5yr old toileting problems

[Anna130]

Hi, I'm new here but I'm at the end of my patience. My 5yr old has poohing problems. It's been bad constipation that was treated last year. She still isn't clean, I'm told that it will take sometime and I have treatment to continue with but not sure if I'm doing right. I've tried rewarding and now am at a loss.

I assume you've seen a dr previously? Is your dd still on medication? If not, you may need to resume this. I'm sorry to say that my 10 year old dd still has this problem, it's been an ongoing battle. Rewards may not work in this situation, as they can't really control it. The important thing is to properly clear the blockage, for us this was with Movicol, a softener. Then maintain movement on a lower dose, otherwise things often go back to how they were. With children like this, they often lose the sensation of wanting to poo, as the bowel has been stretched for a long time, and therefore it can take a long time for this to be regained.

There is a charity ERIC who support families with this problem and other toileting issues. Look them up as they have a lot of useful information and offer advice and support.

Please don't use rewards - it's a physical problem they can't control.

Could you give a bit more detail about what treatment you did last year, and what treatment you're doing now? And is she still soiling every day?

Spoke to GP who offered some advice. She's on movical and senna. She was impacted and had a clear out.

As and when you can, I would go back to the GP, or perhaps ask for a telephone appt. We saw a paediatric gastroenterologist, and she advised that most people try to stop the meds too soon. It may be that you need to do another clear out, we've had to repeat it periodically, although I guess ideally this shouldn't be necessary, but if things build up again, it has to be done.

I won't lie, it's been a nightmare, but something that definitely does help is getting her to sit on the loo after meals. Our dr advised that around 20 mins after eating is ideal, and maybe sit with a book or iPad or something.

I do feel less alone and the GP was helpful about treatment.

Bless you, been there. Tried star charts, rewards, bribery and empty threats 😅 Eventually what worked for us, was saying the more we spend on nappies the less money for toys. Wasn't really true, and we made it a bit matter of factly, not in a way that would upset him. He really took it on board 😁

Sorry, might have rushed with reading. My boy was severly constipated as he trefused to use potty or toilet and would keep it in until provided nappy. I somehow assumed that was the pb ur describing. I apologise, if not the case.

@Anna130

Sorry, belated response to your update. Really glad the GP diagnosed the impaction. Hopefully they'll already have told you this, but the impaction will have stretched the gut, particularly if it had been like that for a while, which means it's easy to get impacted again - it's really important to continue with a maintenance dose of the movicol, keep a really close eye on things, and disimpact fully over several days using the disimpaction dosage, not the maintenance dosage if any more soiling occurs.

Good luck - it's not easy to handle

Been to GP as she was soiling herself again and I got to keep going. Xxx