Well, there's no delicate way to put this ... my (potty trained) recently-turned-five-year-old has started having small bits of poop in her underwear. She claims to be unaware that it is happening, until it comes out. When I have her sit on the toilet to wait for the rest of it, most of the time nothing comes out. She was successful pooping in the toilet for at least a year before this started (about 6 months ago). In fact, she rarely has a full poop in the toilet anymore, just daily smears/gobs of poop in the underwear. This seems to happen mostly at home, although I think it sometimes happens at preschool and she doesn't tell anyone.
I have various theories -- she might truly not feel it until the last second, since she seems to have a high sensory threshold and it took her a long time to be able to feel when she has to pee. Then again, we have a new baby in the house (3 months old) and I'm wondering if this is at least half an attention-getting behavior. I've asked her why, and she says she doesn't feel it (and that her "poop bone is broken"), or that she forgets (and I should put up a sign). She tries to act like it's funny, though occasionally it seems to bother her, so I'm not even sure what her real state of mind is about it. I've tried rewards for successful poops. I hate to have a "punishment" in case she truly is having a physical problem -- she does say she's afraid it will hurt if she goes, but she really doesn't seem to be constipated.
I'm not being very consistent in my reactions, since I can't figure out what's going on. I just know I want to be done with the constant poop! Any advice appreciated.
Thanks everyone for the advice! I had no idea about soiling and how that's related to constipation. Well, we devoted that first weekend to pooping -- and after spending lots of time hanging out on the potty, she started having bowel movements. A lot of them. The masterpiece was on Sunday, and not to be too graphic (but it really was funny), this poop was so large and hard it wouldn't flush (wouldn't even bend) after seven flushes. I finally had to break it with a plunger! My daughter found the humor in that, and understood that this had been clogging her up.
She has been having regular poops ever since, and things are much better, but she still often gets just a little in her underwear (not near as much) before she catches it. I'm trying to guage whether she can "feel it" in her body; she usually can, she says. But if it doesn't get totally resolved soon, I'll take her in to the doctor.
I wonder if she might actually be constipated, sometimes then little poops sneak through. I would try some miralax daily to get her back on track.
It could be a combination of things. Has her diet changed at all? More fiber/fruits/vegetables than usual? Or any other reason why she would be having either looser stools or constipation? Does she complain of a stomach ache ever? That can be a sign of constipation (or just that she needs to go). It sounds like at least some of the time she's not able to control it- or have you considered that maybe she's just having a hard time wiping? If her stools are very soft, it's hard to get it off with just toilet paper. You could try some of the toddler wipes and see if that helps. Best wishes! I hope things get sorted out soon!
Have you tried giving her prune juice for a few days just in case she is constipated. If she doesn't seem to be having full poops as you say -she could very well be. When you try to go when you are constipated is does hurt. Try this before you punish her.
My nephew had a physical problem where he really COULDN'T tell he needed to go. He had to take medication that helped fix the problem. It couldn't hurt to have her checked out by a doctor.
It sounds like she may be constipated. Increase her water intake and the amount of fiber she is getting through food and see if that helps. To start with you could give her some Miralax each day to try to get things moving again.
This happened to my daughter. Your daughter might not look or act like she's constipated, but there's a good chance she is. And if she says--at all--that it's going to hurt when she goes, changes are that it did hurt once--and hurt enough that now, she doesn't want to go BM.
What's happening is called "Soiling." If you look it up, you can find a lot of info on the Internet.
My daughter has suffered from constipation issues since she was two. When she started pooping in her underwear, or getting a little poo in them, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what was going on either. I finally took her to a pediatric --not an urologist, but the one that takes care of BM problems. She put my daughter on Miralax (we get a generic by prescription; it's cheaper) and some specific bathroom goals. It took about two years to straighten out, and she still takes the Miralax on and off when she just can't get anything out (she's almost 10).
This is actually a pretty big deal. If your daughter doesn't get her BM schedule straightened out, she can have colon problems and other things related to just this one (relatively simple looking) problem.
Soiling is something your daughter should be seeing a professional about.
My 10 year old son has been dealing with this problem for years. Even though your daughter seems much better and had those big poops, it might not be a bad idea to take her in to the doctor. It can take quite a bit to "clean them out" if they've been constipated for awhile. The doctor can tell for sure if there is any stool built up by taking an x-ray of her abdomen. He might also be able to help you with a plan to avoid it in the future. (Although sometimes that's easier said than done since we haven't been able to solve this problem at our house, not yet anyhow.) Good luck!
hi S.,
i wrote a similar cry for help about my 6 year old. she was coming home from school with filled underware. i was making her wash her underware out thinking she's getting too lazy to get up and go to the bathroom. she was even getting a bright red rash on her bottom for sitting in it for who knows how long at school. i recieved a response from someone telling me to check out this website: http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sick/encopresis.html#
it's actually a form of constipation (oxymoron i know) but i took her to the doctor and she didn't need any treatment as far as laxatives but the doctor said to have her sit on the toilet after meals to get her body use to acknowledging the feeling of needing to poop. the doctor also said it is fine to have her wash her own underware out (i would have her put rubber gloves on and use some dawn dishsoap) i hope this answers some questions and helps as much as the responses helped me!! good luck!
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Have you heard of encopresis where children withhold stool, the bowel/intestine/colon becomes clogged with hard stool and then newer liquid stool escapes into the underwear? She would unlikely be able to feel this and thus is telling you the complete truth. Also after withholding and consequently getting "backed up" the colon becomes stretched and the nerve sensation changes or becomes almost non-existant. Has constipation and/or fissures been an issue? Or is she looking for something to "control" and has chosen to control when she poops? If you want to discuss this further and feel this might be what's going on, you can email me directly at ____@____.com son is 9, this started when he was 2, and next week is having a port put in that we will flush 3-4 times a week to help him regain normal stooling patterns. He actually goes every day....but it's not enough to empty his large intesting which gets clogged.
Best of luck to you. Hopefully it's nothing...just a little "attention getting" because of the new baby. Reward her for going!!! And be consistent! :-)
J.
