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Alita Nichols
New member
Username: Yrhaven
Post Number: 1
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 12:36 am: | |
I have learned a hard lesson, as any parent going through this will attest to. My son who is now 11, had a classic case of Encopresis. As brief a history as I can keep it (and hind site is always 20/20, it sounds much more simple now then it was at the time): My son was breastfed, consequently having fewer stools to start with, (which then progressed to stool withholding), when he was less than 6 weeks old, he would go days (4-10) with-out having a stool. Fortunately, I was blessed with the best pediatrician, who spent many hours on the phone with me, determining what was going on and trying different things. When my son would go, he was Not constipated (characterized by dry, hard stools) but the longer he held it the bigger it would get, and [I]Would[/I] then hurt, but making his stool soft never made him go, or made it so that he still couldn't hold it. Never the less, he withheld from babyhood until he was 6 or 7 when I tripped over a remedy accidentally. I Consistently tried all the glycerin suppositories, fiber, cereals, fruit juices, water, Phillips Milk-Of-Magnesia chewable tablets (which worked better than the other things), and none of these things worked. He would go off and hide and I'd find him literally doing lamaze breathing just to get past the urge to go! Anyway, fortunately he was able to swallow pills for me rather early on, as I have always practiced as much natural healing as possible and this was helpful for taking herbs for me from time to time. For whatever reason (can't remember now why) I gave him a Flax Seed Oil capsule (1,000 MG) and found that the days I did this he always pooped with-out an issue. I put two and two together (duh) and began giving it to him when he'd withhold, or it had been a few days, and he'd always go, that day. After everything I had tried, it was just so easy to think "It just couldn't be this simple", but it was. It did not make his stool noticeably softer, but for whatever reason (that nothing else that "lubricated" his tract ever did) it worked! I Do Not believe that it simply worked because it is an oil that just lubricated things. I think there is something more to it, but I personally don't know what, and frankly all I know is it worked. Finally, I didn't need to give it to him anymore. I think if I would have known about this when he was a baby (or before he could swallow a capsule) I would have punctured the capsule and put drops of the oil into his juice or milk, starting gradually until I found the good balance on dosage, with-out causing loose stools (although it never has). Obviously, there is much more investigation and frustration to this 7 year story than I have shared here, but what I am learning in my old age lol is that sometimes things can be much more simple than we tend to make them sometimes. I can't claim to have a magic answer, a good diet with lots of fiber and hydration to prevent constipation, is obviously very important, but sometimes all that just isn't enough. Anyway, I hope that this helps someone else. Good Luck!!
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Narmin Parpia
New member
Username: Narmin
Post Number: 19
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 06:30 pm: | |
Alita,
Thank you for your post. Your experience may be useful to others and we encourage our readers to explore all options.
Having said that, Potty Training Concepts is not familiar with this natural remedy and therefore advise if someone considers this option, be sure to check with your child's pediatrician first.
Narmin |
Linda (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, April 20, 2009 - 11:36 am: | |
I have a question regarding my 5 1/2 year old daughter. She has been fully potty trained since before she was 2 1/2. She started kindergarten this past September and has not had any accidents at school, but she does hold her pee all day so she doesn't have to at school. The big problem is with bowel movements. I know that she hold her poop and when she does finally go, it is very large and I imagine it is uncomfortable. She usually doesn't go for 2 or 3 days, but that is the same as my ritual, so I don't believe that is the problem. In between the bowel movements, however, she has what we have termed "poo farts". I don't really know if it is a fart that causes it, but she ends up with poop in her underwear. We usually then start asking her if she needs to go, but she always says no. A week or so ago, she had come out of the bathtub and I asked that she sit on the potty and try, but she said no, denying that she had to go. She went upstairs to get pajamas and didn't even make it to the potty, and instead I ended up with poop all over my kitchen floor. Last night again, I asked if she would try and she said no, but I insisted because her belly was distended and firm, and I told her she either needed to poop or pass gas, so finally she sat on the potty and she did go, even though she insisted that she did not have to go. I don't know how to make her stop holding it in and not make the event such an ordeal, but I don't know what to do. |
Narmin Parpia
Moderator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 173
Registered: 02-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 02:05 pm: | |
Encopresis and Children
What is Encopresis?
Encopresis is defined as the voluntary or involuntary passage of stools (feces) in inappropriate places causing soiling of clothes by a child aged four or over. It is also know as overflow incontinence, bowel incontinence, soiling, fecal soiling and fecal incontinence.
Encopresis in Children & Toddlers
Encopresis is fairly common in children and toddlers; 1-3% of children over the age of four are known to have encopresis and encopresis is more common in boys than it is in girls.....
The information presented here are general guidelines and are meant to provide you the parent with some knowledge and information, so that you can have a more informed conversation with your physician or your child's pediatrician.
There are two types of Encopresis:
Retentive Encopresis
About 80-95% of all cases are retentive encopresis and have a physiological or medical reason for soiling.
Non Retentive Encopresis
The other 5-20% of the cases seem to have an emotional or non physical reason for soiling.
What causes Encopresis?
Causes of Retentive Encopresis
Retentive Encopresis frequently results from chronic constipation, which over time results in fecal impaction and in leakage of soft or liquid stool accumulated around the impacted stool ....
Causes of NONRetentive Encopresis
There maybe several reasons or causes for Nonretentive Encopresis.
While 99% of the cases of non retentive encopresis do not have an organic / medical basis, however the 1% of the cases do....."Causes-Encopresis.htm">
Encopresis Treatment
Treatment for Retentive Encopresis
The optimal treatment regiment fro encopresis involves both a medical and a behavioral approach. If a pediatrician makes a diagnosis of retentive encopresis, the physician my recommend laxatives, stool softeners and or an enema to remove the fecal impaction. The goal is prevent constipation and encourage good bowel habits. A stool softener is often prescribed.
Children should eat a high fiber diet with lots of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Large amount of water and regular exercise can help with softer stools and decrease the discomfort associated with bowel movements.
Parents should be supportive and should refrain from criticism or discouragement. Children can be taught to not feel ashamed of the toileting behaviors and psychotherapy can help decrease the sense of shame, guilt and or loss of self esteem that children may feel.
For the really tough cases, pediatric gastroenterologists use a behavioral method involving biofeedback and video presentations to retrain children who contract, rather than relax their external sphincter muscles during an attempt to make a bowel movement. This method teaches the child the to strain while keeping his anal canal open.
Treatment for NON Retentive Encopresis
In the absence of fecal impaction or chronic constipation, the pediatrician may have to engage a pediatric psychiatrist or a behavioral counselors to determine the underlying cause of the non retentive encopresis.
Once the cause is determined, the psychiatrist, psychologist or behavioral counselors can decide on the specific treatment options.
For the 1% of non retentive cases that are organically or medically based, the pediatrician would have to engage the appropriate specialist in those area for treatment options.
For the child that may not be developmentally ready for potty training (see child readiness section), the best option is to allow the child to mature physiologically, as well as cognitively, emotionally and socially. The child can also be taught the necessary motor and verbal skills required to for potty training.
For children with disruptive behaviors and childhood noncompliance across multiple settings (e.g. dressing, bath time, bed time, eating etc.); the larger context of the child's behaviors have to be addressed before attempting toilet training. A child has to be cooperative and compliant to adult instructions for successfully potty training and bowel movement training. A pediatric behavioral psychologist would be best for determining the treatment options.
Many children with non retentive encopresis have a history of painful defecation, toilet phobia or toilet refusal behavior. What drives these children is fear. So the treatment for these children to address their fear.
Start by keeping a diary or a journal or chart of your child eliminations - both urination and bowel movements. Do this for 1-2 weeks. Log the time when he urinates or has a bowel movement and where he eliminated i.e did he do in the toilet, in his bed, in his underpants etc. If your child is day care during the day, ask the teacher to look for patterns in your child's toileting behavior.
Positive toilet sits are one strategy to help children overcome their negative association of the bathroom. The goal of positive toilet sits is to have the child associate the bathroom and the toilet with a positive and enjoyable experience. The strategy is schedule 3-5 sits per day at the family's convenience. Initially, the sits are very short (i.e. 30 seconds) and then gradually increase the sits to a maximum of 5 minutes. The child can remain in his underpants or diapers and there should be not expectation of producing a bowel movement. The child is encouraged to sit on the toilet, while comfortably resting his feet on a step stool and enjoy relaxing one on one activity with a parent such as reading or singing or talking.
If the child is extremely resistant to approaching the bathroom or the toilet, then the parents should employ the gradual shaping method. The parents start by modeling the appropriate toileting behavior for the child and after a few days of this, the parents should start playing games or reading books with the child near the bathroom. The parent and child should gradually progress to where the child is sitting on the potty chair or the toilet for longer periods of time.
While the parents are working on positive toilet sits and positive association, it is critical to ensure that the child is having relatively frequent, soft and well formed bowel movements before engaging in any intervention for soiling.
Dietary changes, use of supplements such as flavored fiber drinks, bran sprinkles, prunes, prune juice etc. may be needed to increase the number of bowel movements.
Please check out all of the articles Pooping in Pants section. These would be extremely helpful for a better understanding of what might be going on with her. |
Anonymous
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 04, 2010 - 08:10 am: | |
I have a 3 year old daughter. I have been trying to toilet train her since she was 1.5 years old. With great difficulty, I managed to train her for pee, but she is still not ready to poop in the toilet. Since she was very young (maybe about one year or so), she has been vomiting on seeing and/or smelling her poops.
I have tried several methods to train her going poop in the toilet, but nothing has worked so far. Some of the methods I tried include:
Rewards: in form of stickers, gifts, chocolates
Encouragement: in form of hugs, kisses, encouraging words, explaining politely
Punishments: in form of scolding or taking her favourite things away for a while
Make it a fun time by singing nursery rhymes, telling stories from books, playing with toys
Shown video clippings on toilet training
Tired to train a doll, so that she may copy the act.
Tried to use potty seat, potty, make her sit on the toilet with her diapers. (she seems to be more comfortable on the normal toilet seat)
Few months back, she herself agreed to go in the bathroom and she attempted it twice. But both the time she unfortunately vomited. Since then she has become extremely rigid to even sit in the bathroom. To avoid her seeing and smelling her poops, I tried to close the toilet seat with a tissue and covered her nose with a cotton mask, and used a bathroom odour. But this also did not work. So I tried removing her cotton diapers, but she refuses to go anywhere else and cries too much to keep her on diapers. She poos only in her diapers (cotton or disposable).
Another point we noticed is that from the day her diapers were removed in the school (as a part of toilet training), she has stopped going poo in the school. At that time I did not know that she was holding it. I just thought that she did not want to go. Since she has developed a tendency to control it for long hours, she is many times constipated or sometimes her stools are so large that it even clogs the toilet.
Also, of late we have been noticing some behavioural changes. When she feels the pressure to go, she hides herself in the corner of the room and says that she does not want to go and finally soils her diapers. During the process, she becomes a little tensed. In the morning she at times refuses to eat and does not go poo. At school, I think she tries to control it. At times, her behaviour suddenly changes during lunch time. She becomes restless, and starts crying and refuses to eat. She poos on getting back home and then eats. We have consulted the doctor and she has no stomach infection or any other health problem.
The more I try to explain her politely, the more rigid she is becoming. She now refuses to even sit and try for a few seconds in the bathroom.
I am really getting worried. Can you please advise me on how I can help her to overcome her fear of vomiting.
Thank you,
UG |
Monika Sturm
New member
Username: Monika
Post Number: 2
Registered: 07-2009
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 - 01:14 pm: | |
Dear UG;
First let me thank you for your post. Secondly let me tell you should probably see a child therapist, and the following are just some suggestions that may help you to get you to the goals you seek.
I see you have tried many different methods to get your daughter to potty train. I read that she will go pee in the toilet but that the pooping is at a stand still now.
This tells me that she probably does not have fear of the actual potty, as other children do. This is a good thing, since it is one less thing we need to over come. It sounds like we are dealing with a pain associated potty fear.
I see that you spoke with your pediatrician which is very important to do especially when vomiting is associated with constipation. I was concerned about this since this could mean there was a physical issue going on inside her. While I do not know what all went on at that visit and what tests your doctor did to insure nothing was wrong, I am trusting their expertise.
Your daughter is extremely bright and has the cause and effect concept down. She sees that eating causes the poop to come and the poop coming causes her stress.
So she is more than likely trying to prevent her stress from the beginning of the cycle, which can be very dangerous as she needs a healthy diet at this age so she can grow and develop properly.
As far as her vomiting, while it may seem like its from the smell, it could also be triggered emotional reaction to stress. The feeling of stress may be triggered by the smell and seems to be elevating to where it is being triggered by the mere mention of even being in the bathroom.
Any negative association she has with eating should probably be addressed first . Then we need to make sure that she has no more painful bowel movements, because these reaffirm her association with going potty and pain.
I suggest that we try a simple plan of action to try and reduce her stress, and any negative associations she may have or be developing. I recommend that for the next month see if backing off the issue and letting her relax some helps her to have easier movements, and less tension. After a month or so slowly try to reintroduce the issue if she hasn't tried to initiate it herself. If there is still an major issue I would definitely find a child therapist to help her over her anxieties.
While it is not an instant ticket to your goal and may actually seem like back tracking, it needs to be done as it will actually help you reach your goal faster than keeping up the methods you are using now. |
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