my son just turned four in march and is potty trained however here and there he would have accidents when he would poop on himself at daycare or pee. well for a while he had been doing good up until a few days ago... he had a urine accident everyday for three days straight including at night, and he uses the restroom before he goes to sleep and early in the morining. and just today while he was downstairs watching tv he pees on himself... i dont know whats wrong maybe he is doing it for attention because he has a little two year old sister who is a little bit more active than him or there is an early sign of infection, can anyone help me out with some insight?
Well my boy isn't potty trained yet, but my close friend has two boys and she has had tons of problems with them and accidents. The younger boy is almost 5 (in July) and will still sometimes have poop accidents. The pediatrician basically says it's within the range of normal but has given her some good strategies. I guess I would talk to his pediatrician to both rule out an infection (which could be contributing) and/or ask for advice.
I have always found that kids get to be around 4or 5 they have a short period where they have accidents. It is either they have had a growth spurt and their bladder is not big enough yet or they have a brain growth spurt and potty training has to get rewired again. Once it is they go back to the way they were before.
Either way, he should be checked by a doc for a urinary track infection and if there's nothing going on there then it's just a stage.
If he's wetting the bed at night, then I doubt it's for attention. (I could see you thinking it was for attention if it was just during the day, but really, who wants to sleep in a wet bed and clothes.)
My first thought was UTI. Take him to the pedi and have him/her check your little guy out. It could be a UTI or it could be just a typical boy. We had issues with our son until he was 9. Finally figured out he wasn't getting enough fiber and that's why he had the issues he did. We upped his fiber intake and all is good now.
I like ruling out the medical, first, too. Not too likely in this case... because UTIs create the constant pee thing (usually), pain (usually), and difficulting peeing (usually). If not any of these are present, it's probably not a UTI. Might be... but:
- Any kind of stress (happy or unhappy stress) knocks the urinary system back to autonomic control. So... anything exciting or hard going on? If so, then this may be a bit of regression.
- For several weeks (or months) kids often put off going to the bathroom because they're interested in what they're doing and don't want to interrupt that task to deal with the bother. This is a GOOD thing, actually, from a cognitive standpoint. They're learning to prioritize. Eventually, they prioritize biological needs above interesting things, and get their timing worked out.
- Growth spurts and cognitive leaps usually trigger short regressions. In all systems, including urinary... but you'll notice it in other milestones as well.
- Illness of any kind (cold, flu, etc.) yanks away conscious control from most systems. If he's coming down with something / fighting something off... he's far more likely to have accidents than not to.
- Yep. Younger siblings will often trigger sympathetic regressions. I've noticed, it's less for attention, and more for remembering what it's like or relating... and it passes fairly quickly.
- Intentional accidents. WHOLE 'nother ball game, and usually a symptom of feeling out of control / trying to take control / get attention however possible.
So you've got a LOT of options (and these aren't even all of them). What's your gut tell you? Because whatever it is, is probably right
