait until 6 before investigating the problem because up to then its still consudered "normal".

How does your dd feel about it? Mine never said much but I knew it was bothering her and making sleepovers a bit of a problem. She is so happier and mire confident now, it has meant a lot to her. I hope you find someone to help you sooner than we did.

Best of luck! xxx

Ps: there are
Any reasons why she might have this problem, but most likely she has no control over it (learnt this thd hard way I'm afraid), so reward charts wont help and school needs to be made aware that this may be a medical problem and them losing patience with her wont help one bit.

That shoukd read: "there are many reasons" btw

Hi! There is a brilliant charity that has a helpline and website with loads of info on childhood continence issues like daytime wetting as well as bedwetting and pooing problems in kids. You could give them a call - 0845 370 8008 - or visit their website - www.eric.org.uk

Good Luck!

Jayne