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4 year old constantly wees in his pants! Aaaaarrrgghhh!

4 replies

Empross76 · 20/05/2015 21:05

My little boy, aged 4, has been wearing pants and 'toilet trained' for well over a year now. He has always been very reluctant to use the toilet, seemingly because he is too lazy, which I've heard is common in boys.

He's made some great progress lately - more often than not he will try a wee when we ask him to, and often goes himself voluntarily.

However, he still has wet pants pretty much every time he goes for a wee, and often we find him in wet pants and trousers and he hasn't said a word to us about it. On average, we are needing three changes of pants/trousers a day.

We have tried star charts, emphasising to him how important it is that he does all his wees in the toilet, etc. Nothing seems to work. I'm getting increasingly desperate to solve this as he starts school in September.

He has been tested at the doctor for infections, which all came up negative.

Any ideas anyone on why he is constantly wetting his pants? I can't work out if he knows he's doing it or not. It's hard for him to explain, too, but he seems to be saying that he doesn't know he's doing it. Or is he just bright enough to lie so that I don't get cross?!

Thanks for any advice!

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
LadyCurd · 20/05/2015 21:13

Get a referral to childhood continence team for more specialist help (gp's not great on this stuff), my youngest is under them for soiling and the help has been marvellous, still not 100% but vast improvement. You will need to record how much he drinks and make sure he ups his fluids, the bladder is a muscle that needs training, it needs to get properly full and then fully voided, sounds like he isn't doing that so lots of wees. Also try not to get cross (I know how hard it is) but focus on "let's get you dry and clean" rather than out of the dirty clothes, but make him clean up after himself as much as he is able. Regular toilet times too so as soon as he gets up, straight after breakfast or before leaving house, every break and lunchtime (is he in school?) as soon as gets in, after tea and bedtime. We also got lots of kid books that helped about wee and poo and the Eric website is good. Good luck with it. It's not easy but they will all get there in the end!

Empross76 · 21/05/2015 08:39

Thanks for that, I appreciate the advice!

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Nevercan · 21/05/2015 19:26

My dd2 3.5 is exactly the same. We were referred and in the day we went to get checked she needed a poo just as we're going in to the appointment. She went and then they reviewed her chart about how often she wees etc. they felt her tummy and said considering she has just been for a poo there is still loads left in her bowels. They prescribed movicol to help keep her more regular and said it could be that the poo is pressing in the bladder causing lots of little wees. It has definitely improved things but we are not completely there yet. Having said that I am holding my breath as finally we have 2 days completely dry - I am hoping it continues

Empross76 · 21/05/2015 23:19

Oh, fingers crossed for you! We had two dry days last week, but the tyke was just lulling us into a false sense of security!
Definitely worth trying to get a referral. May be something hereditary as my daughter, who is older, had problems passing poos when she was a toddler and was put on Movicol. She now has a suspected over active bladder. Bowels and bladders are more closely linked than you would think, I guess.
Thanks for replying.

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