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Daytime Wetting

Helping Your Child Stay Dry

By Lisa Fernandez

Wearing disposable absorbent underpants while working on the problem can be helpful. Children save face if they have an accident at school, avoiding the telltale wet bottom or odor. This may even improve a child's self-esteem.

According to Dr. Robert Mevorach, a pediatric urologist at the University of Rochester in New York, there is no inherent connection between day wetting, which he views as the more complicated problem, and bedwetting, which he describes as mono-symptomatic.

Day wetting, which is formally called diurnal enuresis, can result from an unusual and severe neurological problem, according to Dr. Mevorach. But the majority of day wetters have patterned themselves to simply hold it in all day, waiting until the last minute. So when they finally get the signal to urinate, he says, it has become practically an emergency, and they inevitably leak from a little to a lot.

Dr. Mevorach says the first and best tool for retraining a bladder is what Veronica is currently practicing: timed bathroom excursions every two hours, like it or not. This helps the child get used to releasing her bladder. The child is already used to holding it in, and now the reverse has to happen, he says.

The best trick for a positive outcome, Dr. Mevorach says, is a positive attitude. "Get them to start believing that they can accomplish something,'' he says. "And that might be a toughie.''

If the child has gym class or a soccer game, she must know that before heading out to the field, heading into the bathroom is a must. "They've just got to anticipate the problem before it occurs,'' Dr. Mevorach says.

While Veronica is having some success (she's stayed dry for the past week), she will be spending the rest of the summer potty training. Hopefully, Laurie says, Veronica will have success before school starts, because it is difficult to rely on the teachers to make sure Veronica leaves class regularly for a bathroom break. She's also hoping peer pressure will play a role in her daughter's evolution.

* Last name withheld to protect privacy.