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3.5 yo Girl. Over Active bladder? Leaking all day.

12 replies

camomilly · 17/05/2024 17:10

My 3.5 year old (healthy, happy, good speech) girl potty trained a year ago, but has fairly consistently struggled to stay dry. She’s at preschool 4 days a week, and they have flagged concerns that it’s unusual.

She can take herself to the toilet now, but very often she gets an extreme urge (we can tell, as she is squirming, crouching, grimacing) and when we ask ‘do you need the toilet?’ She will say ‘no’.

sometime later, she will have leaked. We then take her to the loo and she wees normally.

We have had days where we proactively put her on the toilet multiple times but this seems to not make much difference, she still leaks.

Occasionally she will have a day or two when she will say ‘hot! Hot!’ when weeing. But it passes.

She’s been checked twice for UTI by the GP (dipstick and lab culture) but it was negative both times.

We’ve tried sticker reward charts for toileting, but she genuinely seems to struggle with clarity of the sensation of needing to wee, then asking to go to the loo. I’d say she gets it right one in five times.

Googling this leads me to a diagnosis of ‘over active bladder’ - can anyone perhaps share experience of this with young kids, or give us any suggestions as to how we proceed next?

I guess we go back to the GP next week, but any personal experience people can share would be much appreciated, thank you

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Mabelface · 17/05/2024 18:20

It could be. I was a leaky child, and a very anxious adult. Medication works for me.

Sunnysummer24 · 17/05/2024 18:22

Constipation can cause this.

WindowViper · 17/05/2024 18:27

This is like my DD.

The GP wasn’t much use, but a private urologist has given her drugs for an overactive bladder and it’s worked really well.

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WonderingWanda · 17/05/2024 18:30

I'm not sure if they'd medicate yet as she's so young. Try and get a referral to the bladder and bowel team. Ds had meds for an overactive bladder. Had to try a few before we found one which worked.

Littlefish · 17/05/2024 18:38

Sunnysummer24 · 17/05/2024 18:22

Constipation can cause this.

Agree!

It's really common to leak wee or have a sudden urge to wee when constipated.

InTheRainOnATrain · 17/05/2024 18:40

I’d still see the GP. But maybe she’s just not emptying her bladder fully, and then also denying she needs it when she very obviously does just because she’s busy and it’s a faff to go to the loo! My DS was like that. Have you tried loads to drink to increase the bladder capacity plus taking her every hour, then getting up doing a little wiggle and then trying again to see if there was anymore? We did that with DS who was having some dribbling issues, out of nowhere as he’d been trained for a while, and that really helped him. Then we gradually increased the interval we were taking him, but still encouraged the wiggle dance, then stopped once we got to 2 hours and let him take back over control. Accidents are quite rare now.

camomilly · 17/05/2024 18:59

WindowViper · 17/05/2024 18:27

This is like my DD.

The GP wasn’t much use, but a private urologist has given her drugs for an overactive bladder and it’s worked really well.

Thank you all,

She’s doing good sized poos every day so I don’t believe she’s constipated.

That’s really interesting you went to a private urologist. This may be our best route rather than waiting months for a referral.

May I ask what age your DD was when given medication @WindowViper ?

OP posts:
WindowViper · 17/05/2024 20:57

She’s just turned four. I would have got it earlier if I could, as she was starting to get embarrassed at Nursery .

camomilly · 18/05/2024 08:00

WindowViper · 17/05/2024 20:57

She’s just turned four. I would have got it earlier if I could, as she was starting to get embarrassed at Nursery .

Thank you, yes that’s exactly where we are too. Appreciate the advice x

OP posts:
mablemaybe · 16/10/2024 17:23

Hi @camomilly just wondering how you're getting on a few months down the line?

Experiencing a very similar situation with my son right now.

Makingchocolatecake · 16/10/2024 22:02

Thrush? That's made me have burning wee before!

SweetLittlePixie · 16/10/2024 22:55

DD had similar. Her leaks were very minor. Underwear would be wet, but the pants still dry. She was fully dry at night from 2.5 years old.

Im not in the UK, but in Europe. Drs here told me shes too young and they wont investigate until shes about 8 as this is still within the normal range according to them. She grew out of it when she was 6.
I just always brought lots of underwear with me and took her to the bathroom all the time.
If she leaks a lot it might need to be investigated sooner though.

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