5 year old pooing in pants!

[blondiemommy]

My five year old son who has been potty trained since 2 1/2 has suddenly started having poo accidents in his pants. He started school 4 weeks ago and seems to have settled in very well and seems happy but says he keeps 'forgetting'. He did take 6 months to originally stop doing this when potty training but has nearly been 3 years since previous accidents. He has had 3 accidents in 3 days and I am starting to lose my patients. Have tried to remain calm and not make fuss so far.Suggestions would be gratefully recieved!

It's reallly common for children to not feel confident about asking to go to the loo when they are first at school. At home, or at preschool, they can go to the loo whenever they like, but when they get to school suddenly there are rules about when they can go! I've just spent three days at my son's school (he's in Year 1) and have been astounded by how infrequently the children are allowed to go to the toilet! They have toilet 'passes' that they ahve to ask for, and the teacher seems to make them feel that by asking to leave the room they are being a nuisance! It's also very public, in that if you put your hand up to go to the toilet everyone knows! Loads of children apparently never do a poo at school! They hold it in until they get home. They also seem to drink very ittle at school. All this is really bad for constipation which is the most common cause of children suddenly having accidents! My 5 year old had never had accidents before but during the Summer term this year he suddenly started having accidents. I took him to the doctor on day 4 of doing it as I was getting a bit cross and then realised it genuinely must be something he can't help. She felt his stomach and said he was very constipated. What happens is the blockage of old faeces inside becomes hard and dry and stretches the colon making it feel less sensitive, so they can lose the sensation that they want to go to toilet, so new softer poo sort of seeps out past the blockage. Sounds lovely I know! But it's really common. GP gave my DS some Lactulose (I think that's what it was called) to soften his stools and after about 2 days he had one almighty poo that seemed to clear him out and then no more accidents. After that I really increased his liquid intake as that's the main cause of constipation in young children. Try not to get cross with him (hard I know!) because he probably really cannot help it.

Thankyou for that, nice to know others having similar problems not something I want to start asking about at school gates! Have asked DS and he say s has to put up hand and only go at certain times so may have word with teacher too. Will try increasing water too. Will try to stay calm I'm sure will passin time!!