If bedwetting was not inconvenient enough, some children have daytime pee accidents (incontinence) which can be super frustrating and embarrassing. It can start at a very young age and then get worse over time if not addressed. Your child may tell you that they don’t even know it’s about to happen. Most of the time, it goes back to waiting too long and you’ve probably noticed your child doing the “potty dance.” Kids are far too busy to stop what they are doing to pee. They’d rather continue playing and don’t realize they are grabbing their underwear and squirming around in place. Sometimes, they can be holding their pee to the point that they get a tummy ache. Well guess what? If their bladder can’t hold anymore and it gets too late, they’re going to have an accident. Also, don’t use diapers or incontinence underwear while you are working on saying “adios” to the daytime wetting. This doesn’t allow the child to address the actual problem that is causing the leaking in the first place.
Don’t punish your child for these accidents. Rather, encourage them to use the strategies we’ve already discussed to help them to have better bathroom habits. (Don’t hold your pee!) This has to be done at home and at school. If we teach our kids that they can only go to the bathroom at certain times of the day or when it’s convenient, they learn to ignore their body signals, have accidents and most importantly the cycle of poor toileting continues. We need to remember not to tell our child to “hold it.” Admit it, we’ve all done. At the grocery store, running errands and even at school. It seems like every time we go out to dinner, it never fails. One of my kids will ask to go to the bathroom when the food comes out! If they tell you they need to pee, help them get to a toilet. Don’t forget that we are trying to help increase their body’s signals not make them go away.
However, there is some daytime leaking that is not only caused by waiting too long. Have you ever heard of giggle incontinence? This funny term is used to describe daytime leaking caused by laughing, coughing or physical activities that result in peeing your pants. All of these things can make your child’s tummy tighten up and put pressure on their bladder. Then, if your child has a history of holding their pee, their bladder muscle can start to thicken and the result is a full thick bladder that wants to get all of the pee out. Don’t sneeze! You might just pee yourself. It can happen to adults also.