Just-in-case peeing
My son has been potty training for almost a year now. The other day we were out and about and he was doing his typical “potty dance”. I asked him if he had to pee and told him he could go in the big potty where we were. He said he didn’t have to pee. I questioned it, but he insisted. We went home and about 30 minutes after we arrived he said he had to pee and went to the bathroom.
Why am I telling you this story? Even though it is really hard sometimes to not make him sit on the potty (because I don’t want him to have an accident), I also know the importance of training his bladder and brain for healthy bladder habits.
Pelvic floor dysfunction can start at a young age. It can start from the way we were potty trained. “Just in case peeing” is when you go do the bathroom because you know that there will not be a toilet for sometime and you want to make sure you don’t have to pee when it is inconvenient.
Before getting into pelvic floor physical therapy, I use to do “just in case peeing” all of the time! I had such a strong urge to pee and when that urge came on, I had zero seconds to get to a bathroom. Therefore, whenever I was near a bathroom, I would go. I am happy to say that I now only need to urinate every 3-4 hours and if I am not near a toilet, I can wait until I get to one.
Our bladders are a muscle and therefore, can expand and contract. They can expand to hold about 800 ml of liquid (although it is not healthy to force your bladder to hold this much all the time). If you are constantly doing “just in case peeing” then your bladder forgets how to expand fully. You should allow your bladder to hold about 400 ml during the day before you pee. This means peeing about every 3-4 hours if your drink between 60-100oz of water.
f you have a strong urge and "really have to go” before the 3 hour time is up, there are some techniques you can use to help hold off the urge.
One technique is a simple exercise of just pointing your toes. That is right, pointing your toes helps tell your bladder and brain that you do not have to go.
How is that possible, that moving your feet with help decrease your urge? The never that goes to the bladder comes out of the spinal cord along a similar pathway as the nerve that goes down to your ankle. So just by moving your feet, you are affecting the nerve to the bladder.
Next time you have to pee, try this and see if it helps you hold off the urge to pee right away.
