How to tell if overflow diarrhoea or not?

[Mumof1nearly2]

My 3, nearly 4 year old is struggling with her poos. She has been potty trained with wees for over a year but always starts the poo in her knickers, before finishing it on the toilet.

She’s currently taking movicol twice a week, and with this is passing fairly soft small poos, about 4 time’s a day. She tends to do these little poos every 20 minutes over an hour or so. I think they’re type 4-5 on the Bristol stool chart. We tried upping her to movicol every other day but her poos went really mushy, to type 6.

She seems to “let” the poo out of her bottom and holds it in her bum cheeks until she sits on the toilet and releases it into the toilet.

Could this be overflow diarrhoea or not?

Thanks so much

[Yaleamanda]

It sounds like she is withholding. You are best giving movicol consistently every day rather than set times during the week. It does sound like it is overflow and you need to disimpact.

[Mumof1nearly2 in reply to Yaleamanda]

Thank you. I’m not sure if to go for full dispaction or just increase it to daily to begin with. Feels extreme to do disimpaction from 2 sachets a week!

[Yaleamanda in reply to Mumof1nearly2]

I would start off with 2 sachets every day and see how things progress.

[MummyBee9]

We’ve had similar with my 4 3/4 year old and the GP said she could feel faecal impaction. She prescribed another laxative as well as Movicol to clear it. I’d really suggest speaking to a GP as we initially tried ignoring it and hoping he’d grow out of it, which he didn’t

Good luck.

[Bambie83]

I agree with the other replies - if she’s doing lots of little poos she’s not completely emptying her self and that could leave to the old stuff getting stuck in there.

If she’s got hold of the wee side then you know she’s knows what to do so it could be she’s backed and the longer you leave it the more stretched it will become.

Definitely speak to the GP about disimpaction.