ABSTRACT
The development of bladder and bowel control occurs in a stage-wise manner in most children during the first five years of life (Buchanan, 1992; Shaffer, 1994; Fielding and Doleys, 1988). In the first months of life the child is incontinent. Gradually the child develops bowel control at night. This is followed by the development of bowel control during the day. Next, the child learns to control the bladder during the day, and finally most children by the age of 5 learn to control their bladder at night. Most children follow this sequence although there is some variation within the population. Girls develop bowel and bladder control more quickly than boys. By 4 years of age most children have developed bowel control and by 5 most children have developed bladder control, so these ages are used as the cut-off ages for diagnosing encopresis and enuresis respectively.
