My 4 year old doesn't want to poop.

amother

Sat, Jul 24 2021, 10:30 pm

He's had this problem since he was two. Doctor says there's no biological reason why he doesn't make number 2. He got better with it for half a year but now he says " I don't need to poop anymore." He'll hold it in for 2-4 days and in the last week it went into his undies twice. Has anyone experience with this? Could a therapist help?

amother

Daffodil

Sat, Jul 24 2021, 11:02 pm

Sounds like anxiety. You want to take care of this before it turns into encropresis, which can take years to be resolved.
I'm really surprised your doctor didn't mention that. Nowadays there is more awareness of this. You should definitely look into it.

amother

Brass

Sat, Jul 24 2021, 11:27 pm

So my 4 year old, who is fully trained for peeing with no problems, still poops in a diaper.
He has issues pooping and I don't want to stress him further. Sometimes kids are more comfortable doing it that way...

bigbird

Sun, Jul 25 2021, 12:03 am

Yes. I have this with mine. It’s called stool withholding and is more common then you’d think. Unfortunately not every doctor is familiar with it which is extremely frustrating!

Read the book The Ins and Outs of Poop which explains what’s happening and how to treat it. I’m in the UK where we have a website called Eric.org.uk which has a lot of resources. There is also a Facebook group called Movicol Mummies which has been a great support for me.

The general guide is that as long as the problem has been going on, it takes that long to get over it as this is a learned behaviour. We have a long way to go still til mine is no longer scared but we’re in a much much better place a year into it and he now goes once or twice a day.

Feel free to PM me if you have questions. This is much harder to go through then others might think and not many people talk about it.

amother

Thistle

Sun, Jul 25 2021, 6:41 am

My child used to scream and had fears but it disappeared from one day to the next. I think it was that I decided to let go and not be on top of him. He was four.

amother

Caramel

Sun, Jul 25 2021, 11:40 am

My four year old was a stool holder since she’s 14 months. We give a half a capful miralax and it does the job. (She feels the need to go and goes) but when we don’t give miralax we fall into the same problem where she holds it in and it’s a big problem.

amother

Vermilion

Sun, Jul 25 2021, 12:05 pm

My 6 yo still dirty his underwear can it be the same issue. I’ve tried so many things and can’t get to the bottom of it

amother

Daffodil

Sun, Jul 25 2021, 12:34 pm

amother [ Vermilion ] wrote:

My 6 yo still dirty his underwear can it be the same issue. I’ve tried so many things and can’t get to the bottom of it

Ask your pediatrician about encropresis. Children with this really suffer and can have long term problems down the road the longer it goes on, as well as social repercussions. The longer you wait to deal with it, the longer it will take to resolve.
I've had a handful of students even in upper elementary grades who were dealing with this, and my heart really went out to them. See Bigbird's post above. She has good advice.

amother

Sun, Jul 25 2021, 9:32 pm

bigbird wrote:

Read the book The Ins and Outs of Poop which explains what’s happening and how to treat it. I’m in the UK where we have a website called Eric.org.uk which has a lot of resources..

This website didn't work for me, could you post the link please?

amother

Sun, Jul 25 2021, 9:33 pm

amother [ Brass ] wrote:

I wouldn't be able to put him back into diapers though. He's been completely without them since he's 2.5.