Brenda Cheer
Paediatric Specialist Continence Nurse, ERIC The Children’s Bowel & Bladder Charity
Shame and stigma around toileting are driving young people online for health information, but are they getting the right advice?
In the UK, 1.5 million children (one in nine) live with a bowel or bladder condition.1 The shame surrounding these issues can make it difficult for them to talk about, often leading to them delaying getting support. However, these are problems that won’t go away on their own.
Rising need for continence support
ERIC runs a helpline for families struggling with continence issues. Over the last five years, the volume of calls received by our helpline has increased by 215%.2 Among the most common calls we receive are issues like constipation (mentioned by parents/carers in 56% of calls last year), bedwetting (13%) and daytime wetting (15%). This can happen across a variety of age groups, not just in younger children.
Social stigma of toileting
To better understand the issues that young people face, ERIC enlisted a group of Young Champions: young people aged 11–18 from across the UK with lived experience of bowel and bladder conditions. They did a survey3 of their peers at schools across the UK (both with and without conditions) that found the stigma around toileting caused over a third of young people (36.65%) to avoid drinking water during the day so they didn’t need to use the loo at school. Nearly a quarter (24%) said they felt scared to go at school.
In the UK, 1.5 million children
(one in nine) live with a bowel
or bladder condition.
Alarmingly, 23% told us they get their health information from TikTok; 46% turned to ‘Dr Google.’ Without proper clinical guidance, this is giving rise to a lot of misinformation around bowel and bladder health that charities like ours are hearing every day on our helplines.
Education and support for schools
There needs to be better education for young people and school staff around bowel and bladder health. This education must ensure that the school environment is a safe place for young people and remove the stigma around toileting that is preventing them from getting the support they need. We’re working alongside the University of Kent to create a suite of materials that will help educate and inspire young people to take care of their bowel and bladder health.
Open communication
This is just part of a journey that ERIC is taking, in partnership with schools, young people and key stakeholders in children’s health, education and social care, to hopefully eradicate the shame around toileting and make children’s bowel and bladder health a key priority. Everyone should be able to talk about wee and poo — after all, we all do it.
[1] Paediatric Conference Forum. 2024. Children’s Continence Commissioning Guide.
[2] ERIC Helpline. From 1900 calls in the year to September 2019, to 5987 calls in the year to September 2024.
[3] ERIC. 2023. Voices for Change Report. Survey carried out with support from Health Innovation West of England and Participation People.
