Overactive Bladder: How to Care for Your Child

An overactive bladder happens when the muscles of the bladder contract (squeeze) too often or at the wrong times. This makes someone feel like they need to pee often or right away. They may cross their legs or squat to try to prevent the pee from coming out. Some kids with an overactive bladder have pee accidents during the day or wet the bed at night.

An overactive bladder often gets better as a child gets older, but the time this takes can vary. Treatment may include frequent breaks to pee, exercises, biofeedback, and medicine. Treating constipation (infrequent, hard-to-pass poops) and keeping a healthy weight also might help ease symptoms of an overactive bladder.

Follow your health care provider's advice for:

• giving your child any medicines

• treatments for constipation (if needed)

• helping your child keep a healthy weight

• any special exercises your child should do

• whether your child should see any specialists, such as a urologist (doctor who treats kidney and urinary tract problems)

• whether your child should try biofeedback (using the mind to control the body) or other treatments

Encouraging healthy bathroom habits

• Have your child try to pee often. For example, you could set a phone alarm for every 2 hours. Or you can create a regular pee schedule, such as when they wake, before and after every meal, in the afternoon, and before they go to sleep. They should go into the bathroom and try to pee, even if they don't think they have to go.

• Remind your child not to hold in their pee. When they feel the urge to pee, they should go as soon as possible.

• Teach your child to relax and take their time when using the bathroom. They shouldn't strain to pee.

Helping with bladder irritation

Your child should avoid:

• sugary or carbonated (bubbly) drinks

• acidic foods like tomatoes

• caffeine (found in coffee, tea, soda, chocolate, and energy drinks)

• spicy foods

Stay positive

• Praise your child for keeping the pee schedule and for trying to pee each time (even if they don't actually pee).

• If your child has a pee accident, don't punish, yell at, or shame them. Clean up the pee together and help them start the schedule again.

• If your child has accidents during the day, be sure they have an extra set of clothes with them so they can change if needed.

• Talk to your child's school nurse so they can help if your child pees their pants at school.

• Help your child manage anxiety and stress. It may help for them to talk to a counselor. They can also try yoga, meditation, or breathing exercises.

Your child has:

• signs of a urinary tract infection (UTI), such as a fever; pain when peeing; needing to pee more often than usual; bloody, cloudy pee; foul-smelling pee; or belly or back pain

• signs of constipation, such as pooping less than usual, hard poops, feeling full or bloated, or seeing a little blood on the toilet paper after pooping

What causes an overactive bladder? It can be caused by:

• muscle or nerve problems in the bladder

• having a small bladder

• UTIs

• constipation

• stress or anxiety

Often, it's not clear what causes an overactive bladder. It can run in families so there may be a genetic (inherited) cause.