Some disabled youngsters are prone to dehydration because they restrict their drinking.
We look at the reasons behind this and suggest ways to encourage children to keep up their fluid intake. A potty trained toddler learns to get to the bathroom and to use the toilet, but this natural progression can be more complicated for a child whose muscles are weak. Running to the bathroom might have been easy as a 3 year old boy with Duchenne MD, but by 4 or 5 the child may be getting slower and start to have the occasional accident on the way. This can be embarrassing for the child, especially in the public forum of a nursery or primary school under the eye of irritated and impatient staff. The problems that a youngster has in getting to the toilet do not end at school or in the nursery.