Up to now we have coped with Daughters toilet problems / frequent constipation often caused by withholding to avoid pooing at school where she hates using the toilets when others are about - then being worried that passing it would hurt, with little input from GP. She was on movicol when she was 7 but she chose not to use it because of several accidents that were very messy and tbh I agreed with her on that. Basically instead she has sit on the toilet and try to make herself poo sessions each day to keep regular, these are after breakfast and dinner which generally work ok, the only difficulty being she wants to keep sitting there trying and I have to tell her to get off when I think she has been there too long. Up to date it's been a case of when she gets constipated and really can't do it on the toilet she dirties her pants, ive accepted that if she feels she can do it and she is not near a toilet she can do it in her pants to avoid holding it. To this end when she is constipated or withholding she wears some soft plastic pants over her pants with girl shorts over these. She also has discrete pocket in with a small pack of moist wipes and clean pants allowing her to go into the toilet take of her dirty pants, wipe and put clean ones on with plastic pants etc over so her clean up needent take a long time and there are no tell tale stains on her skirt or noticible smell.
This has been ok so far as the teachers at middle school were helpful and when she had done it in her pants she had a signal that is her pencil case is yellow on one side and a red tartan on the other. If she puts it yellow side up the teacher would discretely excuse her from class - asking her to take a folded piece of paper or a message to another teacher thereby giving her the opportunity to change her pants.
When I discussed this with the high school they were a bit unhelpful with regards to the pencil case signal and letting her out of class and suggested she just go at lesson change which defeats the discression she is used to at the middle school. They also said they wouldn't expect any student to be using any form of nappy which apparently the plastic pants are.
Any help or suggestions or ways to deal with the school appreciated
Lin
Written by
ParentwithsoilingDD
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I would approach the school again as this is a known medical issue which has in the past been treated by a doctor so they can't really refuse to let her go when she needs to bless her. They wouldn't stop a child taking life saving meds during lesson time then why shouldn't they let her deal with her "medical" issue. There's little difference in my eyes. Be forceful with them if needed and explain that if she isn't allowed to then she's likely to miss a lot of school while being treated with medicine for being blocked up.
Here, children do their best to totally avoid bowel movements. Because they hold it in, constipation worsens and over time they do everything possible to retain keep the poo inside
Beating Sneaky Poo is a two-part article, first published in Australia in 1985, with a second edition following in 1988. Its first part is aimed at broadening parents’ knowledge on the subject, and the second tells the Snbeating-sneaky-pooeaky Poo story, that parents read to a child suffering constipation and fecal soiling.
Hi Thanks for your replys which have been helpful. I spoke to the school again and they agreed to go along with letting her out of lessons when needed as long as it wasn't too often and that she was able to sort herself out. I am also really proud of her for the effort she has made this week, not withholding, and has been content to sit on the toilet straining untill she goes before going to school. She has only done it in her pants 1 day when she couldn't go in the morning and she got the urge before lunch, unfortunately having her lunch sitting in it as she was not happy to use the toilets to change whilst so many others were about but when end of lunch sounded as she went in her teacher asked her discretely if she needed to use the bathroom whilst it was quiet..
I was impressed that the teacher noticed and handled it very discretely however the school are encouraging girls to wear tights with skirts or trousers which is not helpful as she just wears a skirt so it's more straight forward for her when she has to change so I will see what happens if encourage comes to must..
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Advice desperately needed 
Conflicting advice from 2 different paediatricians re chronic constipation
My son refuses to poo on the loo!
Chronic Constipation 8 year old daughter
