Sudden pooping in knickers

[MummyandMaid]

Hi all!

First time posting here.

My daughter(just turned 4 end of June) has suddenly started pooping her knickers again. She was potty trained fine, although it did take a little longer to do poops on the loo. Anyway she was doing it all fine until this sudden knicker soiling. She has a good diet, drinks plenty and is very active.

When I catch her (she usually goes off to hide in her room) I say to her to go to the loo, she will say "I don't need to go poo anymore" or if I put her on the loo myself and tell her not to move until she tries, she has the biggest screaming fit, shouting that she doesn't need a poo.

I've also tried asking her why she poos her knickers... she says she doesn't know or because she wants to.

We've tried games, toys, singing, rewards, being firm, ignoring it, set toilet times... I just don't know what to do any more. We went to the doctor who said to keep a food diary which we have been. What's the next step? Any advice?

She starts primary school in September and I really don't want to see her picked on or the school not letting her in.

Thanks for reading.

[Georgina1475]

Hi. It's good that you're keeping a food diary for the Gp as the first step. Go back to a routine of sitting for 10mins about 20-30 mins after each meal, this is the tricky bit when they are resisting but it's the routine you need to get set in stone. If she really resists then make it 5mins to begin with and increase a little at a time. If you haven't already get a stool for her feet to rest on while she's sitting so that she's in the optimal position. Blowing bubbles can help the muscles to relax and aid the process as will blowing small tissue in the air. It might be a blip but she maybe constipated. Sometimes constipation can mean a small bit of poo that's stuck and softer smaller poo can pass around it and that's when we get soiling. Constipation doesn't have to mean not going at all. If you can try and get her to drink just a little more, grapes, cucumber and peas are a good food as they contain fluid. Jellies and ice lollies are a good way of increasing fluids too. Try the sugar free if possible. I wouldn't decrease dairy or anything yet until the doc has seen your diary.

Let us know how you both are getting on. Also See Eric.org.uk as they have great advice and leaflets that you can send off for if needed. Best wishes

[squizita in reply to Georgina1475]

With regards to constipation soiling, it has a distinctive liquid texture (liquid, can be sticky/nasty) as it's not just a bit of normal poo it's leakage from further up.

I didn't realise this and now have issues as I was upping and upping my child's laxitive dose and actually the accidents were due to her stools being TOO soft not constipation. When her accidents were described I was advised to aim for a 4 or 5 on the stool chart.

[MummyandMaid]

So now she has just started school in the last two weeks. All was going great with a rewards system until recently when hubby stopped it all saying she was too old to be rewarded for things she should be doing anyway. I would have agreed to stopping as she was doing great but thought slowly reducing it would have been best. He saw the first repeat soiling and said she was protesting due to him saying "no" to her. It would be worth noting that she has not protested in such ways before.

Thankfully we've had no calls/letters home from school but she has only just started.

Any ideas?

This is the last thing I was expecting.

[MummyandMaid]

Oh and turns out she wasn't constipated that first time.