Three year old will only poo in pants

[Alley2020]

old is potty trained for the last 6 months, however she has never done her poo in the toilet, she will only do it in her pants. Its not a fear of the toilet, I am thinking now she is constipated, her poos would usually be type 5 small bits of soft poo at a time, she could have only one or two of these a day, any advise from anyone? I have spoken to my doctor, she suspects constipation so she is on Duphalac, but this is not making much difference. Any advise or similar experiences out there

[FrankSpencer]

I am having the same issue with my son who is 4. He will only poo in his pants. I thought we had cracked it when we had a few months of him going in the toilet but since lockdown and birth of a baby brother he has gone back to doing it in his pants again. He was on movicol and lactulose but now refuses to take it as he doesn’t like the taste. I am going to speak to my doctor again next week. I think it’s a mixture of anxiety and him withholding the poo which is leading to constipation. He also won’t try to wipe his bottom and demands it to be done for him. He seems to have a real issue with poo itself! I would be interested to hear people’s advice too as we are going through multiple pairs of pants a day!

[Bambie83]

To reply a bit to you both - sounds like a disimpaction might help move things forward. My 4 year old was doing really well until Christmas ( always found poo more difficult to control than wee from the start) but it was only after speaking to Eric I figured she was impacted.

Stress and change in life (baby, new house, Christmas and lockdown) can all affect our children’s bowel movements and behaviour.

Get your GP to prescribe you Movicol or Laxido (a good few boxes tell them it’s a disimpaction) and see if that clear them out. It’s messy but after doing three since Christmas and a good toilet routine, I’ve seen a real improvement.

P.s give this article a read I found it was very useful bornready.uk/blog/the-mecha...

[FrankSpencer in reply to Bambie83]

Thank you for replying, I spoke to the GP yesterday but he doesn’t seem to get it. Just told me to give a sachet of movicol and a small dose of lactulose which really isn’t working! I was thinking that I need to disimpact, so will give it a whirl at the weekend I think. Thank you for your advice, I am so pleased I found this forum, so many of us going through the same issues! That article is really good too, thank you!

[Bambie83 in reply to FrankSpencer]

I have had the same reaction from GPs before but just be strong with them and read up on it and sound like you know what you’re talking about and they sometimes go with you!

Good luck! You are definitely not alone in this! X

[FrankSpencer in reply to Bambie83]

I have been prescribed Movicol the plain version and I gave it to my son tonight who new instantly that It was medicine even though I added apple juice. Is there an alternative that can be used? The go has also suggested using the movicol with Lactulose? Could we just use the lactulose or should we get some senna to have with it? I just don’t know what to do. Had a day of my son doing about 9 poos today but they were small amounts each time. I also now have an 8 week old baby and I am exhausted! X

[Alley2020 in reply to FrankSpencer]

Hi frank my three year old is the same, small bits of poo a few times in a row, like nuggets, softish but dry, then nothing for a day or two after. Have to try the disimpactation route as we had been using duphalic all along

[Bambie83 in reply to Alley2020]

Someone once described it as a motorway... once there’s a car in the way causing the traffic jam the poo that your getting (all your nuggets and soft sticky poo) is it coming round the blockage like traffic using the hard shoulder... for some reason that made sense to me!

If your 3 year old is passing pellets and nuggets (lots of little poos) it means they’re not completely emptying the bowel. This, if it hasn’t already will cause the traffic jam.

Definitely a disimpaction would help.

[Alley2020 in reply to Bambie83]

Thanks this does make sense, she had what I thought was a clear out on Sunday, it was large ball of very soft and some dry poo, this happened also 2 weeks ago, but other than that just bits of poo here and there, she hasn’t had any since Sunday. What do u think this could be??

[Bambie83 in reply to Alley2020]

ERIC advised me that what we should be aiming for is 1-3 smooth type 4/5 poos (or as my daughter calls them snake poos) per day.

I would assume, a mixture of soft and pellet poo is not great as it would mean the harder poo will just get covered in the softer stuff and create a blockage...

This article bornready.uk/blog/the-mecha... describes the viscous cycle of constipation and now a full disimpaction will help.

[Alley2020 in reply to Bambie83]

Hi all, so we have been on Movical since last Friday, we are calling it special juice and I let her make it and use a straw to drink it also so she is asking for her special juice now, I am also adding a small amount of blackcurrant to it. She had no movement until Monday where she had two large clearouts, consistency was very soft, then yesterday she started to have sticky ones bit still a good bit coming How long should we continue with this, she is on 2 sachets a day so far.

[Bambie83 in reply to Alley2020]

Sorry Alley I can’t remember are you planning to fully disimpact? If so continue to increase the dose until it flushes everything out, then you can start to figure out the maintenance dose.

If you’ve got her used to her special juice then I’d give disimpaction a go and see if it helps.

[Alley2020 in reply to Bambie83]

Hi bambie thanks for the info, I’m a bit confused, what is the difference between what I’m doing 2 sachets a day and a full disimpactation??

[Bambie83 in reply to Alley2020]

A disimpaction is basically upping the dose every two days (so 2,24,4,6,6,8,8) until you reach the maximum dose and the Movicol or Laxido have added enough water into the stool that is allows the Bowel to pass everything that’s stuck in there.

You keep at that maximum dose until the poo is like rusty tea and stay there for three days. This makes sure all that horrible grit is out. Then you ca start reducing slowly until you find a maintenance dose.

Two sachets alone I’m not sure would achieve a great deal... it’s the maintenance dose my daughter is on after a lengthy disimpaction... I guess it would add a bit of water to the poo but not enough to clear any blockage.

Hope that makes sense - I may add I am not a doctor, just done this more than a few times recently!

[Bambie83 in reply to FrankSpencer]

I could be wrong but I believe they are and do different things. Movicol/Laxido adds water into the stool making it easier to pass. Where as Lactulose and Senna are laxatives which make them go to the toilet.

I would assume that you might not be able to clear out the impaction sufficiently without the Movicol.

Have you tried adding it to other things, maybe make up the whole days sachets in the right amount of water and then gradually add it to stuff, chocolate milk, cereal, lollies smoothies... it might be easier if he doesn’t actually know it’s in there!

[FrankSpencer in reply to Bambie83]

Yes I think I will have to try and be a bit creative! X