Small Urine Leakage in Children

Small urine leakage or urinary incontinence in children can occur while a child is awake or asleep. According to The Children's Hospital at Westmead, 20% of children around the age of 5 will wet themselves at some point.

Effects

• Children with daytime wetting will feel as if they need to pass urine suddenly and will leak urine if they cannot reach the toilet to relieve themselves. Some children will also leak urine after physical activities and laughing.

Causes

• An overactive bladder is a common cause of urine leakage. Urinary tract infections and emotional stress sometimes contribute to a small amount of urine leakage as well.

Identification

• To identify the cause of small urine leakage, a doctor will ask the child and his parents about stresses in the child's life and when the urine leakage occurs. If a more serious cause is suspected, the doctor will insert a catheter to get a urine sample and perform a pelvic exam.

Treatment

• Small urine leakage usually improves over time in children as their bladders grow and can hold more urine. For more serious cases, medications such as Desmopressin and Imipramine are prescribed.

Prevention/Solution

• To prevent leaking urine, children should urinate every 2 hours and avoid fluids several hours before bedtime.