Re: My son won't stop pooping in his pants and I don't know what to do
- From: Mary_Gordon@xxxxxxx
- Date: 11 Nov 2005 12:25:07 -0800
You need a better doctor. Its a common problem, particularly in boys.
Its called encopresis or "withholding".
What happens is that for whatever reason, a child starts trying to hold
in his or her stool. This can start from some painful constipation,
fear or dislike of the toilet, whatever. A vicious cycle gets set up.
The child's colon becomes packed with stool and stretched out.
Eventually, normal function and sensation is compromised. The kid
really cannot TELL when they need to go. The colon gets so packed with
stool that it HAS to go somewhere, and small amounts are involuntarily
squeezed out - hence the endless small stools ending up in their pants.
They cannot control this. They cannot tell when they need to go. It is
not their fault.
Unfortunately the reason I know all this is because MY middle son had
this issue at the age of 4, and like you I was completely pulling my
hair out because I thought he was doing it on purpose (you know, smart
healthy kid, what the heck is wrong that he seemingly won't use the
toilet and is continually pooping in his pants???). It was a really
intractable and frustrating problem, and we realize now that we should
have been to our pediatrician sooner about it. I had never heard about
this problem prior to our family experience with it, but it is actually
much more common than I ever would have realized.
Fortunately, our pediatrician knew all about this problem, and knew
what to do. It did take several months to get the problem completely
under control. What we had to do was start with mild laxatives. We
started with mineral oil, which didn't work that well, and had to move
up to ducolax. The doctor had us play with the dosages until we got him
having at least two TWO good bowel movements a day. The purpose of this
was to get his colon empty, and keep it as empty as possible, to allow
it to shrink back to normal size, and allow normal function and
sensation to return. This will not happen overnight - be prepared for
it to take a while, for the kid to be able to recognize and act on the
urge to have a bowel movement.
Here is an article - you will find lots of info on the
nethttp://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/conditions/encopresis.html
Mary G.
Mom of three (now 7, 11 and 14)
.
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