Breakthrough Solutions To Your Child's Wetting - And Other Potty Problems

This book really helps explain bathroom issues and how they affect your child. My seven year old daughter has always had issues with constipation and bed wetting. It escalated to the point that she was having pooping accidents in the day and at night while she slept. The plan and advice in the book, along with the medical guidance of our GI doctor, has helped get our daughter back to normal. She also no longer wets the bed at night. I highly recommend it!

Everything everyone else says is 100% true! I started the miralax a week before my daughter's appt at the Urology Elimination Dysfunction Clininc at Tx children's and they told me that constipation was the problem. We follow up in 6 months with an X-ray and ultrasound. She had 1 accident the first day after starting the miralax and not a single wetting or BM accident since, no more stomach ache and the other 6 subtle signs of constipation she had. The urologist also uses the kid's companion book to this one, written by the same authors. They had not heard of this book but wanted the name of it because of all the correct information and knowledge I had gained from it even prior to the appt.

This book gave our family hope. Our perfectly healthy daughter has had daytime incontinence since she was 5 years old. We spent seven years exhausting the pediatric urology resources at two major hospitals and a private clinic (not to mention spending thousands of dollars), and she just got worse instead of better. We found ourselves with a bright, energetic 6th grader wearing Depends to school.
Then we found this book. Dr. Hodges' explanations rang true with us. We persuaded our pediatrician to send our daughter for an x-ray (a cheap, old-fashioned x-ray!), and there it was: what the radiologist called a "moderate to large mass" of feces pressing on her bladder. We're following the cleanout protocols in the book, and we all feel that at last we're making progress. Thank you, Dr. Hodges and Suzanne Schlosberg!

This book was such a lifesaver! My son was diagnosed with constipation and we were treating him with Miralax. However, I always had unanswered questions about the root cause of the problem and how the treatment process worked. It wasn't until I read It's No Accident that I got a clear understanding of the problem and the need for long term Miralax treatment. I also had wondered whether or not our cleanout truly worked. Dr. Hodges recommends in the book that a second X-ray is the only way to know if you have gotten your child cleaned out. My pediatrician had no problem ordering a second X-ray. Luckily he came back all clear and it gave me such piece of mind that what we had done and are continuing to do is working. I have recommended this book to all my friends that have young kids. It clearly explains the cause and signs of constipation, and most importantly, why long term treatment is necessary.

If you have a child who had potty training difficulties, or continues to have pee or poop accidents, you have to read this book! Searching online when my 5 year-old daughter started having pee accidents out of the blue, I came across Dr. Hodges' book and research and almost all of the circumstances he discusses perfectly fit my daughters personality and history. His research and suggestions should be incorporated into every potty training and toddler parenting book out there, and I don't recall ever having come across it until now. I can't believe that our pediatrician (who I absolutely love) never mentioned the constipation possibility as a cause of pee accidents. I also can't believe that I had no idea that my daughter's holding pee -- which I attributed to her not wanting to stop doing what she was doing -- could cause problems for her down the road. The book is a very easy read, and empowering--it was such a relief to finally read something that gave concrete solutions to exactly the problems we were having. If you're frustrated and can't seem to solve your child's potty issues, it's well worth your time!

great quick and easy read. with helpful ideas it does need to be updated a little. we have followed much of the advice expect the daily enemas and have seen results and the xray opened my DRs eyes that whoa we have a problem and sent us to a GI still remedying our problem but this book has educated me and made me feel good that I wasn't alone and there are something's I cant control and need to educate my son as well so he doesn't with hold out of fear of getting in trouble or not liking a bathroom

I highly recommend this book for anyone dealing with a child that has problems with accidents and/or bedwetting. After 8 months of seeing doctors and trying bowel clean-outs and daily laxatives for my 5-year-old, I found Dr. Hodges's website and ordered this book (and the children's book for my son). Nothing was working for my son until we tried the enema regimen. After 3 weeks he is dry during the day for the most part and we are starting to see improvement at night too. I am so thankful to Dr. Hodges and his books.

My family struggled with my daughter's "accidents" for years. My wife and I dragged her from doctor to doctor and therapist to therapist trying to understand why she had gone from potty-trained at 2 to accidents at 5, 6, and 7. Though many of th doctors and therapists had theories, none of their proposed solutions worked. Then we discovered Dr. Hodges' book, "It's No Accident." Reading through his explanation of the problem and his descriptions of other kids who suffered from similar "accidents" was life-changing for my family. My daughter was thrilled to learn that there were 1000s of kids just like her. After treating her as prescribed in the book, she went from daily accidents to once-weekly to once-monthly. It was a miracle and greatly improved her life and our lives as well. I encourage anyone who has a child with this problem to read this book and follow Dr. Hodges' plan. It works. And if you know of a child that has this problem, share the book with the parents. It's amazing how misunderstood this condition is and how little pediatricians and others who treat children know about it.

Huge relief (tehehe) to find this book. I have a younger withholder, but realized after reading the book that we have let diet slip into the land of limited fiber. I think we'll be able to remedy our issues with dietary changes, but if not, I know what to do now - keep the poo soft and allow potty training to happen in its own time. I found this book dealt more directly with kids who have already been potty trained and are now having subsequent issues (bed wetting and soiling) rather than kids under three. Still, I found this book and the related website/blog really helpful. The book is informative, but the tone manages to be humorous and forgiving, especially to those of us who have caved to the demands of picky toddlers.

Fantastic book! Easy to read and informative (and funny). Learned so much about why children have accidents and how to help our child stop having accidents. As a parent, we realize that our child's bathroom habits are a part of more conversations than we'd like, but the reason is that if they're having problems pooping, then it's causing other problems.

My daughter regressed in her potty training at age 3 1/2. After reading this book, she was back on track and accident free in less than a week. This is a must read for every potty training parent. Wish I had known all of this information before beginning.

After reading Dr. Hodges' research on pubmed, I realized my two bed-wetters probably had this problem and bought his book. I would recommend reading his book, even if you are working with a doctor already to resolve constipation-caused bedwetting. After my daughter's gastroenterologist confirmed a distended rectum by x-ray, I was able to use info from this book to resolve it without laxatives--especially by removing dairy completely from her diet, but also by improving her diet, and sitting her on the toilet and asking her to poop twice a day. It did take some time. She still cannot eat dairy without getting constipated again.
Unfortunately my 11 year old is still wetting the bed after a year of increasing laxative therapy--although he greatly improved.
Dr. Hodges recommends using phosphate enemas as a next step when miralax and a low dose of stimulant laxative do not work--my doctor didn't OK this, but I think its probably a better and quicker approach then what she has had me try, which is an extremely high dose of laxatives for a minimum of 12 months. I did buy her a copy of the book!!
I see other reviewers recommending magnesium citrate as an alternative to miralax-I think this is a great idea--you just experiment with the dose until the poop is very soft, just as you would do with miralax. Unfortunately, it seems to give my son an painful itchy anus, so we went back to miralax. Still, I would try it before miralax.
I don't think that much of Dr. Hodges' theory about the causes of the distended rectum--he blames unappealing school restrooms and early potty training. It might very well apply to some kids, and improving school restrooms is a great goal, but it doesn't seem to apply to my kids who are remarkably unsqueamish about bathrooms and were not potty trained early. Their preschool did not require it. I speculate that it's linked to whatever environmental change (diet? antibiotics?) that has caused the rise in IBS, celiac, ulcerative colitis, etc, but who knows. Whatever the cause, treating the unnoticed constipation treats the bedwetting! It has also helped with their chronic stomach pain.

This is book is great. My son suffers from encopresis and it was a really helpful starter book for solving his issues. I also had no idea wetting was linked to constipation, so if any of my kids begin to have this issue, it won't be a mystery as to why it's happening. I also recommend "Soiling Solutions" as a companion to this book if you are struggling with encopresis and don't know where to turn.

If your child has potty accidents, READ this book!
Very helpful and informative. My child's specialist recommended almost the exact program. It was helpful to understand all the reasoning behind it and alternative solutions.

Thank God! Finally some real advice. My son is almost six and has never been completely potty trained. It's really hard not to take that personally as a parent. Been bounced around like a ping pong ball doctor to doctor....yet no progress! We are in the first week of his nightly clean outs..enemas and suppositories. Starting to see some results...less wetting, no poop pants. Very optimistic about this program and would refer it to anyone struggling to find help with "accident issues". This took years to create and now that I know what caused it I'm willing to be patient to help my son return his body to a better state. :)

Btw....I personally emailed Dr. Hodges with a few questions. His responded in a very timely fashion with the answers I needed. It gives me a little more faith in humanity to know there are people out there like Dr. Hodges who truly care and aren't just out to make a quick buck.

A friend had shared the 12 Signs of Constipation chart on Facebook a few weeks ago. After looking at it, my husband and I realized that our youngest daughter had the classic signs of constipation. We took her to our doctor, who recommended having an X-ray completed. We discovered that she was FULL of poop!! The best news of this is that our daughter has only one kidney. My doctor was thrilled that we looked at the chart and brought my daughter in. We are now working our way to becoming cleaned out. I CANNOT begin to tell you how great the Constipation Chart was to get a great visual on what your child's poop should look like. This was such an eye opener for my husband and I. Check it out and start telling your friends!!

I can't possibly say enough good things about this book. It has been a life-saver for us. Our 4 1/2 yr old daughter had been struggling with all kinds of toileting accidents for 6 months. Though we had consulted with various doctors already, this book was the first to offer explanations and treatment protocols that were so thorough and comprehensive they reflected an expertise and understanding beyond what we had encountered. It offered us hope and gave us the confidence to know that our daughters issues could be resolved. Most simply, Dr. Hodges appeared to understand issues that were baffling to the doctors we encountered. Remarkably, I emailed Dr. Hodges with a question about the treatment protocol (never expecting a response) and he responded within a day. I am more grateful than I could express for finding this book!

Eye opening. Must read if you kiddo has bedwetting issues. Mine have had them for years along with constipation issues. I had no idea they were related until reading this book. Our pediatrician knows of both issues and never once mentioned they could be related. Now that I know what to ask we have gotten to the bottom of the issue and both my boys have solved their issue with the proper treatment.

Honestly, this book taught me so much more about peeing and pooing than I thought I needed to learn. I've been talking about it to everyone I know for weeks now! I have so much more empathy for my son (who is having trouble staying dry) than I did before, and I feel empowered about what to ask my doctor and how to move forward. And I am working on my own GI health too!

This book was easy to read and super informative and clear. I think it should be required reading. I'm actively going to recommend it to all my parenting/potty-training friends.

This book has some decent information in it, however it is extremely redundant and also has some unnecessary stories & information. It could have been summed up in a flyer or brochure: constipation is common in kids (even kids with great diets and even kids who poop every day) often due to kids withholding at some point in time and the problem snowballing. The backup can cause a blockage and distention of the colon that then makes it difficult to recognize the urge to go- it's called encopresis. Regular pediatricians often miss this, but pediatric gastroenterologists are better. In order to rule out this issue they can do one quick xray of the colon and can treat it by doing an initial clean-out to remove the blockage (either laxatives or enemas), followed up by a maintenance dose of laxatives to keep the poop soft to prevent withholding of feces while allowing the distended colon to shrink down to its normal size. This can take a while. Overall, the message is to take your child to a specialist and ask for an xray to rule out this issue. In our case the specialist was already well aware of this issue and how to diagnose & treat it.

This book is excellent. It is well written, easy to read (the author has a good sense of humor and injects it here and there, but not annoyingly so), the organization makes sense (he even tells you which chapters to read as a must, and then which to pick and choose from). The premise is pretty simple when you think about it—in our case, stomachaches, bedwetting, frequency of peeing- all b/c our 6 year old is stuffed with poop. We had an xray as he suggested (our pediatrician also suggested it), and did the clean out as detailed in the book. It was very easy, and not nearly as messy as I thought it might be. I’m not sure if we’re out of the woods yet, but I’m so glad to have found this book so that I have information from an expert who spends his days thinking about this stuff rather than my hurried pediatrician (who I like, but couldn’t possibly know all of this information and present it like it is in this book). I was also thankful to have this book explain that you don’t want to give a kid stimulant laxatives (eg ExLax) unless under the care of a pediatric gastroenterologist, since that was part of our pediatrician’s plan. I chose not to use them thanks to the knowledge I gained with this book, and instead followed the book’s clean out method. I love books that are clearly written because the author just really wants to give you all of the knowledge that he has about the subject. This is one of those books. Oh, and they have a good website with lots of good info, especially good as you’re waiting for this book to arrive. Just google “it’s no accident”- it’s one of the first links.

This book was a lifesaver for us. Our daughter used the potty early and easily. You guessed it, then 18 months later began having poo accidents. I am so sad to admit I thought it was behavioral. We had a nephew who had been having similar issues for years who is many years older and we were terrified of that prospect. The book educated us where our physicians failed us. Only after demanding a follow up Xray did we learn our initial clean out wasn't complete. Minus one star because natural options (such as low daily dose of magnesium) aren't mentioned for drawing water into the colon. Miralax isn't FDA approved for more than 7 day use nor has it ever been approved for children nor have retrospective analysis of long term use in pediatric populations been published. A great companion for this book is the You Tube video "The Poo in You" recommended by the GI PNP we saw. My daughter loves it and it's a good way for her to sit the full five minutes on the potty after each meal. Who knew the body could be trained to poo if you did that three times a day?! I laugh and tell my daughter mommy is getting potty trained too, so much I didn't know!

I bought this book because of the difficulties my granddaughter was having with constipation. The book is easy to read and informative. I still have concerns about using so much miralax but it does work. We were encouraged when her pediatrician also recommended the clean out after x rays showed she was completely blocked. Even if you don't want to do the clean out, he has good information about digestive issues, bed wetting and nutrition.

Never would have correlated the constipation and nighttime wetting (especially because our daughters seemed to poop "normally"), but it has worked like a charm for us. The only nighttime wetting our daughters have had in the past couple of weeks is when we forgot to follow the regimen precisely. We even started with our 11 month old with the constipation regimen as she had been screaming every time she had to poop. Now she gives a little grunting and then right back to playing. Nice to see her not crying. So true we don't generally get enough fiber, so we're working on changing that as well. Great book, nice use of preventive medicine. Highly recommend.

This book is clearly written and very helpful. My child has had one serious bout of constipation. I now feel as though it's possible to prevent future issues. The book addresses all levels of the problem, however. Finally, there is a resource that takes a holistic approach to the problem.

More importantly, it teaches the caregiver that recurring 'accidents' are not the child's fault. The problem is clearly medical. Every pediatrician should be talking to parents who are monitoring their infant's poops or muddling through potty training.

Our daughter (and our whole family) suffered because of her struggle to overcome bedwetting for twelve years. We took her to numerous doctors and did the alarm. No success. After doing the miralax week-end, our daughter was finally able to have her first dry nights, and has been dry for two months. This should be mandatory reading for every pediatrician and urologist. It is shameful that they do not know about the undiagnosed constipation issues detailed in this book that cause bedwetting in many children. I am so grateful for this book! Thank you!!!

I cannot say enough how helpful this book has been for my child and my family. Do not miss it. I have had the benefit of access to tremendous specialists at a children's hospital in a major US city, and yet I needed this book.

My son's treatment was hampered most by his complete resistance to being part of his own recovery. The specialists' treatment allowed my son to overcome the most acute stage of his encopresis, that of a backed up and greatly enlarged colon.

However, we could not come close to completing the treatment because we lacked the key: my son's buy-in. He continued to have accidents, because he refused to cooperate with any measures besides the Ex Lax pill: no vegetables, no fruit, no toilet sitting, no running to the toilet, not even when he felt the need. Forget drinking Miralax or Benefiber. It was like trying to get a cat into the bathtub. After 2.5 years, I gave up and stopped scheduling visits.

This book gave me rock-solid confidence about what my son needed. It turns out I don't need his buy-in. I just went nuclear and made it clear that if he did not cooperate with the program, his electronics will evaporate. I checked with my son's local pediatrician, and we were off to the races.

I got renewed faith in what is best for my child from this book. It's not like I didn't have this support at the children's hospital; they absolutely did not fail me. I walked away from them, not the other way round. At the time I decided to leave, it looked to me like we would never succeed as long as my child didn't want to succeed.

Probably the most important piece of this puzzle is that, now that we have dramatic results for my 10-year-old boy, he is starting to be part of the solution. He asks after his fruit and candied orange peel and keeps himself hydrated. He is starting to be excited about camp this summer, instead of terrified of it. And he is going!

I cannot say enough how helpful this book has been for my child and my family. Do not miss it. I have had the benefit of access to tremendous specialists at a children's hospital in a major US city, and yet I needed this book.

My son's treatment was hampered most by his complete resistance to being part of his own recovery. The specialists' treatment allowed my son to overcome the most acute stage of his encopresis, that of a backed up and greatly enlarged colon.

However, we could not come close to completing the treatment because we lacked the key: my son's buy-in. He continued to have accidents, because he refused to cooperate with any measures besides the Ex Lax pill: no vegetables, no fruit, no toilet

sitting, no running to the toilet, not even when he felt the need. Forget drinking Miralax or Benefiber. It was like trying to get a cat into the bathtub. After 2.5 years, I gave up and stopped scheduling visits.

This book gave me rock-solid confidence about what my son needed. It turns out I don't need his buy-in. I just went nuclear and made it

clear that if he did not cooperate with the program, his electronics will evaporate. I checked with my son's local pediatrician, and we were off to the races.

I got renewed faith in what is best for my child from this book. It's not like I didn't have this support at the children's hospital; they

absolutely did not fail me. I walked away from them, not the other way round. At the time I decided to leave, it looked to me like we

would never succeed as long as my child didn't want to succeed.

Probably the most important piece of this puzzle is that, now that we have dramatic results for my 10-year-old boy, he is starting to be part of the solution. He asks after his fruit and candied orange peel. He is starting to be excited about camp this summer, instead of terrified of it. And he is going!

This book is amazing. It has clarified so many things for our family. My daughter was hard to potty train even at three and a half. We are still having potty issues at six and a half years old and I believe we will clear them up before she turns seven now because of this book. She has been seen a urologist, a physical therapist, and now a GI specialist. The PT recommended this book and it's almost like it was written about my girl.

If your child is having potty problems as my six year old calls it, pick up this book and read it.

This book has helped lessen our son's night wetting (though we haven't totally solved it, yet). We have noticed that his appetite is much better and he's eating a wider variety of foods because his tummy doesn't feel so bloated all of the time. He's got a better disposition and much of what this book recommended was very helpful! We had no idea that he was so uncomfortable.

If your potty-trained child is having frequent accidents and/or bed wetting, stop everything you're doing and BUY THIS BOOK. My 3-year-old daughter has been fully trained for 7 months or so and but regressed a lot over the course of that time. There are weeks when she does a great job with the potty and weeks when she has constant accidents. I just knew something wasn't right even though everyone kept telling me it was normal and that she would grow out of it. I took her to a pediatric urologist 2 months ago and told them about this book (they already knew about it) and they assured me she wasn't constipated. Well, the accidents continued and she even started leaking poop. Today we went in for her follow up. I demanded an x-ray, which they gave me a hard time about but finally agreed to, and sure enough, her colon was backed up to her diaphragm. I feel terrible but am so glad to finally have an answer. A mother knows! This weekend we'll start the cleanse Dr. Hodges recommends. But I just couldn't wait to share this experience here in the hopes it could help other parents in similar situations. Please advocate for your child if you know in your gut that something isn't right.

Finally some help for our family. I haven't found another book out there that has been so helpful. Even before I bought it I got goosebumps just reading the description because I finally felt like this book was going to be able to help us. I'm looking forward to reading the book cover to cover!

My daughter has been withholding her bowel movements for months now. There is virtually no information on this topic because no one wants to discuss it. This book is wonderful and explains causes so well.

On first reading, I thought ths book was written about our 4 year old. She started having accidents at school after being relatively accident-free and I was at my wit's end about what to do. I came across this book during my hours of research and bought it based on the great reviews. We did the clean out over a weekend (not the most pleasant weekend ever) and have kept our daughter on Miralax since then. We have had a little trouble getting the daily dose right, but I think we have figured it out. We've been pretty much accident free and are staying drier at night. Most importantly, we have a happier little girl. I would recommend this book to anyone going through potty problems.

I purchased this book because my 7-year old daughter is still in pull-ups, has accidents every single day and has a history of more than 30 UTI's (since age 4). I have taken her to our family doctor, a urologist, GI specialists, psychiatrist, psychologist and am now with a very good pediatrician but unfortunately we have not been able to resolve her issues. Much of what I read in Dr. Hodges book, I had already learned from doctors, but there was a lot of information that was new to me. I am excited to share what I have learned with our pediatrician and my daughter's psychologist ordered a copy of the book for her office as well. I am hopeful that with our pediatrician's guidance, we can follow the advice in Dr. Hodges' book and finally get my daughter out of pull-ups and off antibiotics!

My 5-year-old daughter has been wetting her pants multiple times a day at school. My wife and I attributed this to the fact that we recently moved, and expected it to naturally resolve over time. But as weeks and months passed the problem got worse. We tried everything a parent would think of, but nothing was working. We took her to see a couple pediatricians, and even a pediatric urologist. But nothing was working, and the next steps were getting more extreme including a drug to help mature her bladder.

Steve Hodge's book has been an incredible find. He describes the cause of the problem, which you won't expect (my wife dismissed it immediately as impossible). And he describes how to fix the problem which doesn't include any drugs.

The most surprising part, to me, was that the pediatric profession doesn't understand this problem. I've witnessed this first-hand.

Excellent book that has been a godsend for us!! I wish that I had read this book 10-15 years ago and could have possibly prevented so many years of betwetting for my 17 yr old son. He has been a bedwetter all his life. The pediatrician told us each year at his physical that Jack would outgrow the bedwetting. At 16 we took him to 2 urologists and 2 sleep specialists to do sleep studies. The urologists said he was constipated and treated with senokot daily but the bedwetting continued. DDAVP didn't work and was not a solution long term even if it had. The sleep studies came back normal. I am an avid listener of Dr Radio, in hopes of hearing some solution to bedwetting for teenagers. I heard Dr Hodges speaking 18 mos ago and when he said that 95% of bedwetting is due to constipation and that enemas would help, I took Jack back to his gastroenterologist. He diagnosed Jack w constipation and put him on senokot and xlax and fiber over the next year. Jack had some dry nights but nothing consistent. We were losing hope for a permanent solution so flew from New England to Wake Forest to see Dr Hodges who showed us on the xray that Jack was constipated and told us how enemas could help. We started the nightly enemas and put Jack on Amitiza and Motilium for chronic constipation and now at 17, Jack is dry every night unless he sleeps in more than 9 hours (so 6 of 7 nights a week). HUGE improvement! Dr Hodges referred us to a colleague at Columbia to pursue another type of enema and possible surgery to reduce the size of the colon as his colon doesn't seem to be stretching back to normal size after 6 months of enemas. If only we had recognized the constipation as the reason for the bedwetting 10-15 years ago we might have prevented all these years of bedwetting and an overstretched colon that may require surgery! Send this book to any family or friends with bedwetting children. Pediatricians and pediatric gastroenterologists should read this book!

Thank you!! This has answered so many questions for me with my daughter who has been struggling for so long!! I only wish I learned of this book a year ago!! I will be re-reading and re-reading so many parts of this!! We are just starting in the process of a treatment plan and now I feel educated and prepared for what's ahead. Thank you so much.

This book is full of so much important, reassuring information. After dealing with encopresis for years with my son, this book was the first time I felt like someone really understood what we were going through. I wish it had been around when my son was four, we would have been on the path to healing years before. I have recommended this to several friends who have children dealing with this problem. Parents, you are not alone and you did not "ruin" your child. There is hope!

This book helped me better understand the problem of day wetting in my child. I wish my eleven year old would read it, so she would understand how serious this problem is, so she would work on helping herself.

My daughter has suffered from a complicated case of encopresis for 3 years now. It's been incredibly difficult on our family and of course particularly her. I wish I had this book 3 years ago to help me fully understand this medical issue. Dr. Hodges and Suzanne Schlosberg have done an excellent job of educating people on this unspoken medical issue, providing proven strategies on how to overcome the problem, and removing the shame associated with the problem. After following the advice for a month I had question regarding my daughter that was not covered in the book. I was able to track down Dr. Hodges email address and contact him--a desperate mother. He responded to my question THE SAME DAY with the same help and care I found in his book. Thank you so much to you Dr. Hodges and Suzanne Schlosberg for the work that you are doing! I look forward to reporting good news about my daughter to you soon!

When my daughter started having urinary frequency symptoms several years ago, there was little to no information on this issue. I always knew we had not received the best treatment for this issue (though happily the doc did figure out what the issue was....many kids go undiagnosed for a while), but when I read the book I just wanted to cry when I realized how many wrong turns we had made. I am very thankful for this doctor writing this book and plan to check out his website/blog as well as we continue to try and manage this problem. It should be noted that my daughter's current pediatrician has noticed a huge increase in this issue with school age kids, and I suspect in the next few years we'll start seeing news items about the lack of time to use the bathroom, exercise (limited recess and PE) and have a drink of water in the schools. They have a lot to deal with but in trying to get more classroom time, they are not helping kids who have a predisposition for GI issues. It would also have been nice to have a doc at the kindergarten physical give a heads up about this and things we could have done that might have prevented it...potty time, increased water intake at home etc. I cannot overstate how horrible it is to have a child suffer with urinary frequency; it makes them feel horrible and erodes their confidence in their bodies. Imagine feeling like you have to urinate every 10 minutes. Bad enough for a woman with a UTI or a man with a prostate issue but a little kid....horrible. We are fortunately able to home school and manage the problem. This after trying for two years to keep her at school. We have managed but not cured the problem but this book has given me some hope. I highly recommend this book.

This book saved my daughter from years of pain and shame. I can not express how helpful it was to find this book. Our pediatrician dismissed our concerns for over a year. After reading this book we were able to get back on track in no time. I even e-mailed Dr. H with a question and he got right back to me! The wait time in Ontario to see a Pediatric Gastroenterologist is 6 months - we got answers right away. Thank you for writing this book.

This book is very informative. The information went right along with the instruction that my daughter recieved at primary children's urology. I wish i would have had this book before i ever started potty training.

We've been struggling with urinary urgency/frequency issues with our 4 year old child for almost a year (she's almost 5 now; potty trained on her own at 2.5--not one single accident, night or day, since she learned--so this was very unusual for her to want to check again and again that she didn't have to pee). It was affecting every aspect of our lives, at all hours. We were losing sleep during nighttime potty trips, her preschool teachers were getting frustrated, and quite honestly, so were we since we couldn't do or plan anything away from a potty for stretches of time longer than 30 minutes. Although she is almost five, we have to travel with a potty in the trunk or plan on being near public bathrooms less than 15 minutes away. None of this seemed right given her age.

We've been back and forth to the doctors, including a urologist, child psychologist and her pediatricians. Countless UTI tests (all negative). We were told "it's an age thing, she'll grow out of it". They said "maybe she's constipated" (but without ever confirming or learning the true extent of it) and then we were told to put her on Miralax with out any meaningful reason why or any time frame--just put her on it and keep her on it. This did not sit well with us because we are tentative about pharmaceuticals in children to begin with. Their approach has been extremely conservative. None of them seemed to think this was a particularly alarming condition, just an inconvenience for us and her. We even eventually stopped giving her the Miralax because it was not making the peeing issue any better so we thought what's the use of giving it to her (now, in retrospect, I know from this book that we stopped too soon and that our overall approach to the underlying cause was not nearly aggressive enough).

Thankfully, after dealing with this issue for quite some time and very weary from it, I recently learned about "It's No Accident" in another review. I bought it and read it in less than 2 hours from cover to cover. It blew my mind that, after all this time and anguish, the answer to her problem was so simple.

I couldn't believe how I was finally finding SOMETHING that talked about urinary urgency/frequency in the same way that my daughter has experienced. Not just what was going on, but WHY and HOW to treat it. I then pushed for a second X-ray of my child (she had one months ago during an episode of vomiting which showed she was constipated then and thus nothing would stay down) last week. The results: she is STILL completely full of poop. This is a child who has a BM every day yet she is still so totally backed up that she cannot pee or hold it long enough like a normal kid because her bladder has so much pressure on it.

In terms of quality of life, this book has saved us.

We're still dealing with the underlying cause of why she is constipated (is she anxious about using the preschool potty? is it related to celiac or IBS? -- we're still figuring all of that out), but at least we have a light at the end of the very dark and embarrassing tunnel we were in. I wish that her doctors were more clued in earlier on about what Dr. Hodges so eloquently (and humorously) sets forth in his book. Isn't it ironic that we've paid hundreds of dollars in co-payments to figure out what is going on, yet for under $20 I was able to find the answer in a book? Thank you, Dr. Hodges, for giving families like ours hope. Road trips, subway rides and long stretches of time away from a bathroom actually seem like a possible reality once again.

Child voiding dysfunction (constipation, bedwetting, etc) is a national epidemic and this book is truly an eye-opener. Unfortunately, problems that develop during childhood follow some people for a lifetime! This book is great at describing the problems, identifying the signs and symptoms, and offering solutions to what can be very difficult-to-resolve problems. I recommend it to all pediatricians, family practioners, and parents with young children.