My 6 year old has been hiding a problem with leaking small amounts of urine for a few months it seems. She said she was too embarassed to tell us. We have been to the doctor and are trying to figure out what course to take before taking medication. She has been potty trained since age 2.5 and nighttrained on her own by age 5. The amount she leaks seems to be enough to wet her panties but not enough (usually) to wet her shorts. She is not having any bedwetting problems though. She doesn't seem to feel any extra urges to go before these accidents and we have been having her try to potty more frequently through the day. I don't think constipation is an issue for her and have been having her show me when she goes #2 to make sure. A few months ago she said her private area felt "weird" but when questioned she did not seem to have a UTI (said it didn't burn, hurt or itch). The best adjectives she could use to describe it were "weird" and "cool" (temperature?). We did not rush her to the doctor because she wasn't telling us about the urine leaking and thought maybe as she was developing and getting older she may have been noticing more sensations down there. At her well check a few weeks ago we talked about it with her ped (still not knowing about the leaking) and he agreed it was probably just development and perhaps bigger underwear would make her feel more comfortable. A few days later she started using the bathroom very frequently so I took her to the lab to screen for a UTI (came back clear). After that visit I discovered a pair of wet underwear and she finally admitted what has been going on for a few months at least with the leakage. On the next follow up visit the doctor suggested that it we could rule out constipation and infrequent voiding as issues it may be bladder spasms or "reflux". She often complains of stomachaches as well. Has anybody had an experience like this with their daughter? We are using pantyliners to help her feel less embarrassed.
She has grown, her bladder hasn't. This is VERY VERY VERY common in this age child. This is why kindergarten teachers require zip lock bags for the classroom. They have accidents even when they haven't had them in years.
This is COMMON at this age. I'm surprised your doc doesn't know this.
Is she going into kindergarten or first grade? The 6 yr olds in kindergarten have accidents ALL the time. My son just finished kindergarten. He himself didn't have accidents, but his BFF would have 1 - 2 EVERY day even though he used to not have them at all. Every kid in kindergarten has to have an extra set of clothes at school, and most use them often!
It seems to me that she is starting to have an accident and then catching herself and stopping it or not quite making to the bathroom in time and getting her underwear wet before she can get them down. But, she is embarrassed to tell you. I seem to recall my daughter having little episodes like this too at that age. SHE WAS MORTIFIED! AND ..... she had no clue what was happening!!!! She didn't realize she was just having little accidents, because she hadn't had them for years before.
Like someone else said, their bodies often grow faster than bladders can keep up with. My son (6) will go forever staying dry at night and then have a whole week of bed wetting. Then go months again dry, then another wet spell.
Crazy pediatrician! I love our doctor. He always starts with the simplest explanation. Cool and feels weird is exactly how I would describe it if I had wet pants!
Why are you anti medicine? I had that problem at age 6/7. I had all the tests (I still vividly remember some awful bladder test to make sure I wasn't refluxing back to the kidneys). Dr. put me on this tiny little pill and it stopped. I was weaned off about 18 months later. It ended up just being an age/immaturity of muscle thing.
My daughter had UTIs and this problem because of being constipated....and she had a bowel movement every day. Make them test for constipation.
My first thought was constipation. It doesn't matter that she "goes" every day and that you check - there can still be some blockages and slow peristalsis. Occasional movement in the intestines can go near the bladder and increase pressure. So many kids (and adults) have insufficient fiber and retain a fair amount of intestinal matter. The fact that she says her stomach hurts so frequently is another tip off.
I work with kids and parents all the time and I can tell you that this is a huge and frequent problem. There are some pretty simple steps you can take nutritionally before you go in for a whole bunch of testing. I have colleagues who had this issue themselves and their infants/young kids had the problem as well. So it's usually a relatively easy "fix" especially because your daughter has no indications of something extremely serious. She's probably voiding incompletely - think of blood vessels covered with plaque - you see those visuals on TV all the time for blood pressure and cholesterol meds. Some blood still gets through the arteries even though the walls are encased in plaque. The intestines work the same way - the walls can have a good coating of "sludge" even though the center is open enough that some feces move every day. I actually don't think this is a urine or bladder problem - that's just the symptom of a problem that originates elsewhere.
