Action point

It's easy to forget, but children can also suffer from daytime incontinence.

Common causes of urinary incontinence in kids:

• Constipation – in about 70% of cases, children experiencing urinary incontinence are constipated. A full bowel can put added pressure on the bladder, causing leakage of urine. Relieving the constipation will often alleviate the incontinence.
• A bladder or urinary tract infection (UTI).
• "Holding it in" – a child may hold their urine during an entire school day for fear of using a public bathroom, leading to urinary voiding issues, accidents and urine leakage.
• Younger children may hold their urine until the last second when they are distracted by play or activity, resulting in an "accident".

Be aware of these issues and help your child to develop good toilet behaviour. But, if it's become a regular or chronic problem, one of the best ways to help these kids is to take them to a physical therapist who specialises in pelvic health. They focus on rehabilitation of paediatric pelvic floor muscles and have great success in helping children control and overcome urinary incontinence issues.

Interestingly, a large study suggests that the odds of a child having severe daytime incontinence is 3 to 10 times greater if one or both parents had the same problem.

Visit our Incontinence Centre for more on managing this condition.