potty accidents after being trained for a long time?

[megs4413]

my DS is suddenly having accidents. And that's probably not putting it strongly enough. He is going through maybe 6 pairs of undies a day? I can't keep up with the laundry. it's that bad. the weird thing is, he doesn't seem to know he's doing it. He is actually surprised when I point out the wet spot on his pants. He looks down and goes, "what? I didn't feel it!"

What gives? He has ALWAYS had trouble with controlling his bladder and has never been night trained. The pedi has always said his bladder would grow and the problems would go away, but very suddenly the problems are getting much, much worse. Has anyone dealt with this? I'm thinking about taking him to a pediatric urologist...any experience there? TIA!

[mikala]

Pee or poop accidents? Typical BBB question on par with thyroid checks, but any chance he's constipated?

[o_mom]

We went through that with DS1 around that age. They said it was very normal and that they basically get the signals confused. We did try medication at one point, but it didn't help. We eventually scheduled an appointment with a urologist. However, just before the appointment he spontaneously stopped, like a switch went off. So, I rescheduled 6 weeks out and ended up cancelling when it didn't return.

[megs4413]

Pee or poop accidents? Typical BBB question on par with thyroid checks, but any chance he's constipated?

just pee! Lord, I could not handle poop accidents right now!

yes he's always been constipated, but we've been treating him for it for a while now with probiotics and some diet modifications. He tells me he pooped this morning and it wasn't hard and he didn't have to strain....

[inmypjs]

I would also suspect constipation. Even if he's going regularly, he can still be constipated. If there is a lot of stool in the colon and it's not moving through quickly enough, it can put pressure on the bladder and cause accidents. My DD6 has wet accidents every now and then, and it's only if we miss a Mirilax dose or two and she isn't pooping as much. She still is going, but just not every day. The wet accidents happen like clockwork when we miss. She also reported that she can't feel it coming on, she just pees. You should look at the book "It's No Accident." It's a big eye opener. My DD use to take 1/2 cap Mirilax daily. With this she pooped regularly, but still had wet accidents just like you described. We increased her dose to 1 cap/day, and the wet accidents stopped very quickly.

[hillview]

well if not constipation, when we had regressions we'd go right back to pee every 20 mins or so with a set timer. It seemed to get DSs back on track within a day or so.

Sorry that isn't super fun!

[alexsmommy]

Either constipation or silent bladder infection (no pain) would be my guess if he's truly surprised he's wet himself.