Toilet refusal hell.

[dogsagoodun]

I have buried my head in the sand over this and now really need some help.

My ds is five. He toilet trained very easily at two and a half. Since that time we have had a nightmare actually getting him to go to the toilet. He has an incredible capacity to hold his bladder often going eight hours or so without going to the toilet. He never has accidents but will leave it til the last possible moment.

Aside from the obvious health implications of of holding his wee for so long it is also having a huge impact on his behaviour. The more desperate he gets the more his behaviour spirals out of control. He becomes impossible to handle. It is particularly having a huge impact on bedtime at the moment which is turning into a nightly epic battle.

Please help. What can I try? Anyone else experienced this? I know in the grand scheme of things this may sound very trivial but it is really having a huge impact on family life!

Is he at school? If so I would contact the school nursing service for advice. This is right up their street. My oldest child has what we term an iron bladder but has never lasted that long and it hasn't impacted on her behaviour. Do you think he drinks enough?

Very simple thing might be to make going to the loo fun If you put ping pong balls in the loo he can aim at them (if he stands to wee) and try and dunk them. Yes I know..........

Has something in particular triggered this?
DS of same age has an aversion to sudden loud noises, so using public toilets where flushing & hand driers go off without warning is still a battle. Only wish he had an iron bladder / bowel!
At home he's fine, just aim is not great as he wants to be in and out ASAP and he is getting better at flushing for himself.
It has taken a lot of time, more patience than I have had at times and praise, but we are getting there.

Can you show him how the body works and address it that way?