Recently my 6 year old Luke has started going potty all the time. At first I didn’t think much of it but in the morning he will get up go potty (normal) and then soon after he has to go again. Not much later as we have to go out the door he has to go again. At first I thought this was a delay tactic on his part but then it became a regular morning thing. Now on top of the 3 times we potty at home in the morning he started having to potty the moment I dropped him off at school (15 minutes since the last potty time). Some mornings he can’t make it to school and goes at Thomas’s babysitter’s house because we stop their first each morning. This started to worry me because this doesn’t seem like normal behavior and he didn’t use to have to potty this much.
This morning as I am dropping Luke off at Latch-key I run into his teacher and she informs me that Luke has to go potty all the time during class (at least once every hour). I explained to her we just went to the doctor because he is doing the same thing at home. She was very understanding and said she will just tell him to get up and go when he needs to. I am so glad he has such a great teacher.
Last week I took him to see the doctor and have a urine test to make sure there isn’t something else going on. Everything came back normal. The doctor said to stop taking bubble baths as that might be causing the problem and see what happens. However he said it is just something he might be going through and he will out grow it. Medicine is available to help him completely empty his bladder but he didn’t recommend it. I agree with the medicine but not sure I agree with behavior issue and he will out grow it.
Since learning that he is doing the same thing at school I am not sure I am OK with waiting to see if he will out grow this. What if he doesn’t? I don’t want to put my child through a bunch of unnecessary tests if they are not necessary but then I worry about not doing anything at all and what if something really is wrong.
I started with the internet to see if I could learn more about what is going on. It could be so many things. One of the things that did strike me as interesting is stress.
I know I have mentioned before that Luke has behavioral ticks. They became very obvious to us after Thomas was born. I believe they are caused by stress and they became very obvious to us when his brother was born. He would pop his jaw, flutter his eyes or twist his neck into funny positions, habits that he really had no awareness that he was doing. Long ago we discussed these things with the doctor and they were pretty complacent that it was just stress and nothing to worry about, he will out grow them. These ticks have settled down but now I am wondering if they haven’t been replaced with the urge to go potty all the time.
For now I have started a potty journal. We are going to track every time we pee, was it a lot or a little, easy or hard to go and so on. I am also going to track how much fluid is going into his body. I have stopped baths and we are only taking showers for now. I am giving all this 30 days and I am going back to the doctor.
Do any of you know of a child that has gone through something like this? Any suggestions?
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May 07, 2009
Always Going Potty
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About Me
- Nina
- Hi I am Nina! OK Nina is a nickname but I doubt you really care. I am 35 years old, married, two wonderful boys. Luke is my sweet gentile 6 year old and Thomas is my wild and crazy 2 year old. The two of them wear me out but I love everything about them. I hope you enjoy all our crazy adventures as much as we do.
7 Comments Welcome:
The only thing I can think is that maybe he doesn't like "wasting" time to go pee... you know, he's so into what he's doing that he just lets off enough pee to feel comfortable again. Or maybe he's getting out of something at school because of it and that's enough reward to keep the behaviour up at home.
I do know that stress makes me pee a lot. When I'm trying to sleep before I work a shift, I find myself going pee every 15-30 mins!
I hope you get it resolved soon. Careful with the internet searches, they can get you WAY freaked out!
What does he say when you ask him about it?
Does he sit or stand to pee? Maybe he just isn't emptying his bladder completely. One easy thing to try is have him sit on the toilet and lean forward to pee. Sometimes this can help facilitate emptying the bladder.
Your thoughts that it could be a behavioral issues could be right on. I'm sorry to hear your doctor seems so complacent with it.
Give it some time - sometimes things pass with time. In the mean time, better start getting ready to leave a few minutes early!
Take care.
Elijah is a lot younger but he went through a phase like this. Constantly going potty, I figured it was all the juice or water we gave him. He has outgrown that, I figured now because he is older and can control it more. Nowadays I have to force him to go! He would rather stand around doing the potty dance than go.
I can understand why your concerned though. Overactive bladder? I hope the potty journal will help, and then maybe the doctor will take it more seriously.
trinity did this for a while with #1. she just wouldnt go all the way. she'd hold back and go a bunch of little times instead of one big time. i finally started going in there with her and having her sit there for a little longer to see if she could go more. eventually she did grow out of that.
however, she still holds in #2 until the very last possible second which causes her to become constipated a lot.
i'm going to start her on fiber i think. but that's natural and no, i'd be hesitant to try medication too.
i think you are doing a good thing keeping the journal.
Hmmm... very interesting. Good for you for investigating further- Mommy instincts beat out doctor's advice any day. I think that you are right to be keeping an eye on it.
Let us know how it goes- and ADORABLE picture of Luke!
Nina, that is the craziest thing!! I instantly thought bladder or kidney infection, because my niece has that problem and gets UTI's often, but she has pain and it's always revealed in the doctor's tests. Crazy that nothing came up on his test.
You might be right about the replacing this 'urge' with one of his ticks. My oldest has ticks, too, but I believe his are caused by the medication he has taken for ADD. He does the weird things with his popping neck/shoulders, etc. and stretching his mouth around constantly. We've found that chewing gum helps him alot, because it gives him something to focus on, and the ticks just about disappear entirely when he has the gum.
Not sure gum would help your problem, lol, but I really hope you can get to the bottom of it. I am like you... I wouldn't want to wait for him to just grow out of it.
Hmmm. That would concern me a lot. At least it isn't diabetes, which would show up in a urine test (right?) or do they require blood tests for that. I would be concerned because it might disrupt his learning experience. He should be able to hold it until recess. I would try to find out every possible medical reason that it might be and if I could rule them out then I would probably try to insist that he start practicing holding it until recess. But that's tough because of course I wouldn't want my child to be uncomfortable in that way either!
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