Soiling at school.

[Anon2017]

My 4yr old son was born with his bowels on the outside, he's been on movicol/laxido for 3 years and senokot for the past year. Nothing seems to work, we have a good month or so then it goes downhill. His school has expressed its become to disruptive and that I will have to go in and clean him up etc.

He is becoming withdrawn at school and isn't the same bubbly boy they met in Sep'21- its sad to hear these changes and I want him to get his confidence back and flourish

Has anyone else experienced similar? I don't want to just increase or decrease his medicine forever. Surely the laxatives would be desensitising him causing him to not realise when he's been?

[OhBoy07]

Is it soiling or actually fully formed pooing himself? My nearly 5 year old has soiling and I use men’s size 0 or 1 tena pads/shields for the back of his pants which a) stop anything coming through on trousers so gives him a bit more confidence, and b) saves his pants getting ruined. So far my son has not had any accidents at school but at home, the soiling can be quite bad if he holds a poo in rather than telling me he needs to go. It affects his confidence too and told me again today how he hates pooing himself. I really feel for your son, he has clearly been through a lot already for someone so young. What do the doctors suggest and are you in touch with anyone else who was born with their bowel on the outside who could advise? My son’s problems are a result of constipation due to being so stubborn and refusing to drink, and withholding his poo. It’s manageable as he’s never done a fully formed poo in his pants but I want it to stop for his sake. I know it’s different for your son but does he do a poo before school or even before bed to minimise the chance of an accident at school? I’m not sure about laxatives desensitising him, the ‘poo nurses’ video say the medication won’t make the bowel lazy but instead will help it get back to normal but that’s in relation to constipation, I’m not sure about your sons condition as it’s not constipation? You say you have a good month or so, what happens in the good month and why does it change? My son’s soiling was massively improved but recently at school, he comes out and his water is barely touched. I constantly remind the teachers he HAS to drink, I constantly remind my son but he often comes out with a full bottle still. The result of this is the last couple weeks his soiling has got worse, it hurts when he pops and he has wetting accidents too. I’ve now told the teachers if he doesn’t drink at school, he will get impacted and end up having time off school while I disimpact him. Is there a more sympathetic teacher you could speak to at the school? It’s awful that in one hand you’re hearing he’s not the same child they met in Sept 21 but then they’re saying it’s too disruptive. I hope things improve for your son, it’s a horrible thing for a little one to cope with. I hope 2022 is better for all those children dealing with soiling issues.

[Robinia]

Sounds like he would benefit from a disimpaction. Are you under a health professional?