for simpy being fed up with poopy pants, sigh

[3andnomore]

My ms is 4 1/2 years old now, and is pottytrained for wees for a year....we are a year on, and he still has severe issues in the poo departement...I often have to clean up 2 or more poo accidents a day for a year now...I am soooooooooooooo fed up...fricking star chart, doesn't work, nothing works, tried it all, and just the thought of yet another pair of pooped in pants to wash make me feel physically sick....I have, in the past weeks thrown a fair few pairs out, because the thought of washing them just was to much...but of course can't do this all the time.
To be honest, I am sitting here in tears, because I can't take this anymore. Tjis just can't be bloody normal....surely there comes a point when a child just bloody learns....never had these issues with es...however, ms did have some constipation issues and is on Movicol, but poo is nice and soft now and doesn't hurt, or anything...so why can't he just use the toilet all teh time...he does occasionally, however it's a drag to get him onto it and he cna sit on it and not do anything, only to present me with yet another pooped full pair of pants just minutes later.
I am definately loosing my cool, I am frustrated and to be honest, htre are moments where I just want to walk out on them...! (pooing obviously not the only issue, lol)....
just needed a rant really!

if she is doing this when she wants to and not for a medical reason, i'd take some advice i found in a book. warn child that they will be washing the poo out of their own pants next time it happens - and follow through. My (too busy playing to visit the loo) 3 year old had to wash his own pants twice then decided it was better to visit the toilet instead of pooing pants. I felt really vile getting them to clean thier own pants but i was so sick of doing it myself.

I know how you feel. A few tips sorry if you already tried them. Your body is more to want to poo after you have ate a meal. So after every meal get him to sit on the toilet, get an egg timer set for for 10 mins and get him to sit for that long. Get a book out if neccessary. Get him a stool to put his feet on. For efficent pushing your feet need to push against something. Also get him to put the back of his hand against his mouth and blow on it as he pushes. It helps pushes be more effective plus boys like the rude noise it makes. Also make sure he is drinking plenty of water to ensure the poo is nice and soft.
Also these are a bit of a mid way between pull ups www.drylikeme.com/index.htm asda sell them.
Hope that helps

ok just realised its an old thread

ciyoa thanks for your thoughts. I think we will leave it a bit since baby no. 2 is due imminently so it's obviously not the right time to impose any big changes. DD1 will also go and help herself to a pull up, put it on herself etc. but I just wonder if she would ever decide to go on the toilet if we just left it to her to decide when! When we do decide action is required, thought we could try letting her have a pull up but then offering an incentive to sit on the toilet in the pull up at first or something, then move on from there? JUst not quite sure what the frightening thing is about it, read somewhere that it can be the sensation of it dropping away.

Would be interested to know whether those who have sought medical help via GP or HV, movicol, etc. wish that you'd done it earlier? I think that could also be a next step for us as think it's mainly psychological but could be some physical stuff going on too. Consistency can be extremely variable, and she has lately also had 'tummy ache' (looks like quite bad cramps) about 1/2 hr after eating then done a big fart or poo and been ok! DH has IBS type issues so wonder if she might have inherited this a bit? Have to be quite careful to make sure she has enough fruit etc. to keep things moving. Also could damage be caused by her holding it in because she doesn't want to do it at nursery? (she goes for 3 full days a week.

Sorry if this is a bit hijacky

thanks skyblue and orangehead, good tips all, doing the stool thing, and after meals, will try blowing raspberries, she ll like that one! and may well get her to wash pants too, like you say, just sick of doing it myself!
perinelli, i woiuld def seek gp/hv help as it sounds a bit like some constipation?
I was at first reluctant but feel it is soi much better on movicol and would nt dream of going without it until ds is well estsblished on toilet. she absolutely loves fruit, we only have brown bread and weetabix, crunchy bran etc everyday, but she is just prone to be constipated.
for her, knowing it is soft and she can easily squeeze it out is reassuring, altho she still doesnt always have faith i think. maybe worth a tryv for you, would def get apt tho.
even just to increase her confidence in passing it while you have hands full with new arrivsal and it may then be easier to revisit toilet etc later on? just a thought.
ds used to tell me she was holding it in, and it can really cause problems in the bowel, misshaping it etc.
anyway, off to bed! thanks all, my friends put me on to this site tonight as was feeling desperate and am much more upbeat now !! solidarity!