Child urinating every 20-30 minutes

[ajj2601]

Hello

DS is 3 and a half and we've finally started potty training as we felt he was finally ready.

He's rather willing to wee in the potty or on the toilet seat and gets special stickers as a treat (he's not interested in sweets as a treat which is fab)

We've been potty training him for over 2 weeks now and have had few accidents. However he has now started wanting to wee every 20-30 minutes and gets very upset if he can't go. Most of the time he will wee, albeit a very little amount, but the wee itself is clear and shows no sign of infection. He doesn't seem to be in pain when weeing but gets upset when he needs to wee.

I've heard about pollakiuria but not sure if it's this as he never got stressed about weeing when in nappies. He still wears a pull up at night and sometimes he will wet the bed or I have to change him whilst he's asleep.

He drinks a lot during the day and has a huge appetite but is very slight for his age. He's 13kg and on the 25th centile. He's also easily irritable over everything.

Has anyone else experienced this with their child? Did they grow out of it? I'm so worried that's doing over 20 wees a day now. I keep wondering whether it's diabetes but maybe I'm being paranoid.

Could absolutely be diabetes, take him to the GP asap.

I'd not worry about frequency in the early days of potty training. My DS seemed to make it his mission to visit every single toilet in our local area for the first month.

We're also effectively teaching them to learn to recognise the urge to wee but then asking them to not respond to it all the time .. It's a lot of skills to understand!

You could ask for a phone call with a gp? They may ask for a urine sample as they can do a dip test on the urine which could test to see if there is high glucose in it (diabetes) or if there is sign of infection.

Did you have gestational diabetes when expecting him? It could be diabetes or it could be anxiety about having an accident and not wanting to wet himself.

As you are worried I would get him checked out but endless tiny wees can be very normal at the start of potty training.

@bananaskinny I didn't have gestational diabetes, just anaemia which went away after his birth.
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It could be anxiety. He hasn't mastered poos yet and still wants to do them in his pull up or pants.

Strangely he doesn't seem to urinate as much when in childcare. His childminder says he is not a big drinker at her setting and can go on trips and school runs with no accidents. But he still does several there.

I remember my cousin doing this when potty training because she got a smartie every time she used the potty. She would go repeatedly for teeny tiny wees and managed to eat a lot of smarties.

Any chance he's enjoying the stickers enough that he's going at the very smallest urge?

Good for you for being aware of signs of diabetes! It has absolutely no connection whatsoever to gestational diabetes though!! It's auto-immune.

Is he drinking more than previously, or eating more than previously, or has he lost weight (I.e. changes from the norm)? I knew nothing when DD was diagnosed - she was also very irritable!

Hopefully he's after treats & praise but if there are changes to the norm I'd definitely be getting him checked for diabetes. You can't mess around with that.

You say that he wees less at the childminder- does she reward him with a sticker in the same way? Sometimes rewards like this can be counterproductive, as the child does something more often to get the reward (hence some potty training methods discouraging their use)

@LostInTheColonies he's always liked to drink when he's with us but since potty training he's drinking even more. He can drink 200ml of diluted squash and straight after say he wants an orange juice or more squash.

I limit the amount of sugary drinks he has and we encourage him not to drink after 7pm as he usually goes to bed at 8, but in the last 2 weeks he's been asking to go to bed at 7 and now waking early (5.30am) which I'm putting down to the lighter mornings.

He dropped his daily nap months ago here but sometimes has one at the childminders. However he is always very irritable and moody with us and throws tantrums over the slightest of things. Not sure if that is related though or just typical toddler behaviour.

@Flubadubba as far as I'm aware he has a reward chart there and did have stickers although I'll need to find out whether she still uses them. He has other children to play with so there might be an element of being so distracted he doesn't think of weeing. We keep him entertained but he will stop mid play for a wee and 9 times out of 10 he'll wee straight away. He doesn't even think about stickers sometimes.

You've got nothing to lose by getting him checked. It's easy to find reasons for changes but TBH tired, thirsty, weeing more, eating more, and irritable then id be checking to be on the safe side. I put DD's hunger down to having a grow, losing weight to the same and weeing to a UTI: irritability to her father's genes 🤣 Better to know than not.

I'd say this was just a normal potty training this at this time. I'd give it a few more weeks but obv if you're really concerned see a doc.

Babies of mothers with gestational diabetes may be at greater risk of developing obesity or diabetes in later life.

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about_us/news/gestational-diabetes-and-children

https://www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/pregnancy-complications/gestational-diabetes/what-are-risks-gestational-diabetes

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190415081822.htm

You know, actual research and all that...

It sounds more behavioural/emotional then. Are you quite anxious around wee times? Is there a big fuss being made? Could your little one be feeling some pressure to perform?

@bananaskinny I don't make a fuss about it. He asks and we put him on. If he can't go we just say that's okay maybe we try later.

This morning he woke at 6am and asked to use the potty downstairs even though he has the exact same potty upstairs as well. After 5 mins of tantrums he finally did a wee upstairs, only to say he wanted to go again straight away. So I sat him down and he did nothing as I would expect

I'm starting to lose my patience a little with him asking to go all the time. Once he's calm he's really bright and engaging but he's always been hyper emotional and the potty training seems overwhelming for him even though I know he understands why it's being done.

Could it be more that he just really wants his sticker / treat so he's trying to go really frequently, rather than there being a physical issue?

The other thing to keep an eye out for is constipation - it's very easy in early potty training for them to get constipated and build up a bit of a blockage that presses on the bladder and makes it smaller. It can be easy to miss as you can still get small hard bits or diarrhoea that manage to get past the blockage. Best to get checked with the GP.

What's he drinking? Water or juice? Artificial seeetner in juices stimulates the bladder. My nephew suffers from it. Has to avoid all drinks with sweetness. Which is basically all of them now.

@UnaOfStormhold he had some issues with constipation 2 months ago but I increased the fibre in his diet and there have been no issues since.
@chocolateorangeinhaler he drinks mainly diluted squash and after 6pm we only allow water. He does ask for orange juice or smoothies but I water the OJ down as I know how irritating juice can be to the bladder.

I stand corrected! The Canadian research was published 10 months after DD was diagnosed. I do read quite widely in relation to Type 1 but had not come across this. This is good - The Conversation

We're in NZ and the incidence here is quite high, and have been told that this is particularly the case in & around Christchurch where there's been a huge amount of environmental & social disruption following the earthquakes. No indication yet as to what might be the link.

@DropYourSword he hasn't even bothered with stickers today but he's done about 20 wees on the potty and is incredibly irritable. The slightest thing sets him off.

I'll monitor it for another couple of months but it might be difficult as the upcoming summer weather will result in him drinking more and possibly weeing more too

Mine went through a phase of doing this after potty training. It just seemed to pass after a few months.

Please, please don't leave it a couple of days, let alone a couple of months! I don't want to alarm you but type 1 diabetes is autoimmune (ie unrelated to whether or not you had gestational diabetes, lifestyle etc - it can 'just happen') & if untreated can get very nasty and even kill.
Your lad has at least some of the key symptoms: he's on the slender side (is he losing weight?), peeing frequently, thirsty and irritable. Is he tiring quickly too?

Link to child symptoms of diabetes https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/your-child-and-diabetes/symptoms

Please get him to a walk in centre /gp ASAP for a finger prick blood test, you really don't want this to end in diabetic ketoacidosis. Best case, I'm wrong and at least you can rule it out, and go back to the more benign possibilities, but I say this as a mother of type 1 diabetic diagnosed at 7 years old - Please don't wait.

OP 20 wees is not normal
He needs checking for diebeties as suggested above.

they do not always have lost weight either ( I knkw a little boy who didn't loose weight but kept wee'ing and very irritable)

you need this ruled put asap it's a quick test.