Where next - any tips welcome !

[Gardengertie]

Our daughter is five in the summer. She has poo withheld for over a year. We think it started with her not liking the toilets in nursery and being too shy to ask to go. We have almost entirely resolved weeing and since September she has been on 2x movicol and 2.5 ml senna nightly. She has been pooing in the toilet or in her night nappy each evening and no accidents in school. Poo was always very soft. About three weeks ago she has started doing small pops/ large skids in her pants again, we think as she needs to go in the middle of the day. This has been both in and out of school (ie when with us). She says that the bathroom was too far away/ it was coming too quickly. We can’t tell if the medicine is making everything too soft or if it’s leaking from a back up. Each time she promises to go to the toilet/ at least tell someone but never does. We’ve contacted the gastroenteritis consultant again (who was quite dismissive the first time we saw him) and he just says that the dose seems fine and that she has “relapsed”- we’ve no idea what this means (she has never really pooed at school and there’s been no change in diet or routine - there’s nothing to relapse from! ) and we need to “break” her anxiety with pooing at school (or anywhere in the day). We agree that it is psychological but we have no idea how to help her “break” this. We have tried rewards, tried ignoring/ minimising, tried taking her out of nursery initially etc (she’s now in school). In the meantime I am really worried about the impact it has in school - it’s making her more self conscious and it clearly smells ! She has also had a couple of wee accidents (I think because she is worried about the poo already in her pants).

Any tips/ experience would be most welcome !

[SallyandPaul]

The wee accidents might be a bit of a give away.She is possibly constipated from the withholding and the bowel is probably pressing on the bladder causing wetting. If you haven't watched the poo nurses video that's helpful and there is a link on this page. It sounds like a disimpaction might be helpful,details in the movicol box . Poo needs to get to the runny stage and then back to a maintenance dose.Good luck

[OlivesYou]

How is it going with your daughter now?

I have had the same issues with my son. And the same response from doctors. I decided to download the Bristol stool chart on my iPhone. I keep track of poops everyday. I have almost a full year charted. Trust me, this has helped my tremendously to see the patterns and to know what to dose and when. It has taken a lot of “guesswork” out of if he’s constipated.