Almost 5 year old still pooping his pants...

[sandz2710]

Help!

My son is almost 5 (his birthday is 13th August making him one of the youngest in his school year!) & he has multiple poop incidents a day (usually more at home than at school/out & about - I can't figure that out but anyway)...

He eats well (loves fruit and veggies!), would drink like an absolute fish if we let him and runs around all day long so gets plenty of exercise. You'd think that'd be enough to keep him regular and avoid the poop incidents in his pants but NO!

He's NEVER witheld poop, will always go and try if I notice a smear in his pants, is not worried to try poop etc... Some days he does multiple small poops that look like break offs of a larger poop and some days he does a normal sized poop a couple of times in the day (on the ERIC poop chart I'd say his poop is always ideal or the maybe more than often the one just above ideal {type 3}, it's never like rabbit droppings)! Once or twice he's done a poop that I've genuinely wondered how he managed to push that out (but that's not often at all + definitely not a regular thing!)

I spoke to my Doctor about the poop incidents and he prescribed some Cosmocol at a maintenance dose which did help for a short time. He was poop incident free at school for well over a week & I thought we had it cracked...fast forward to now and today alone we've had 5 or 6 incidents in his pants! It ranges from a tiny smear to a full on toilet sized poop 🙈 I'm getting severely frustrated with it and I don't want his school to start getting frustrated with his poop incidents either...he's 100% perfect with wee, usually just takes himself off but he struggles with feeling the "need" to poop I think!

I'm stuck where to go or turn to next! Aaarrrggghhh...🙈

[Yaleamanda]

Unfortunately it sounds like you need to disimpact him vimeo.com/179497116

bornready.uk/blog/the-mecha...

There is lots of information that you may find helpful on the Bladder & Bowel UK website at bbuk.org.uk/bowel-resources/ The leaflet that may be most useful at this stage is the one at bbuk.org.uk/wp-content/uplo...

[sandz2710 in reply to Yaleamanda]

Thank you for your reply. I mean we eat veg and sweetcorn and the sweetcorn usually passes through in 24hours I'd say! So I'm not sure he's that impacted at all but we could give it a go and see what happens. Got nothing to lose! I'll speak to his doctor about some more Cosmocol & we can disimpact him during the summer holidays...👍

[Yaleamanda in reply to sandz2710]

Sweetcorn test is extremely unreliable unfortunately.

[ERIC-Charity Partner]

Hi sandz2710 , we are sorry things are so difficult for your son right now. The only way you can see that number of poos a day (regardless of size) is if there is a lot of poo in his bowel. When you started the Cosmocol, did you do a disimpaction or go straight to the maintenance dose? Unfortunately, one a day won't clear out the old poo. You need to get the bowel completely clear and implement a toileting routine, then drop down to a maintenance dose. It might be worth you starting here: eric.org.uk/advice-for-chil... Have a look at our guide: eric.org.uk/pdf-a-parents-g...

[sandz2710 in reply to ERIC-Charity]

I did what my GP told me and started off on one packet a day and then if his poop was slightly too "sloppy" to go back to one every other day. I was told to just keep his poo soft but not too soft.

Now I realise I probably need to do a disimpaction routine but he's never ever had "issues" going. Has done a poop or 2 every day since we started potty training with him. He doesn't withhold poop nor does he refuse to try 🤷🏼‍♀️ so nothing really alerted me to anything being wrong other than going/starting in his pants...😞

[ERIC-Charity Partner]

Please don't feel bad, unfortunately there's absolutely no way of knowing how much poo there is in the bowel. It's even difficult to diagnose constipation by a tummy feel, it's not conclusive. We'd recommend doing a disimpaction. If you very quickly get to rusty water with bits in (at least twice) then you know he's clear. There's no harm at all in disimpacting. The macrogol laxatives aren't absorbed into the body, they just deliver water to the bowel. Make sure you mix the powder with exactly the right amount of water before you add it to other drinks/food. Also, make sure he drinks 6-8 cups of water or squash in addition to the laxative (because it's not absorbed, it can't be included in the daily fluid intake) Any problems, please do get in touch with the helpline, you can complete a web enquiry form eric.org.uk/using-our-call-... and request a call back (we're quite behind with these) or an email response (much quicker!) best wishes, ERIC

[sandz2710 in reply to ERIC-Charity]

Thank you. That's most helpful! I'm due a telephone call with a doctor today to discuss a repeat prescription for some Cosmocol so we can try disimpacting him over the summer holidays. Can't hurt I suppose and we will see how we get on 🙂 thank you for all the advice. I'll be back in touch should anything change or if I feel I need to speak to anyone again!