8 year old soiling pants, Encopresis?

[goldangel]

Hi,

Twice (over 3 weeks) most recent yesterday, my 8 year old has poo'd his pants, he hasn't been aware he's done it. He's always been great going to the toilet although he does tend to hold his wee until the last minute.

Dr Google says he might have encopresis, does anyone have any experience on this or advise please? I'm trying to stay calm, hoping it's nothing serious but it is worrying. Thanks.

Twice in three weeks isn't too often unless these are the only bowel movements he's had. He might have just been distracted. What's the consistency? If it's very runny, it could be overflow passing around a larger bit of constipation in the bowel. Children can't usually control this.

Thanks for the reply squeezed, its probably closer to 2 weeks than 3 but still hoping it's nothing serious, No its not runny, sorry tmi but thick and stuck on the back of his pants, it really smells & he has no idea he's done it ☹️ He says his last proper bowl movement was last Thursday.

I'll have a chat with the pharmacist this morning.

Sounds like constipation.

Very much sounds like constipation.

My 9 year old had the same. Doctor diagnosed severe constipation/lazy bowel and prescribed movicol. She took it for a couple of months, seems to have sorted it.

My ds was the same. Movicol to clear a blockage and he needs to stay on it for 6 months to get his bowel back to normal. He's 9 now.

Might well be constipation; even if he had a poo on Thurs, if they've been less regular there may be a backlog (so to speak!). Make sure you get disimpaction dose, not just "keep things moving along" dose; you need to really clear things out fully. Good luck!

Beware Movicol. It can be a blaster.
Try water and soft fruit first?

Nah, if they're constipated enough to be having accidents, far better to get things cleared out promptly with movicol/laxido, rather than faffing around with diet and fluids first, and only partly getting there.

My 6yo has been soiling twice a day for a few months. We took her to the GP who prescribed laxido but the soiling has become so much worse that I've had to buy her some nappies. I took her to a private gastroenterologist who has instructed us on doing a purge which we were going to start next week but as the school haven't been able to help her to clean herself I'm just going to take her out of school for the rest of the week. I cried buying the nappies. I just hope this purge does the trick. Any advice?

My 6 year old has been having issues of this type for several months now. Daily soiling, although also has regular bowel movements. He's on two doses a day of movicol, not entirely sure how useful that is but sticking with it for now. He is gradually getting better at realising he has dirty pants, and at times will feel the need to go to the loo for a poo. Prior to this he was fine, toileting well with no issues. I don't know what's caused it, awaiting a referral to a paediatrician (must chase that up!).

Meanwhile have a look at the ERIC website, loads of useful info and advice on there, and if pant soiling is getting heavier, Dry Like Me pads are great - helps contain the soiling without having to resort to nappies (although they won't contain a full on pants explosion....)

Please be patient with your DC - hard though it may be, getting cross or upset over it doesn't achieve anything, and can make it worse if the child is then trying to hold off going to the toilet - the constipation gets worse and so does the related 'leakage' (this has been a point of some 'discussion' between me and my EXH....)