Children's development

My granddaughter is four years old and a very smart little girl. She lives with her mom (my daughter) in Europe.  She has a problem voiding her bladder every time she needs to go to the bathroom sometimes 3 and four times in the span of an hour. My daughter has taken her to a pediatrician and she was told that she has an immature bladder and that she eventually will outgrow it. We are afraid that this problem might affect her self-esteem. Last year the school allowed her to attend only half a day, but my daughter says that this year the school might not accept her there at all.

My daughter has a full time job and is under tremendous pressure in dealing with her daughter’s potty training, her job and this problem that could affect her daughter’s self confidence.  Do you have any ideas that I could pass on to my daughter.  Anyone there with the same problem?

Thank you
A worried grandmother

[Midijane]

Good morning Maria,

I have a 12 year old son who has been taking frequent/quick bathroom breaks recently and my Pediatrician had a long talk with him about retraining his mind about his bathroom habits. The doctor told my son to slow down and start thinking about empyting his bowel and bladder each time he goes to the bathroom. To really sit down on the toilet for a few minutes and think about what it feels like to get everything out at one time. The next time he feels he needs to go, he should wait and let it pass. When he feels he needs to again after that, go ahead and make that pit-stop. The goal is that hopefully in time, the child will start to realize the 'feeling' of needing to go to the bathroom and will retrain their 'thinking', to be in line with what their little body really needs.

I'm not sure it will be that simple for your granddaughter, and we are still working on this at my home. It takes so much time to work on these things and the energy we devote to these issues is so out of proportion to what one would expect. I too worry about my sons confidence and tread lightly on this topic since he gets so embarrassed about this.

Best wishes to you and your family,
Marell