Content
Infant urinary incontinence is when the child, over 5 years old, is unable to hold the pee during the day or at night, peeing in bed or wetting panties or underwear. When the loss of urine occurs during the day, it is called daytime enuresis, while the loss during the night is called nocturnal enuresis.
Normally, the child is able to control the pee and poop properly, without the need for specific treatment, but sometimes it may be necessary to make a treatment with own devices, drugs or physical therapy.
What symptoms
Symptoms of urinary incontinence are usually identified in children older than 5 years, where parents can identify some signs such as:
- Not being able to hold the pee during the day, keeping your panties or underwear wet, damp or with a pee smell;
- Not being able to hold the pee at night, peeing in bed, more than once a week.
The age at which the child is able to control the pee during the day and night varies between 2 and 4 years, so if after that stage the child still has to wear a diaper during the day or during the night, you should talk to the pediatrician on this subject, because it is possible to identify the cause of incontinence and, thus, to indicate the most appropriate treatment.
Main causes
Child urinary incontinence can happen as a consequence of some situations or behaviors of the child, the main ones being:
- Frequent urinary infection;
- Overactive bladder, in which the muscles that serve to prevent the urine outflow contract involuntarily, leading to the escape of urine;
- Changes in the nervous system, such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, brain or nerve damage.
- Increased urine production at night;
- Anxiety;
- Genetic causes, as there is a 40% probability that a child will have bedwetting if this happened to one of their parents, and 70% if they were both.
In addition, some children may ignore the urge to pee so they can continue playing, which can cause the bladder to become very full and result, in the long run, in the weakening of the pelvic area muscles, favoring incontinence.
How the treatment is done
Treatment for childhood urinary incontinence should be guided by a pediatrician and aims to teach the child to recognize the signs that he needs to go to the bathroom and strengthen the muscles of the pelvic region. Thus, some of the treatment options that can be indicated are:
- Urinary alarms, which are devices that have a sensor that is placed on the child's panties or underwear and that ring when he starts to pee, waking him up and making him get in the habit of getting up to urinate;
- Physiotherapy for childhood urinary incontinence, which aims to strengthen the bladder muscles, scheduling the times when the child should urinate and sacral neurostimulation, which is a stimulating technique for controlling the bladder sphincter;
- Anticholinergic remedies, such as Desmopressin, Oxybutynin and Imipramine, are mainly indicated in the case of overactive bladder, as these remedies soothe the bladder and reduce urine production.
In addition, it is recommended not to offer liquids to the child after 8 pm and to take the child to pee before going to sleep, as this way it is possible to prevent the bladder from becoming full and the child to pee in bed at night.