Soiling but not constipated?!

[VickiLB]

Hi there, my 7 year old has been on Movicol since starting school as she got constipated and refused to poo on the toilet for years despite being potty trained and dry at night prior to this. She finally started pooing on the toilet again last year (would only poo in pull ups at home prior to this) and although she needs daily reminders to go, she still manages poos pretty much every day, if not every other.

However....she has now starting soiling her knickers but only ever at home. She says it happens when she sits down and she says she lifts herself up a lot at school to check it hasn't happened. Can she be constipated and this be overflow but still able to do daily poos (some of which are huge!)?

My GP just said to up her Movicol to stop the soiling but should I be attempting disimpaction? Its so hard to know what to do and I really don't want to go backwards after taking so long to make some progress.

[Yaleamanda]

I think you have answered your own question, disimpact. She is is soiling because she is backed up. Are you taking her to the toilet after every meal? This will help build a good routine with her. It is possible she has lost the sensation so she doesnt know it's happening and this happens because of the impaction. Have you disimpacted before?

[MinneyMouse]

My daughter soils still and she is not constipated she remains on a low dosage of laxatives after being on 10 a day for 4 months because she was so severely constipated. I am not saying your child isn’t constipated but in my daughters case she isn’t and still soils but hers is because her muscles are so weak now she sometimes doesn’t actually know when she needs the toilet so she is being re trained to get those feelings back.