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Objective: To determine the prevalence of daytime- with/without night-time wetting, in Belgium, in a group of 10 to 14 year old schoolchildren, and to study the voiding habits. Subjects and methods: A questionnaire of 41 questions was developed and completed by 4332 parents at home. Results: Wetting or soiling episodes were reported by a total of 528 (12%) of the children: monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis by 62 (1%), daytime wetting with/without night-time wetting by 343 (8%), and faecal soiling by 123 (3%). We found significantly more girls in the wetting group, and the capacity to regularly postpone the voiding was significantly lower in this group. Significantly more children had nocturia in the group with wetting. Conclusions: Children with daytime wetting with/without night-time wetting have very often bladder-sphincter dysfunctions, which is in turn correlated with recurrent urinary tract infections. Eight percent of the 10 to 12 year old schoolchildren report daytime wetting with/without night-time wetting with some frequency. Surprisingly few parents, especially in the daytime wetting group, searched for medical help. Physicians and paediatricians should be encouraged to be more attentive to wetting in children and initiate discussion about urinary en faecal problems with parents and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To analyse the changes in toilet training of children in Belgium in the last three generations and to seek a possible cause for the apparent increase in lower urinary tract dysfunction over that period. Patients and methods A questionnaire (25 questions) was developed and completed by 321 people who had toilet-trained 812 children. The population was divided into three groups according to the age of those who trained the children. Results There has been a major change in toilet training in the last 60 years; the age at which toilet training began has been significantly postponed. One reason for starting training, i.e. bladder control during the afternoon nap (which can probably be considered as an indication of sufficient bladder capacity) has become less important. Season (summer) has become a more important factor, as has starting school. Training by bladder drill, formerly widely used, was progressively abandoned and a more liberal attitude adopted by the youngest parents. Conclusion There seems to be good concordance between the programmes currently proposed for treating bladder dysfunction in children and the traditional bladder-training methods used by parents 60 years ago. To start bladder training when the child stays dry during the afternoon nap and using bladder drill might help to avoid permanent bladder dysfunction. The lack of formal bladder training may be responsible for an increase in lower urinary tract dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]