Four Year old wetting himself at school

[fultime]

My four and a half year old grandson was clean and had no 'accidents' until he started school in December, he is quite happy at school but seems so absorbed in what he is doing that he leaves it until the last possible minute then can't make it to the toilet in time. He is wetting himself almost every day and we noticed when he was at our house last weekend that he was just making it to the loo but was 'doing' it before he got his trousers down properly and was weeing all over his hands! I am having him to stay for the first week of the Easter Holidays and have booked to take him to a show but I am worried that he will wet himself while we are out. We have told him to 'go' as soon as he feels the urge and he says he will but this is happening on a daily basis now and we are worried that he will be bullied at school because of it as none of the other children in his class wet themselves and they have started to laugh at him for it. Is there any tips we can use to make him aware that he needs to go to the toilet as soon as his bladder tells him too? He has seen a GP and nothing seems physically wrong with him it just seems a matter of not bothering to go when he should. Any help or tips on this would be gratefully received!

Hi fultime - I've had a similar problem with my ds1 (5), though it's more damping rather than actual wetting. Makes for smelly pants/trousers though! Yuk This was the thread, so I hope there's something helpful there. I think the reasons for my ds's problem are exactly the same as your gs. Here.

ds did it for a while at school, although not every day, and 2 years later is still inclined to leave it to the last minute so has mishaps if they are outside and his routine is different, or if the toilet is already occupied (3 this school year). He also used to "trickle". Ironically he was usually fine on family outings etc and my best advice is to make sure he goes in the hour or so prior to the show starting and the interval if he's drunk in the interim.

I think this in ds' case is linked to the late development of his motor skills, and specifically poor "body awareness" so his brain is not processing the physical messages efficiently enough for him to function and react automatically. As I understand it at your grandson's age they can still grow out of it, so would not fret about it yet, especially having had a gp's opinion, whereas for ds (6) he now needs occupational therapy to help him generally. It is only in retrospect that we now see that his toileting could be part of a wider issue.

Thanks for all the advice, hopefully I can help him while he is with me, I've heard about putting cheerios or table tennis ball in the loo to encourage him to try to aim at them therefore encouraging him to go in plenty of time so he can 'play' the game, so I may try that, plus make sure I take a change of clothes with us when we go out!! Wish me luck! :0