Toilet "accidents"

[barbszy]

My 8 year old DD still has "accidents." They seem to come in spurts but we can't link them to any specific things going on at home. Her "accidents" can be bowel, or bladder....the bladder accidents we often notice are when she's too BUSY to stop and go to the bathroom. As for the rest, we have no clue.
She hides the "evidence" but I always find it...the nose knows.
She has been punished, mostly for lying about it. That doesn't work. We have tried giving her extra attention. That doesn't work. I am guessing that our next step will have to be calling the doctor. I don't want her to have to go through painful tests. At age 5 she had a bladder ultrasound and a test for renal reflux. All came back normal.
What can we do?

[Abear]

barb - is this the same DD that you suspected was sleepwalking??

If so, she may be stressed about something and either not telling you OR doesn't even realize it herself.

Do these accidents appear to upset your DD? Do they happen at school?

I would say that your first step does need to be a trip to the pediatrician. Make sure you mention the suspected sleepwalking.

[barbszy]

Yes, this is my little sleepwalker.....

I don't think the accident itself upsets her. She'll walk around in wet or dirty clothes until someone makes her change!!!!! Or she will go hide the clothes. It's more the fear of getting in trouble that motivates her at that point.

She says that sometimes her teacher won't let them go to the bathroom. But I think a lot of it happens at home.

[StillNaked]

If you haven't yet you should really have her cheked by a doctor, my stepson had the tests, and it wasn't painful to him at all.
It turned out in our case that sexual abuse was the issure with my stepson. He was being molested and this was his way of staying dirty enough that he wasn't attractive to the abuser.
i am NOT trying to say that is the case with your daughter, but if there is no physical cause it might be worth looking into whether she is trying to keep someone away.
That being said, the only to get our kid to stay clean, after we handled the abuse issues, was for him to have to wash the dirty undies by hand, and then hang them under the sink to dry.
this was his counselors idea, and gave him control, and less emabarrasement.
laurie

Find the book Woman's Bodies Woman's Wisdom By Chrsitian Northrup. She is wonderful on audio tape. She talks about woman having problems with bladder infections from not going frequently enough and the social pressure to go only when it is convenient for someone else's schedule like a teacher's.

Also, is your child on vitamins? The vitamin C can be a bladder irritant. Within 24 hours of my taking my 5 yr old off vitamins she was dry. Now we tale them ony first thing in the morning. And watch out for watermelon ! Same idea.

Has she had a physical? Don't rule out abuse; I thought it would never happen to my child either and was I wrong.

Getting enough exercise lifting and thus strengthening the pelvic floor? That is lifting with the knees and not the back. Very important. Squatting is good for us women.

[driag]

My granddoughter had this problem for several years. She had a lot of different tests and examinations that didn't find anything. We all thought she was being lazy. Finally she had an internal investigation and it found she had a third kidney. This was emptying directly into the urinary tract instead of the bladder. May be worth looking at for your daught. Hope she gets well soon

Bruce

[Jeannie]

Have you discussed this with your pediatrician or family doctor?
They may suggest some counseling or a child psychologist to get to the core of this.....

[oldfashionmama]

please find out if your child has encropresis!!! it's a tough subject to find material on but .... you need to!! this happened to my daughter as well and it went on for so long that her colon began to explode and she could have died!!!! the peds all said it was emotional and she needed a psychologist but they were wrong!!!!! due to this neglect she got to the point of dying. she has had several colonics and that has cleared up the problem totally!!! if i can help anyone please let me know! www.oldfashionmama@yahoo.com

[Chris2b48]

Dear I too have a 7 yr old who went throgh that at school and home. I took him to the Dr. who checked him out and he informed me that up until 10 boys and girls can have spells of weak bowel and bladder function due to minor immaturity. We also discovered after confering with several teachers at school that peer pressure can severely stress out our youngsters and one of the reactions they can have to this stress is loss of bladder or bowel control once they get into a safe enviroment. Check out for yourself, visit the school without notice at class time and recess time and just stand back and see how your child is interacting with the other kids. This may take several visits to get the whole picture, but it is worth the peace of mind after you do draw the conclusion. It turned out my son was having a hard time competing with the other boys. Now the problem is solved and we have had no wet pants since.

[Lifestar]

Barb, I forwarded you a link via e-mail on encopresis..

I agree you should have dd evaluated by a peds. gastroenterologist before anything else. You should always rule out a medical issue before looking for a psychological issue.

A lot of things can cause this kind of dysfunction. It's important to find a pediatric gastro doc.. they have specialized training that is best to avail yourself of.

One of my dd's was lactose intolerant and developed this problem when 5 yrs old. After the diet was adjusted, we had her seen by a child psychologist for behavior modification as a follow-up.

Good luck with the little dd.. ((huggs))

Val