9yr old son still has daytime and nighttime wetting, and soiling accidents..seen every specialist, tried medication..nothing works!

[BluMumma]

I’m at the end of my tether...since he was potty trained at nearly 3 don’t think we’ve ever had a completely dry week...I separated from his Dad when he was 2 1/2 and I was pregnant with his sister. Lots of big life changes but he’s had a very stable, loving home with me, sees his Dad regularly and has a close relationship with my parents. He’s seen counsellors, Paediatricians, School nurses, CAHMS, Senco, and we’ve been under a continence nurse for nearly 3yrs. We’ve tried wobble watches, medication, bed pads, dry nites .....Just feel like we’re getting no where! Any advice or suggestions please I’ll do anything!

[Yaleamanda]

There are things that you can do to help, ensure that he drinks plenty of water during the day, this will help to train the bladder to hold more liquid, do not lift to take to the toilet at night as this only manages the issue and not deal with it, but do make sure he completely empties his bladder, count to 30, you will be surprised how much wee comes out again. Don't restrict liquids after a certain time, it doesn't actually work. Push for a referral to a urologist to rule out any underlying health issues etc... have a read of this article bbuk.org.uk/wp-content/uplo.... Bedwetting is extremely common, i think in a class of 30 children (primary age) 1in 3 will still be wetting at night. Soiling accidents would indicate he is highly impacted with poo and this is putting pressure on the bladder hence the accidents. You need too address this issue head on with a complete disimpaction regime to clear him out. It is likely the bowel has stretched over time and he can't feel the sensation to go, it will go back but again will take time and so will the rest of the issues too.

[Teddy500]

Hi, my son is 10 and still wet day and night, we've had lots of help but unfortunately there seems to be no simple cure and also different things work for different children, some of it is trial and error and nothing seems quick or straight forward - I've been at the end of my tether often, but not with my son, just his symptoms, try to hang in there

My sons symptoms have improved (but not cured) due to the following, I'll run through what we've done, tips etc in the hope that something may help, sorry if you already know all this......

Referral to a Bowel & Bladder clinic (took a long time) they helped us with a disimpaction regime over summer and a maintenance dose of 4 Movicol a day to ensure he has one soft bowel movement a day and to make sure that his bowels aren't adversely affecting his bladder.

Lots of water - 1600ml a day and roughly 20g fibre in his diet, the only drink he has is water.

A trampoline which he goes on every day.

Tena for Men pads in his boxers during the day, drynites on a night, his bladder capacity during the day is 150ml/200ml, it would need to be about 300ml to have the the capacity to stay dry overnight. We're working on getting him dry during the day and to a bladder capacity of 300ml before looking at the night time wetting.

Blowing out after finishing his wees to completely empty his bladder and staying for a minute to make sure it's all out (blowing uses the same muscles as those for emptying your bladder - weird but true).

We're now 6 weeks into a new medication called Solifenacin (reluctantly) but it's definitely helping to keep him dryer during the day with no side effects as far as I can tell. We tried oxybutynin but he had a lot of headaches with it and it made him constipated.

Pumpkin seed oil in his diet - there is some research to say it help and it's very healthy anyway, he has it on his crackers and bread before the butter and can't taste it.

Best wishes and good luck - let me know if you have any other tips/tricks you've tried

[Blueycat in reply to Teddy500]

Where do you get your pumpkin seed oil from? My 8 year old son has just come off oxybutynin (been on it for 3 years) & we're starting to see an increase in wetting again, so willing to try anything natural.

[Teddy500 in reply to Blueycat]

Hi, we get the one from Scarlett and Mustard, I put it on his bread when making sandwiches and also on his Nairns oatcakes before the cheese, he can't tell it's there, I'm not sure how much it helps but its packed full of vitamin E so it's healthy anyway. We came off the oxybutynin too after just over a year (5ml three times a day), it did help in the beginning but caused headaches, dry mouth and constipation and it didn't resolve my sons wetting only helped/improved things and the side effects weren't worth it. It was worse without it though, which is why we put him on he Solifenacin before he went back to school as he would have spent more time in the bathroom than the classroom. No side effects so far, it's just the one 5ml dose each morning and he can make it through the school day without having to change his Tena for Men pad and his bladder capacity is slowly improving. No change overnight yet. I'm uncertain if it's going to be a cure though, but it's still early days I guess. Good luck and best wishes

[BluMumma in reply to Teddy500]

Thank you so much for all your tips and advice. I will certainly be trying these.

Have any of you heard about or tried osteopaths?

[Blueycat in reply to Teddy500]

Thank you! Yes my son has ‘dry like me’ pads in just in case he can’t get to the toilet in time. He was reluctant at 1st but has got used to them 🙂

[mum789]

Hi, I’ve had similar problems with my 6yr old. Since potty training at the age of 3 he has continued to have wetting and soiling accidents. He has issues with food allergies and is now Gluten free. He’s never been what I would say constipated with hard poo, it’s always quiet soft. He spent the first years of his life with diarrhoea due to allergies. It seems to be more of a problem with moving through his intestines. We have seen numerous healthcare professionals and tried 6/7 different types of laxatives, with no success. Following disimpaction with sodium picosulfate and a maintenance dose of 2.5ml per day in early evening, he is slowly but surely making progress. Intermittently he can now feel he needs the toilet. He takes oxybutynin which helps with wetting but when his bowel Is empty his wetting improves. It’s something I’ve found you have to constantly monitor, if he is not pooping ever day then I increase medication. It’s going to be a long journey but after spending years crying myself to sleep, I can finally see an improvement. It’s heartbreaking and has such massive impact on a family. Xx