DD age 5 - going to the loo every 5 minutes

[Lake9mo]

Hi all,

I am beyond frustrated. Since January, my DD age 5 visits the loo every 5-10 minutes sometimes, often nothing but a tiny trickle comes out. It is now interfering with daily life - at playdates, people wonder why she's going "again", at home after school she'd vanish to the loo sometimes for 10/15 minutes and I find her sitting, using tonnes of loo roll but nothing much else happening. Her little brother asks where she has gone.

I've asked school and they say they haven't noticed anything unusual. But what I've noticed is she's now refraining from drinking as much as she used to. She doesn't drink anything at school. As soon as she has a tiny sip of juice at home, she'll run to the loo. If she has a small carton of juice after school, she'll end up using the loo 10 times that evening. It isn't just wees, sometimes she'll sit waiting for a tiny poo to come out.

Doctor tested for UTIs and nothing of concern. I've heard it could be anxiety related, maybe related to loo habits at school. This has never happened before.

Shall I return to the GP and ask for tests of bladder/kidneys? Do I wait it out? Should I go to a child psychologist?

I feel so bad as I'm now getting very frustrated with it. Yesterday I asked what she was doing on the loo for so long and she went red in the face and started to cry saying "I don't know". This morning we were late to school because she had to go to the loo 3 times from waking up to leaving the house. I told her quite sternly she had to come off the loo as we'd be late, and she jumped off instantly. Help!

I would treat her for thread worms, they can migrate forwards in girls and cause irritation.

My niece had this at a very similar age. It was anxiety related and would flair up when she was worried about something or had a bad patch at school. Main things we learned were to not make her feel ashamed or embarrassed about it happening an be supportive and try to talk to her about what was worrying her. Of course as others say check with your GP but she grew out of it.

I’d push to go back to the GP as others have said. Try looking at the ERIC charity which might give you some ideas. Also as a previous poster said - drinking more might sound counterintuitive but could help.

Hope things improve soon! X

Have you tested for diabetes? Has she lost weight? Frequent urination, hungry more often, tummy ache? I would definitely ask them to finger prick. My daughter is type 1 and it gets scary very fast. She would need urgent care if so.

One of mine had pollakiuria, I think it started after wetting themselves and then worrying that it would happen again so becoming a bit anxious. Had GP appointments and negative dipsticks. There wasn't anything that we could do apart from be very casual about it and wait for them to grow out of it.

This sounds EXACTLY like my son's constipation is when he was little. People mistakenly think constipation only means not being able to poo or not pooing enough, but it's not that simple. Often, there's some kind of partial blockage and it pushes on the bladder making them think they need a wee all the time. Also, if the poo is further down, it can stimulate the nerves that say they need to poo, but then it might be too difficult to push out (hence no/small poos sometimes). Then they'll often get watery poo that trickles round past any blockages. The inconsistency is the important bit.

My son had this exact scenario when he was little. GP felt his tummy and says he couldn't feel any backing up, but that method is very unreliable. He ended up untreated for a long time and ended up really unwell. It's so simple to treat early though so definitely worth exploring!

I think the other answers are probably better, but have you considered that she just likes ten minutes away from everybody else?

Is this anxiety related?

has she wet herself before and been embarrassed upset? Or had negative/strong reactions from others?

I know pp have mentioned it but you haven’t replied - have you treated for threadworms? This is the only symptom my daughter presents with when she’s got them. I visited the GP numerous times until eventually an other doctor mentioned it - I hadn’t even thought of it. As soon as she starts like this I treat her and by the 2nd/3rd day it’s stopped.

Came here to say this too. My son started having problems with urination when he was 5 (not exactly like your DD - after years of no accidents he suddenly had such urgency to go that he couldn't make it in time and was having a couple accidents a day). I dismissed the idea that it could be constipation because he did a poo most days and some days it was very watery (other days it was just one or two tiny pellets, and occasionally a normal one). But apparently thats quite classic for severe constipation - it's the backed up poo behind the blockage liquifying and seeping around it 🤢.
Definitely echo the advice to get her checked out again.
The other thing the GP alluded to in our case, although it doesn't bear thinking about, was whether there was any chance DS could have experienced anything that was causing him anxiety related to that part of his body in particular. Thankfully in our case it was just constipation and resolved with a couple months of movicol, but apparently a sudden, extreme change in toileting is not an uncommon first sign of abuse. I hate to put that thought in your mind but possibly worth thinking about.

Why do doctors do this just because her kid did it doesn’t mean yours should suffer and wait it out. Op it’s horrible thinking you need to wee constantly it might be habit or something going on but it’s definitely worth pushing for help. Have you asked her why the toilet is so urgent? Can you tell her that having a drink takes a long time to go through the body so it might not be as urgent as she thinks. Also does she feel like she needs a poo.

Has she been tested for type 1 diabetes?

Lots of good advice on here but as someone who suffers with irritable bladder issues, stop juice immediately. It’s terrible for bladders. Water or milk only.

I would ask for a kidney / bladder scan, just to be on the safe side. It’s very unlikely to be anything serious, but my 9 year old daughter ended up being diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease after we noticed her weeing a lot more than normal (she did have other symptoms as well). Her kidneys aren’t able to concentrate her urine like they’re supposed to, so leads to a larger output of urine, hence needing to use the toilet frequently.
Like I said, CKD is very rare in children, but still something you could maybe ask the GP to check.

I think my now 10 year old son had this around age 5. I remember as I was due his sibling and noticed he went to the bathroom about 5/6 times in an hour. Even a friend visiting noticed as well. Took him to the consultant and got him to drink a good amount of water and had a scan of his abdomen. Waited until he needed to urinate, and off he went and back afterwards for another scan. Turns out he wasn’t emptying his bladder completely and as such was constantly feeling the urge to go urinate. Consultant ruled out anything sinister and told us to monitor and return if it was still an issue.
It did resolve itself but i notice that he goes to the bathroom almost last minute before we go out. Constipation was ruled out as well.
If I remember correctly consultant said to make sure he has big drinks of water as opposed to little sips, so the urge to go is very noticeable and he may urinate more as opposed to stopping midway. Hope she gets sorted, so stressful with little kids illnesses.

I had chronic bladder irritation in my teens, there was no uti. It needs to be investigated properly. I don't think she's doing it for attention.

Sounds loud bladder irritation being made worse by concentrated urine from not drinking enough. First step is ramping up fluids. Have a look at Home - ERIC

Did the GP do a dip test or send it off for culture? My DC's urine infections never show on a dip test but do when sent off for a culture.

Don’t give her juice! Sugar plays havoc with the bladder. My son gets like this every time he has a sugary drink and doesn’t drink enough water.. Plenty of water instead.

If she doesn't drink enough she'll get strong urine that may smell and irritate when she urinates. I'd be making her drink water by supervising her and not letting her put her cup down and wonder off.