Help needed - 5 yo wee accidents

[Undiscovered]

Lovely title for a Sunday morning!

Any help from EDFs much appreciated.

My 5yo continues to have accidents with her wees. Usually not "full ones" i.e. Just damp knickers at the end of the day. But also nighttime is a struggle (lifting but often still happens. But yesterday she had a "full" one randomly on the swings.

We are trying our hardest not to get frustrated. We are mainly worried about her and impact it's having. We've been to the docs and they say it's not uncommon and will pass but I want to try and help her, as no improvement is coming (only temporary redtbite then we revert).

Any advice for us to try and help her is much appreciated x

[goldilocks]

Night time, consider popping her back in pull ups, sounds like she's not ready and that's just a lot of washing!

Daytime - would encouraging her to drink more help? ie so that she feels like she needs to go more? Failing that (and probably out of line with any advice) but would bribes work - ie a treat for every wee on the toilet and an extra one for dry pants all day? Am assuming that given you've been to the Dr there is no medical reason for the wetting, so a bit of 'encouragement' could help?

[damzel]

That must be very stressful for you all. https://www.eric.org.uk is a good source of information.

[Crokes]

Agree with previous posters, it may be too soon to be dry at night and was also about to suggest ERIC too. Their website has a section on kids/children and they have a helpline too.

If your 5yr old is having accidents later in the day, he/she could be 'holding on' and by later in the day he/she can't hold any more. You're doing brilliantly to try not to be frustrated and yes it's worth seeing what you can do to help (it's a common problem for kids of various ages).

Best of luck!

[hiit]

Yes, well done not getting frustrated! Have you tried incentives / star charts / bribery for completely dry days? Might be worth a shot to get her back into good habits...Good luck!

[alieh]

From my group of friends and acquaintances, there are absolutely loads of 5 year olds still in pull ups at night. I would save yourself the hassle and let her wear one at night! In the day, I think it is not that uncommon to have slightly damp knickers by the end of the day for 5 year olds. I would try not to worry, try to get her in the habit of trying to go a few times a day and hope it resolves. I think the GP would say they wouldn't take any other steps until closer to age 7?

[Undiscovered]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to write, so nice to hear I'm not alone!! Will persevere xx

[edanna]

I agree that at 5 she is still pretty little and that it isn't uncommon to have some daytime wetting at this age. If you look on the Eric site they will tell you how much she should be drinking and how often - it's probably more than you think and drinking more does help with wetting as goldilocks said. You could also prompt her to go to the loo roughly every 2 hours - if your bladder is empty you're less likely to have an accident for obvious reasons. If you do a diary of how much she is drinking and how much she is weeing then that will give you a clearer picture and this will also be useful if you go to see a specialist. If she turns 6 with no improvement I would go back to the GP and ask to be referred to Dr Anne Wright, who is a bladder and bowel expert at St Thomas's and does a community clinic at Sunshine House in Peckham. The waiting list is several months. Dr Wright (or the wee wee doctor as she is known in our house) is fantastic. As everyone has said you're really doing the right thing by being pretty chilled about it all and it will get better in the end. Please do DM me if you would like to discuss more.