ongoing potty accidents long after training?

[elocrates]

What worked for you to remedy this? What was they underlying "cause" for your kid?

DS2 (4yo) has been potty trained since ~2.5yo. He has not been wet at night since training. He is still having daytime accidents 1-3 times per week, sometimes more. Sometimes it's a little leak, but often he empties the majority of his bladder. When he does leak, he doesn't stop playing to go use the potty. He'll just hold it until the next time an adult tells him to go. And sometimes it's even after he has recently went to the bathroom. Today, for example, we had him pee at 4pm. At 5:30pm he had wet his pants. We've seen the pedi about this already, they don't think it is constipation and unlikely an infection since it has been going on for so long. He just doesn't seem to care when he is sitting in wet pants. He is otherwise a very happy, thriving kid.

[lizlemon19]

Any major changes? New siblings, a move, school change?

Some kids just don't want to stop what they are doing. Try setting a timer at a certain time interval and when it goes off, he stops to go to the bathroom.

[elocrates]

Jul 27, 2014 20:13:56 GMT -5 lizlemon19 said:

Any major changes? New siblings, a move, school change?

Some kids just don't want to stop what they are doing. Try setting a timer at a certain time interval and when it goes off, he stops to go to the bathroom.

All good thoughts. No changes. He's having accidents even though we have him go to the bathroom every 2-3 hours, often more frequently. He never, ever, chooses to go to the bathroom on his own (except when he needs to poop).

[imojoebunny]

Talk to your doctor. My DD was fully daytime potty trained from 3.25 until 5. Hardly an accident. She then began having accidents during the day a few times a week over the summer before kindergarten. In kindergarten, she started having accidents at school, the teacher bribed her with gum at the end of the day, and it helped, but she would often wet at home in the afternoon, or lie to the teacher and come home wet.

In first grade, she wet most every.single.day. for 6 months. She never told anyone. Occasionally, someone would notice and have her change. Kids picked on her after she confided in one child who told everyone else. The doctors tried limiting fluids, adding fluids, constipation medicines, reminding her with a clock that buzzer regularly, ect.

In April of first grade, we tried Ritalin for ADHD (which is no longer her diagnosis) She stopped wetting her pants that day, and hasn't again. She was only on Ritalin for 1 month. The side effects were horrible, but that part was the only good to come out of it.

We think now that she has some sort of sensory processing disorder. We know she has visual processing disorder, but she seems to also have some physical sensory problems that effect her ability to control her body. They effect the way she walks and her motor control skills, and before the Ritilin experiment, her ability to know she had to pee.

I don't pretend to understand how her mind works or why she wet when she did and stopped when she did, and I am 100% certain her doctors don't either, but I am 100% certain she was not wetting her pants because it was fun.

[elocrates]

imojoebunny I've definitely wondered about sensory stuff. For example, if his socks are on crooked he refuses to walk (will scoot his butt across the floor to where we are so we can fix them), he hates shirts or pants with buttons, if his body has an unusual sensation (for example, if something itches) he will describe it in very grandiose terms (e.g. "the spider is biting me," "the wind is tickling me," "the bears are scratching me," etc.). I typically ascribe it to quirky preschooler behavior, and all these things have definitely gotten better in the past 6 months. But the peeing. Like you mentioned, I'm honestly not sure he knows when he needs to go. But again, he can hold it all night. What type of testing did you have done?

[egeiger]

My sister doesn't get the urge to empty her bladder. Once they figured it out, she started going on a timer and her body adjusted to the schedule. Does he seem to know but ignore it?

[imojoebunny]

Jul 27, 2014 21:38:22 GMT -5 elocrates said:

imojoebunny I've definitely wondered about sensory stuff. For example, if his socks are on crooked he refuses to walk (will scoot his butt across the floor to where we are so we can fix them), he hates shirts or pants with buttons, if his body has an unusual sensation (for example, if something itches) he will describe it in very grandiose terms (e.g. "the spider is biting me," "the wind is tickling me," "the bears are scratching me," etc.). I typically ascribe it to quirky preschooler behavior, and all these things have definitely gotten better in the past 6 months. But the peeing. Like you mentioned, I'm honestly not sure he knows when he needs to go. But again, he can hold it all night. What type of testing did you have done?

We did educational testing because DD was failing in school.  The Phd diagnosed her with ADHD and Visual Processing Disorder.  She has visual processing disorder, but the doctors and teachers who work with her now no longer believe she has ADHD, but rather sensory issues that present as lack of attention.  We never felt like she had it at home, other than she is slow to respond to physical request that require motor planning (like put on your shoes, clean your room, come here, ect.).She is extremely well behaved, the kid you can take anywhere, like 4 hour historical tours at 2-3 years old.  She has gotten in trouble at school exactly once in 4 years for not sharing an arm rest in the auditorium, so not your typical ADD.  

In hind site, I wish we had gone to a developmental pediatrician, but at the time, we were seeking support from the public school, so needed the educational evaluation.  In the end, we got no help from them beyond super great teachers, who still could not help her because they have 22-28 kids and are not special ed teachers.  We will probably seek a developmental ped for a new "official" diagnosis, if we decide to put her back in public school.  

We put her in private school and she gets Orton-Guillingham tutoring and extra assistance to work on handwriting for the visual processing problems.  She has a special cushion for her seat.  She is not required to sit on the floor without a wall to lean on (this is huge for her, like stupidly so, but wasn't happening in public school) She also ice skates, rides horses, and takes circus class (designed for sensory kids) to help with the physical motor planning.  

I have some of this stuff myself.  I found tights so debilitating as a kid that it would distract me all day long.  I cannot wear uncomfortable shoes or tight clothes.  I also have Visual Processing Disorder, and an MBA in Finance.  

[savan]

When DS was 4 he would pee himself every afternoon and tell no one. He often work dark pants so I only found out by buckling him in his car seat. For him it has always been an issue of not wanting to stop playing to go to the bathroom. And he absolutely does not care if he soils himself. He would continue to play all day in soiled pants. He's 7 and we still occasionally have issues with it. However, back when he was 4 we were able to put a stop to the daily peeing with a sticker chart. For every day he came home dry he got a sticker. 7 stickers = sno cone. He didn't have a single accident after starting that and we only had to get 2 sno cones. He just needed extra incentive to stop play and go to the bathroom.

[turtlegirl]

I don't have an answer. But just sympathy. DS1 is almost 4 and been potty trained for just over a year. He just doesn't want to stop playing for pee. He generally leaks a bit and then realizes he has to go. Usually we remind him at certain times and we mostly make him go before we leave the house, before dinner, nap, etc.

Recently we put a sign on his underwear drawer that says "don't pee in the undies please". We told him what it said and he "reads" it every morning. It seems to help because it's a neutral party (kinda like a timer) and nit his parents or grandparents nagging him.

My only other thought it to have him go without undies in looser gym type shorts so he feels the wetness sooner and is more uncomfortable than a tiny leak on fabric.

[tigress]

My DD1 didn't totally have accidents, but she would pee "just a little" multiple times a day. This was after being dry and having no accidents for months. It was mostly between 3-4 years old.

We did incentives for keeping her underwear dry. I don't punish for wet underwear. And hey at least it isn't poop in the pants lol. My least favorite.

I don't know why she did that. But she's grown out of it for now.

She still wears pull ups at night as she is a super heavy sleeper.

[oliviapope]

My oldest doesn't have issues with this, but he does have sensory processing disorder. We work with an OT for that, and she gave me a few exercises to do with my then 2yr old for potty training when he was having some issues like that. They worked quickly and perfectly. Since it sounds like he has some other issues maybe try an OT for all of them?