Nearly 5 year old and day time wetting

[Letsstart]

Hello, 1st time posting. My daughter is nearly 5 and in reception. For the last 2 months she is having an accident everyday during the week and numerous on the weekend. I’ve emailed her teacher who hasn’t noticed but today she came home and you could see her skirt was wet and she really smelled. I’ve tried talking to her but she just does not care at all. I’ve put her on a 30 minute timer at home and she has to go to the toilet when it goes it off. I really don’t know what to do as nothing seems to work, we started off being helpful and supportive but now she lies and says she hasn’t had an accident when she clearly has and it is the lying that is really getting to me. She also has a bad attitude when I talk to her about it, answering back and being cheeky. I am at breaking point and don’t know what to do. She is still in pull ups in a night, she’s always wet in a morning, sometimes leaking through.

[Glg1]

Hello. My son is 5 and also in reception. We have had similar problems. He was also coming home wet and smelly. His teachers hadn’t noticed because he was only releasing small amounts of wee rather than a full accident, which would have left him much wetter.

He also can lie about if he is wet and doesn’t seem too bothered that he is.

I asked his GP to refer to the continence team. They scanned his bladder and diagnosed an overactive bladder and he also wasn’t emptying it fully. So he can’t really do anything about these leaks as it is his bladder contracting and the left over urine irritating it. Until those issues are sorted you can expect leaks. Your daughter could have similar. We had also tried more regular toileting but once we saw the nurse she advised against this because the bladder needs to be filling up and emptying effectively and to do this it must be stretched. By going so frequently this isn’t happening and it is an irritant to the bladder.

We are currently on a plan to retrain the bladder. Drinks at 2 hourly intervals and toilet at a set time working towards being able to hold for longer.

[Letsstart in reply to Glg1]

Thank you for replying. Was it difficult getting a referral from the doctor?

What you’ve said about going to the toilet too often makes sense but I’d not thought of it that way. I will speak to my doctor and see what they say. I will extend the timer and see how that goes in the mean time.

[Glg1 in reply to Letsstart]

No, it was no problem at all. I just explained the above and also after speaking to school they felt it was what he needed too. It took about 8 weeks for an appointment.

[MunchieMum]

Hi. Very similar situation here! Still struggling with daytime wetting here, but what seems to have made a difference here is (a) sorting constipation out (with cosmocol), and (b) really going for it on the big drink, big wee front (aiming to fill her bladder fully, then wee it all out fully, repeatedly and regularly throughout the day). It's like exercising her bladder throughout the day is making it stronger.

At home it just means me pushing the drinks and wees all day (good size drink, then a wee about 45 - 60 mins later). Reception class has been a harder hurdle and it has taken multiple meetings and reminders to get them on board with the same approach.

They need about 8 cups of drink a day - not blackcurrant as apparently that irritates the bladder.