Four year old withholds poo

[Hafsah21]

Hello. Anyone have any experience with withholding poo? My four year old son has been on movicol for over 2 years because of past painful poos. He does t have any more pain but he still withholds every time to the point that he has no sensation in his rectum and he has a build up of poo and there’s always a little bit of poo in his pull ups. Pants don’t help because he withholds even more. He starts school in sept 19 and I’m losing my mind. I’ve changed his diet, increased his fluid intake, encouraged with reward charts and stickers, gotten him his favourite character pants, nothing works. He sits on toilet for 5-10 mins after every meal too. What to do? Any advice?

[Lolabetty]

Hi how many Movicol is your son taking per day? You need to increase the dose so he cannot hold on any longer, sounds like you need to do a disimpaction. I really recommend a book called Stool Withholding by Sophia Ferguson from the ERIC website it talks you through a plan. Follow the plan and things could change for you in a matter of weeks - it’s very stressful and all consuming so I totally sympathise but things will change for you x

[Hafsah21 in reply to Lolabetty]

Thank you for the reply.

He takes three sachets of movicol a day. We tried disimpaction but it didn’t quite work and his doctors told us to stop. He sits on the toilet three to four times a day and does usually manage to poo but its very thin, soft and sticky. Is this normal? He poos very little in pull ups throughout the day as well. Sometimes even 5 mins after he’s had a poo on the toilet.

Thanks for the book recommendation. I’ll definitely check it out.

[J_to]

I’m so pleased this site was recommended. I’m having exactly the same trouble with my daughter except I can’t get her to sit on the potty or toilet to try. She knows when she needs to go to the toilet but you can visibly see that rather than pushing she’s clenching her bum cheeks to keep it in. She’s also starts school in September and has been on laxatives for 2 years. Sounds like the book may be a good place to start!

[Hafsah21 in reply to J_to]

How old is your little one? Have you tried reward charts and stickers and such? They really helped us.