Poo withholding

[flyingpinkoctopus]

I've noticed there are a few other threads on this topic but they haven't been posted on for a while. I'm wondering if there are any other parents out there who are dealing with this and have been for a long time. We've been dealing with this for 3 years now and my son is now 5.5. We started off on lactulose and until recently he was on movicol. With the help of a Dr in the US our son is now taking ex lax chocolate squares and for the first time in 3 years is self initiating to go to the toilet. Reading other threads I understand people have had success with Movicol however it caused my son to have daily (small) soiling accidents as he tried desperately to withhold but couldn't completely do it. We found that for Movicol to work there was a fine balance. Too much and we got soiling and too little and he wouldn't go at all, so great was his ability to withhold!
I think there is not enough awareness of this problem that in actual fact so many children and families deal with. I know first hand how soul destroying it can feel if you're dealing with a particularly difficult case.
We read the book 'Constipation, Withholding and Your Child' way back, and in fact our consultant is the Dr who wrote the book!
Anyhow, I'd be interested to hear in other people's experiences where you've found it difficult to get on top of this problem and it's been ongoing.

My dd (3.4) is a stool withholder. She's on movicol, which is usually sufficient to keep her regular. Her withholding issue is that she will only poo in a nappy, so she will withhold all day at nursery, causing more constipation, so that she can poo in a nappy at home. Nursery staff would happily put her in a nappy to poo if she asked, but she won't.
She's well toilet trained for wee (including dry nights) but for some reason won't relinquish the nappies for poo.
I have read 'Constipation withholding and your child' and it allowed me to diagnose her as a withholder...
I would welcome any suggestions to improve things!

Yup, going through this too but things getting much better - so it is possible!

There's a good book on Amazon which is really helping "Stool Withholding: what do do when your child won't poo' - not sure of the author but it might help. i think the book says to allow the nappy for as long as it takes - as long they'll poo somewhere, it's better than not at all. There are ways to wean them from the nappy, like cutting a hole in it when they're on the potty...then slowly increasing the size of the hole.

We have just come out of the other side of this, been totally hell. Including severe burns where acid was leaking down the sides of trapped poo . He too would only poo in a nappy but refused to ask for one at nursery! He has been on movicol since 5 weeks old (now 3.5 years) and will be on it for a few years to come. The only way I could fix it was to introduce poo time, we trained him to go at the same time each day to reduce the anxiety about going to nursery. He picked a TV programme (Mickey Mouse) and we went from there- we had a Mickey Mouse box that we kept nappies in just for this occasion. At mickey O clock he have a nappy from the mickey box, we re awarded him for even a tiny skid mark. Did this for two weeks, then bought a mickey potty and he sat on that at mickey I clock. Did that for a month, then a mickey seat- he originally took the I pad in the loo and watched Mickey while pooing. Now he just goes in there and does it as soon as mickey starts on the TV and rushed back so he doesn't miss it.

Essentially we made it predictable for him and he really feels at ease. He goes 5,30 every day! If for some reason I could tell he needed one at another time I'd put mickey on my phone and he would watch it and go. We are now at the stage where he just asks to go at 5.30 when Mickey starts. I'm so sorry that is long winded and badly written, was left hand typing while feeding newborn!

This really saved us as! So hope it helps! I'm bloody sick of Mickey Mouse though x

Our 4yo DS has been witholding since the beginning of potty training a year ago and whilst he was easily potty trained for whee, he refuses to do a poo in the potty/loo. He does now a poo every 2 or 3 days in a nappy, but not happily and we have had instances where he was telling the poo to go back to where he came from...we have not been to a GP yet and I think what keeps us from going is that we are scared that giving him medicine that might lead to uncontrollable accidents will make things even worse. We are desparately trying to remain calm and to not put any pressure on him, but are also so worried that this will get worse or lead to severe constipation. Really worried and wish I could help him get comfortable with this.