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- ERIC's Daytime Wetting pages
- Info for Children
- Info for Teens
- Info for Parents
- Info for Professionals
- Leaflets on Daytime Wetting
- Message Boards
Info for Children
Lots of children have weeing accidents in the day. Wetting can happen for all sorts of reasons but if you are worried about weeing in the day it is best to speak to your mum or dad about it so that something can be done to help the problem.
Why do children wet in the day?
As you will see below there are lots of reasons why children may have daytime weeing problems and for most of them, something can be done to help or overcome the problem.
An overactive bladder
When your bladder fills up it sends a signal to your brain to tell you that it is time to go for a wee.
For some children the message from the bladder gets mixed up and it sends the signal too quickly and before the bladder has filled up properly.
This means that you may get a really strong urge to wee and you have to try really hard to stop yourself wetting before needing to rush to the toilet. Sometimes you just can’t hold it all in and you get wet pants.
Most children with this problem will want to go to the toilet more than 8 times a day. This is a lot more visits to the toilet each day than children without this problem – they only need to go between 4 and 7 times a day.
An overactive bladder can be helped by making sure you go to the toilet every 1½ - 2 hours and drinking well through the day – 6-8 glasses of drink a day is best. The doctor can give some children medicine that will help stop the really strong feeling of needing to go wee quickly.
Constipation
Most children go to poo everyday and some go every other day. If you don’t go poo for three days it means you are probably constipated.
When you are constipated it means that poo stays in your bowel for too long and it gets hard and its is uncomfortable and difficult to poo.
When your bowel is full of poo it can squeeze against your bladder and make you feel like you need to keep on having a wee.
Being busy
Are you sometimes so busy doing things that you forget to listen to your bladder telling you to go to the toilet?
Or maybe you leave having a wee because you don’t want to disturb what you are doing? So that by the time you rush to the toilet it can be a little bit too late?
It’s best to listen to your bladder even if you really don’t want to disturb what you are doing. Perhaps you could try going to the toilet before you start doing something and then you will know you won’t have to stop to go to the toilet and you won’t have to spend time cleaning yourself and changing your wet clothes.
Leaving wet pants on after you have had an weeing accident can cause an infection, so it’s always best to change out of wet pants as soon as possible to avoid an infection.
Infections
Some children get an infection in their bladder – this is known as a urinary tract infection (UTI).
It can make you feel like you need to keep going to the toilet.
If you get a stinging feeling when you wee and your wee smells a bit funny (some people say it smells fishy) it may mean you have an infection. Let your mum and dad know becasue your doctor can give you some medicine to clear the infection.
Drinks
To stay healthy, your bladder needs you to drink properly and it is best to drink 6-8 glasses everyday – that means you can have a drink every 1½ - 2 hours. Water is best.
Some drinks can make you want to go to the toilet more often. Lots of children find that drinking fizzy drinks makes them need to go for a wee quickly after drinking.
Other drinks that can make you feel you need to go to the toilet more often are blackcurrant squash, tea, coffee and some fruit juices.
You can be a scientist and work out wheter some drinks make you need to go to the toilet more often. Start by making a chart of all the drinks you drink and then you can stop one drink for a few days and see if it helps you stop weeing so much.
If you notice that you don't need to rush to the toilet so often when you don't drink that drink, you can avoid it and avoid wet pants.
If it doesn’t make any difference then you can have that drink again.
Check out the colour of your wee.
Is it light, almost like water? If it is, that means you are drinking well.
Is it a dark yellow colour? That means that you are probably not drinking enough and need to drink more every day. 6-8 glasses of drink every day is best for you bladder.
To check the colour of your wee and to download a free Pee-o-meter from Yorkshire Water click here
Using the toilet
Girls
When girls have a wee they need to make sure they always sit on the toilet with feet on the floor or on a stool if their feet don’t reach the floor.
Sit with a straight back and bend slightly forward, relax and let the wee flow out until it has completely finished.
If you have daytime wetting problems try to have a wee every 1½ - 2 hours.
Boys
When boys have a wee they need to stand with their feet apart and relax and let the wee flow out.
Putting a ping pong ball, perhaps with a face drawn on it, to aim at in the toilet can be good fun, will help practice a good aim and will help let the wee out in one long flow.
If you have a daytime wetting problem try to have a wee every 1½ - 2 hours.
School
If you have wetting accidents at school, it can be useful to take a little clean-up bag with you every day so you can clean and wipe yourself and change your pants. Doing this everytime you have an accident will help you stay clean and fresh and will help avoid infections.
In the clean up bag you can put:
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A clean pair of pants |
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A pack of wet wipes |
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A small plastic bag to put your wet pants in |
If you have problems with wetting in the day it is always best to tell your mum or dad who will make an appointment with your school nurse, doctor or clinic to check why the wetting is happening and get the right treatment to help stop it.
