Near 5 year old still pooping in his pants

[Short23]

Hi All,

Am new here and really looking for some advise, help, tips anything really as am at my wits end on where to go from here. My son will be 5 in July and since he was 1 1/2 years old he used to twist his body and cross his legs to keep in his poop. I took him along to the doctors who said he had constipation and provided him with Forlax (2 x per day every day in his drink). After 6 months I went back to the doctors and informed them he still done all the same things and all the Forlax is doing his making it so soft he was leaking. This kept carrying on and when he was 2 1/2 I expressed I wanted to be referred to the hospital to investigate further. After lots of scans, food allergy tests etc the doctor said his colon was blocked with many stools. We went into hospital as a day patient and carried out the procedure to flush out his colon ( I have to say it was an horrific experience for both child and parents). After this I noticed a big change in him personally, he seemed free if you understand what I mean but then as the days went on he twisted what seemed even more often to prevent pooping. So the hospital decided to up the Forlax which was horrendous and then we lowered it and I decided as a parent to try and lower it to every other day and so on to which I noticed his poop was no longer hard and had became soft (like I’d say an normal poop). We discussed with the doctors and we decided to stop the Forlax as it didn’t seem relevant any more, they feel it is all in his mind he is just so scared to go the toilet. So they referred us to a child physiologist which I felt was really not going to solve the problem but I went with it. Out of the 4 sessions my son seen her for all of 15 minutes, no communication with him she just spoke with me. The advise I was given was be firm with him do a wall chart encourage him. I mean come on I have done it all, charts, incentives, sitting on the bathroom floor with him. Taking toys away the lot and now am just not sure what to do next!.. My concern is he still twists his body, he doesn’t notice the smell and would happily sit in his underwear with poop in. Am frustrated that he could be blocking his colon again but the hospital have now advised there is nothing more they can help with! I just need to be firm. I have spoken openly with my son and he said to me it just slides out of his bum and that he twists to stop himself from peeing as well.

Anyways am rambling on a little (sorry), but hopefully some one here is able to help. Thanks

[Misty10]

Hi does he knows when he doing it.does he have any feeling.

[Short23]

Hi, well am not really sure because sometimes he will go to the toilet for a wee and say mum look I have done a poop. An to me it looks like it has just slid out and he is shock himself. But then some days I watch him and he is like doing a little dance and then he goes running and hiding and he does the poop in his pants.

[OlivesYou]

I wonder if he is backed up a little bit? I installed the Bristol stool chart App on my phone so I have laxatives and senna to correct dose to make a poo slide out easily EVERY day. He still has yet to sit on the potty but we’ll be working with an O.T. starting next week. I believe it maybe related to a sensory issue for him at this point.

He also seems surprised-at times - that the poo seems to “sneak” out.

[Short23 in reply to OlivesYou]

Well at the minute he is holding it in that much he now pees his pants. So am thinking is his colon blocked again but they say it is psychologic issue. But you know that mother instinct and I really feel sometimes there is more to it and at the minute I feel like am going around in circles and getting no where and it seems to be getting worse not better!

[Short23 in reply to Short23]

He also started to wake up in the night this week and jump out the side of his bed to twist his body to hold in the poop, this is something new he has never done this before in the night