Help eight year old still poops in pants

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Forum -> Children's Health -> Toilet Training

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amother

Pink

Tue, Jul 07 2015, 5:13 am

Eight year old still poops in pants

ahuva06

Tue, Jul 07 2015, 5:20 am

Still makes it sound like he has been doing this ever since he was little, is that correct? Did you take him to the Dr.?

amother

Pink

Tue, Jul 07 2015, 5:31 am

It stops for a few days and then starts again. Dr says he will grow out of it, but he is already eight!

ahuva06

Tue, Jul 07 2015, 5:54 am

oh dear! must be super frustrating - I dont have personal experience but hopefully someone who does will share some insight!

cla

Tue, Jul 07 2015, 6:43 am

Does he use the toilet properly in between accidents? Or holds it in.
He probably has Encopresis.
If so, it won't go away without intervention.

myself

Tue, Jul 07 2015, 7:02 am

cla wrote:

He probably has Encopresis.
If so, it won't go away without intervention.

My thoughts too. Mention it to your doctor.

curlyhead

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 1:31 am

Treat him for constipation and make sure he sits on the toilet at least 1-2 times a day. You can always make a chart and prize after a week.

alittlebirdie

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 2:12 am

Did you check into pinworms? I had this with a 5 year old and I was told to check for pinworms. They said u can do a blood test to check but my dr said it's not nesesary just treat for pinworms just incase to rule it out

amother

Lavender

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 4:04 am

I really really know how frustrating this must be for you and your son!

My son went through this. After 7-8 months of regular accidents at age 8.5 I took him to the doctor. After hearing our description of when it happens, doctor thought it was psychological rather than physiological.

In general, our son is the kind who can get extremely focused on legos for hours and forget eating or using restroom. It has gotten a lot better in recent months.

One thing that is important, he must take responsibility for it. Accident happened? No problem, but you have to stop everything now, wash undergarment, wash body, change clothes etc. No shame, just personal responsibility.

amother

Forestgreen

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 4:42 am

My son did this as well. I know you are not going to want to hear this, but: this is a sign of abuse. My son was raped. When that happens to a kid [especially if it were more than once], they cannot handle it, and they "cut off" feeling from that part of their body. They literally cannot feel the poop coming out. In my son's case he felt nothing until his pants were dirty. This process of cutting off from the traumatized body part is called Dissociation. Please look into it. If you kid was chas v'shalom abused, you need to deal with this ASAP. Even if he does not disclose anything, you should still bring him to a therapist to evaluate if anything else is out of the ordinary in his play or mannerisms. Hatzlacha, hugs...

amother

Forestgreen

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 4:50 am

duplicate, sorry

sourstix

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 4:55 am

everything today is put on abuse. so many things I post ends in a poster saying oh, its probably abuse. seriously he might have other issues. doesnt necessarily have to do with abuse. I would speak with a doctor. encopresis might be the issue or severe constipation. or pinworms.

morningsickness

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 6:19 am

The previous poster was right. Encopresis might be a sign of severe physochological stress your child is going through. It doesn't neccessarily have to be zexual abuse, although I would check into that very carefully before ruling it out. My advice to you is to A. go get a second opinion from another dr. This matter isn't of the sort that usually resolves itself with time B. take your child to be evaluated by a COMPOTENT child psychologist.

amother

Pearl

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 6:24 am

I agree. Second opinion.

If it is nothing awful, try Miralax daily plus what is called "timed elimination". You set regular times for him to go and sit for a while every day. If he is somewhat regular, once he produces and wipes properly, he is done for that day.

amother

Wine

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 6:34 am

amother wrote:

They sell watches with alarms that ring often (you can set it) to remind the child to go to the bathroom. I saw it in babies r us

chani8

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 6:46 am

amother wrote:

I'm so sorry about your son.

I think a pediatrician could check for backside tears. (As long as the Pediatrician is safe).

My understanding was that molestation in general, without backside penetration, can cause pooping in pants, just because of the stress. Maybe I misunderstood?

chani8

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 6:50 am

sourstix wrote:

It sometimes sounds like a broken record around here, but keep in mind there are newbies that haven't considered abuse.

I would think loose stools would be more likely to be the problem, like IBS. Perhaps the child has a lactose intolerance or other allergy to something he eats.

amother

Pink

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 12:22 pm

Thanks everyone. I went to sign him up for therapy and there is a 15-child wait list. Sad

mummiedearest

Wed, Jul 08 2015, 12:33 pm

my kids have the same problem. if it's been going on since toddlerhood, your kid has probably been holding it in out of habit/fear of pooping/whatever. it's quite common. laxatives/stool softener will help. you want him to get into the habit of pooping every day. once that happens, he'll stop having accidents. what is telling is that he's doing it every few days, not every day. that means he doesn't poop at all for a few days in between. it can be very stressful to deal with laxatives around a school schedule. we used to give our kids miralax in their drinks with breakfast, and then we had a half-hour designated as poop time before bedtime. (the kids went to bed pretty early at the time. you may want to consider using the time right after dinner for this.) not knowing what this is makes it much more difficult. once you see that the laxative is working and that he's going every day, you'll both be able to relax better. my two older ones don't need laxatives anymore, and no more accidents. we just started miralax for the youngest today.

just so you know, don't be scared about the psychological aspect. while it's possible that this is a result of something traumatic, it's equally possible that the kid had a couple of scary poop experiences while toilet training or shortly thereafter. my pediatrician calls it psychological constipation, and says it's very common and nothing scary. he said it's likely they really were constipated one day and had some pain while pooping, so they tried to hold it in from then on. I don't think a therapist is the way to go until you've tried laxatives. if that doesn't work, talk to another pediatrician.

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