8 year old son wetting himself

[Claire236]

Ever since my 8 year old came out of nappies he's occasionally wet himself usually at parties and things where he forgets himself. The older he gets the more concerned I am more for him if someone at school notices and then he gets picked on because of it. He hadn't done it for months but then both yesterday and today was wet when we picked him up from the childminders. Yesterday he was soaked but couldn't explain why he'd done it or if he knew he needed to go. Today I ended up shouting at him which I'm sure was the wrong thing to do and I now feel horrible about. I just don't know what to do. He's always dry at night so can control his bladder and we took him to the GP months ago who didn't think there was any medical reason for it. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. He didn't want to go back to school either so I don't know if that's behind it but I think both times was after school not while he was actually there. Driving myself crazy worrying that there's something making him really unhappy behind this that he won't talk about. Apologies for the rambling.

Perhaps contact the school nurse for advice. All schools have a nurse assigned to them. If you ring the school office and ask them for the phone number for the school nurse they will give it to you.

I have spoken to the school nurse. Forgot to mention that. She didn't seem too concerned as it was occasional although did give me some tips. Drinking little and often, avoiding blackcurrant as it can irritate the bladder, avoiding fizzy drinks which he's only allowed rarely anyway.

There may well be something behind it but it is not necessarily something big.

Shouting doesn't help at all (voice of bitter experience) but equally it may be difficult for him to articulate the problem.

If it is happening at the child minders then that's the first place to look imo. Has anything changed there? Was he very busy with a new toy? Very tired? Could he be scared to be upstairs alone?

We had regular problems with ds2 last year (esp soiling) at after school club until we worked out that he was terrified of using the big, echoey toilets when they were empty. Once we knew, we could find a solution but for ages he was saying he 'forgot' to go, or didn't know he had to.

Have you tried speaking to ERIC - they might be able to help?

www.eric.org.uk/

He's been exhausted this week and also hasn't slept well since going back to school but says school is fine.

Will try ERIC. Thanks

I have taken my 8yr old to the GP for this. ( a year ago ).

GP was great, said there was nothing in the tests snd often children just override their sense of "needing to go " so successfully, right until the moment it is physically impossible to hold on any longer.

We made him go at more regular intervals, and I still occasionally remind him to go BEFORE he is desperate.

We have only had 1 accident since

We do remind him to go when he's with us and have encouraged to go at school break times even if he doesn't think he needs to. He hadn't done it for ages and thought he'd stopped for good. It sounds like we're doing everything we can. It's so frustrating that he doesn't seem bothered but we try really hard not to tell him off