ABSTRACT
Incontinence of urine may be either daytime or nocturnal or both. Patients with diurnal incontinence often begin having symptoms three to six months after achieving urinary control. In infancy, the bladder functions by a simple sacral reflex arc without input from the supraspinal centre. In the absence of an anatomical obstruction, this reflex arc allows bladder to empty at low pressure without resistance to urine flow. It has been well documented that, until proven otherwise, all patients with lower urinary tract dysfunction have constipation. Constipation is defined by passing hard stool, painful defaecation and failure to pass three stools per week. Encopresis or faecal soiling occurs when the child is constipated or avoids defaecation through fear of painful defaecation and they leak soft stools. Nocturnal enuresis is defined as the leakage of urine while sleeping, in children over the age at which bladder control is supposed to be present.
