starting school, poo withholding and movicol

[ballynacargy]

My four and half year old daughter starts school tomorrow, after been dignosed with impaction and taking up to 8 sachets of movicol to clear blockage, we are still getting leakage, she withholds poo constantly and I want to reduce dosage so she does not have so many accidents at school, hope to reach a dosage that keeps her regular but with no leakage. She witholds constantly though, how do I stop herr withholding? Help please

hi,

have you tried the 'poo goes to pooland book'? you can download it off the net. My dd loves it, although it hasnt worked ofr her yet ,but it might for you,

My dd is about to start nursery and she with witholds too - I forsee accidents at nursery .

thanks for that, will check out download, are you giving your dd movicol?

Hi there, my dd is also on Movicol for a muscle condition which means her bowel muscles aren't strong enough but because it wasn't diagnosed until she was about 16 months, she had already got to the stage where it was painful to poo and so learnt to withhold. So we've had a very long journey in which every day has been taken over with trying to encourage / bribe / cajole her to do a poo. Anyway, she has just turned 4 and we're now 'winning' I think - she is down to 1 sachet a day and 'goes' regularly most days...but she still withholds to a certain extent. She's never done a poo at preschool and she also starts school this week and has told me she won't be doing a poo at school!! And, knowing her, she won't...she'll sit there so uncomfortable and wait till she gets home. I know this hasn't helped you one bit but please know you're not alone in this and I'm sure reception teachers will be sympathetic...they're still babies in many ways. Good luck.

13lucky, thanks for your response, your story sounds very similar to ours, my dd was also put on movicol at around 18 months as she was impacted, she was on 1 to 2 movicol sachets since very recently, which kept the constipation at bay, but was constantly leaking, withholding etc., changed doctors, who now advise that she is still impacted and needs to be cleared out, whether she is or not at this stage I don't know, but school started today and I put a pull up on her... backward step I know but ..... it is really very all consuming, she goes to the loo and might do a poo, but she also withholds, soils and leaks!!! Its a mindfield but hopefully we'll get there for her......

Well, unless you can make a last minute deferral for a term to her school entry, I'd suggest you make some preparations for how leakage can be managed at school.

Bear in mind that lots of children will leak/skid when they start, so teachers and TAs should be used to dealing with it. I'd suggest you arrange to see the teacher asap, on the grounds you need to explain a medical condition (put it in those terms so you ensure you get their attention -there's always a lot going on at the start of term and they need to know this is priority).

Then you can explain what is going on and that the condition is under medical supervision). You'll need to supply plenty of extra pants and sealable bags for return of grubbies. And find out what the arrangements are for cleaning up and changing. Schools vary on this; I really hope yours isn't a PITA type!

plum100 downloaded poo goes home to pooland, thanks for that, will look out for the workbook too sounds interesting (if you can see where I'm coming from!!)

onimolap, have just got off the telephone to her teacher, so far so good, and have explained the situation to her. What is a PITA type, no wait I think I've just figured that out.....

Great news here, she has had no accidents at school, I'm giving her two movicol sachets when she comes in from school and heyho, she's using the loo up to four times a day, doing poos!! Its like a new kid, I believe she has been cleared out by upping the movicols for a few days (up to 8, twice) then reduced down to 3, 2 before starting school and now 2 sachets a day, I also read her poo goes to pooland and a brilliant chart which has four steps, and on the fourth step she gets to open a little pressie, she was so excited she told me she was going to do a poo now to get on the first step!! I knew its early days but this is going good... very very good!!! There is light at the end of the tunnel, took me 2 1/2 years to get here but fingers crossed we're getting there..

that's good news :) hope things continue to go so well

We also went through this nightmare. Dd is still on movicol (1/day) in yr 1.

She still witholds - but she is very motivated by chocolate/sweets which she gets for a proper poo. I have tried all manner of other rewards - but this is what works. Not ideal - but it's teeth vs poo

We did have quite a few small accidents at school, especially early on and it meant I could never contemplate an unaccompanied playdate.

Can you find something that she wants badly enough? I witheld all sweets for anything but poo and that has been our main way forward. I just trust she won't be stilling pooing for treats at 20.

If it's impacted - does she need a softener (may sound crazy since you have soft leaks but you need to osften the hard lump)? Dd had lactulose for a while and now has dried fruits (especially mango - she hates raisins and apricots ) and caricol.

Also - be careful that your dc drinks plently of water at school. The water bottles are often put on the side and dd often didn't drink much. When the weather got hot this had really drastic consequences and I will have to talk to teacher about this nect time (it's very unpopular with teachers - to have dc drinking throughout the day). Make sure dc drinks x amount from bottle every day at school.

Good luck. I was fantastically anxious about this when dd started last year.

Hi I know this was a long ago but I am going through the same thing with my daughter now. Just wanted to check how it all worked out? Any tips please??