Encopresis in 10 year old

[Stressedoutmum1989]

My daughter has had problem's going to the toilet for a long time. She soils her underwear constantly . I know she has a problem and can't help it but I'm really struggling to cope. She is always running out of clean underwear and when I ask her to check herself because I can smell it on her She moans . This evening she told be she is too tired to go check. This really got to me.I don't tell her off for the accidents but i do when she refuses to deal with it.it really annoys me when she just sits there and ignores it. I keep finding underwear full of mess mixed up with the washing and the smell is horrific. I have a bucket for her to clean the knickers and one to leave them in soak but she refuses to clean them and doesnt clean it off herself properly so when she put on clean unerwear the gets dirty straight away. Her clothing , bedding , towels etc stinks. I have been to the doctors several times and keep being fobbed off being told that she will grow out of it. I'm so worried because this problem don't seem to be going away.she has been taking movicol on and off for about 8 years. I can't stand the smell it's so bad.any advice will be greatly appreciated

My DD suffered like this for 5 years from the ages of 3 - 8, and it did just gradually stop.
I was washing 50 pairs of shitty pants per week plus, at the same time, my older DS wet the bed every night till he was 12. It was a tsunami of bodily functions for years - cant remember how I dealt with it all but you just do.

The GP put hers down to constipation, and impaction, causing leakage. Keep taking the movicol but I don't have any other practical advice.

Perhaps try a carrot approach- somewhere lovely or some event you can take her to when she improves her hygiene.

Sorry you're having to deal with it, in the meantime, it's very tough.

Does she have any other behavioural difficulties? My 5 yo daughter is kind of the same but not due to constipation as her stools are soft not hard etc she just ignores the fact she needs to go. Putting my DD’s behavioural difficulties together I think she may have ADHD and is the reason she’s ignoring that she needs to go and holds it instead which then leads to stains etc.

Is she on meds (Movicol/Laxido) for chronic constipation?
Sounds like she might be impacted and has overflow . She is probably embarrassed and fed up herself, but treating the constipation is vital.. up the movicol until she is actually cleared out and then keep treating for a long time as he bowel will be overstretched. Impaction doses are huge.. 8 sachets a day for kids if I recall rightly.
But it won't improve until the cause is resolved and it's miserable I agree!

I have been through this with my kid and thought we were out the other side but he is blocked up again so it's back to the stinky pants.

As others have said, sounds like a disimpaction is needed. This is working up to a large dose of movicol over days and you'll need to keep her off school for this and be prepared for accidents.

I found information from "the poo nurses" (Google them) really useful. They explain everything really clearly.

Long term you need to look at keeping fluids up, fibre in the diet etc. Exercise.

My kid also leaves the dirty pants lying in the laundry basket and seems oblivious to the smell. I did read that they can tune it out. I'm sure there's an element of embarrassment too.

I find the pants quite hard to clean if not soaked, maybe if you just focus on getting her to put them into the soaking bucket? I think the cleaning of the pants is something you could do to help her save face. No one likes dealing with dirty pants but for her it's maybe a reminder of what's happening. It's maybe embarrassing for her.

Good luck!