DD pooing herself!

[shakey1]

Bit of a back story.my DD (6) She's always had super rock hard poo's from young. To where she holds them in for days and because she does that obviously they comes out very big and painful. She's been on laxatives since being about 8 month old. Since her turning 6 last year she's got worse with the holding it in to the point she's partially pooing herself and leaving it in her bum to go hard , I've been to the doctors all her life they said it's nothing medical it's her being scared so now she has this fear to poo as she leaves it in so long it hurts so now that's her fear. She's walking around smelling of poo when I'm not knowing as she hides it. This has been ruled out as behavioral which I can see that as she tells me it's because it hurts. But then when I up her laxatives after she's gone to the toilet she says " oh that wasn't bad" but will still be in the rutt of not going when she needs too. I'm buying underwear every week as she's staining them, I don't know what else to do! I'm pregnant and I feel like I'm going to be wiping a baby's bum and a 6 year old as she's just getting lazier and would rather sit in her poo than while herself!

Our daughter had this. We were prescribed Movicoil by the doctor to get her back in sync. Took over a year. She's nearly 8 now and off the meds and she's fine.

@shakey1 as others have mentioned look at the Eric website, they also have a helpline and it's really useful. My child is 3 and been on laxatives for the last 8 months without much success. He's also a very fussy eater so that hasn't helped. You need to do the full disimpaction.
Sometimes the bowel can get stretched if they haven't pooed for a long time. And it can lead to lost sensation for weeing/pooing so they don't know when they need to go

My son was like this for years. At first I thought he was deliberately avoiding going, then going behind a chair where I could smell it. Got referred to paediatrician unit who explained that he did withhold initially, it became hard or a blockage and then the poo starts to seep out around. Eventually the sensation to go is dulled and like an deflated balloon, the muscles are stretched. It was a long haul , probably a year to cure . First thing was to treat the impaction with high doses of movical , taken to the toilet every 15 minutes . Then a maintenance dose and made to go to toilet same times every day . The idea was to train his body and mind . For us , every night after bath was the best. Told everyone to use the toilet before it was his time so no interruptions . All the same foods mentioned in previous posts were included in his diet .
Sympathies to all those going through this . It is such a worry and occupied my thoughts for years . If it is any consololation, once we got into this habit, he never looked back.

I would recommend joining the Facebook group Movicol Mummies. Lots of good advice on there not just about Movicol but constipation generally. I thought Movicol didn't work at first but it was only after going on that group that I realised I was doing it wrong in terms of amounts and timings.

Sorry to hear about your child's issues. My son was in movical for almost two years. As already been said she needs to be treated for impaction and once that is done you taper to a regular dose for a long time. It may seem that the movicol is t working but you need to give it time. I would switch apples for ripe pears, also pineapple juice if she likes it (can be used to dilute movicol). It is very distressing to watch them go through this.

She needs disimpaction with macrogol (not just lactulose) and care under the continence team. If the GP isn’t helpful, get the school to refer you to the school nurses who should be able to do a continence referral and offer support in the meantime. This is not ‘just behavioural’.

@Soonenough yes! After I give her the laxatives after breakfast I give her. A bath and the end of the night and she jumps out the bath and goes tot he toilet asap. It's that big she blocks it everytime and I tell her not to worry as she thinks it's a bad thing she's blocked it. I never ever have any sort of anger or anything towards her doing this as I still think it isn't " behavioral" as they say I sit with her and try to get her going. I remember I think it was movicol they gave her before but in chocolate flavor sachets as she wouldn't take any other don't quote me on it but I'll double check!

@Jellycats4life she was on 2.5 sachets which made her have diarrhea which was intended to get her bowels going. She had this before going back to nursery ( reading my notes from back then as I kept it all wrote down) then after she emptied for a couple days she went to a lower dose ( planned by the pediatrician) to try get her in a routine , but then she wouldn't take the drinks/sachet no more this was at 2-3 years. So I'll be ringing and getting this to try again

Thankyou everyone you've helped a lot. I'll be ringing Monday to get the movicol. I looked back at my notes so I wasn't missing anything as I documented everything. She was on movicol for a year but suddenly wouldn't drink the sachets no more. Then they got the chocolate flavor sachets but kept running out of them everytime I went to reorder so they changed her to lactulose as they was never in stock with the chocolate flavor. She's a lot older now so I'm going to try her again with that hopefully she will get back to the routine !

She needs to have loose stools for longer than a couple of days to completely empty her bowel and ‘reset’. Usually children need some time off school to get through a disimpaction.

Print this or show the GP:
https://eric.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/A-Parents-Guide-to-Disimpaction.pdf

My DD is 5 and has a sachet of Laxido everyday, sometimes 2 if she starts complying tummy ache. The only way I can get her to take it is mixed with chocolate Nesquik - the paediatrician said do whatever works when I mentioned it to her!

Movicol is a bit rank.
I found a tasteless alternative called dulcosoft which literally changed everything (along with a prescribed bowel stimulant). I had to pay for it myself though and it did work out expensive over time. Worth it though.

Sadly it looks like dulcosoft is hard to find now in the UK. We picked up a bottle in Spain recently. Its on amazon but imported. Real shame as its so good.

Movicol IS rank if you drink it with just water. I find adding orange squash not only takes the taste away, but the weird texture too.

@Jellycats4life I'm going to try that, I was always told never to mix with anything other than what your supposed too so I suppose what your saying will help

I agree a disimpaction on movicol is needed; it will take about 7-10 days and up to 12 sachets a day. You need to clear the hard impacted stool, so it will be a mix of loose stool, hard bits etc. school holidays at home are best time to do. As you need to be near a toilet all the time. You want clear watery poo for a few days and then taper down to a maintenance dose- likely on that for year/s as the bowel needs to shrink and reset.
Any sign of constipation again and up the dose.

Ask for a referral to your bladder/ bowel nurses/clinic. iME gps are not well versed in dealing with chronic constipation.

Movicol in chocolate milk! It's awful on its own. DD was constipated until 3yo and she had movicol in milk - worked just fine. In her case she needed it consistently for a few years but was ok to come off it after that. DS did the withholding thing even though not constipated for quite a while - I found it wearing but persevere - you sound like you are doing a grand job! 💐

@elaeocarpus hey she's been referred to everyone all her life they signed her off as soon as they said it was behavioral. We had diary and plannings everyday. She had the movicol in school holidays but this is when she was turning 3 she's 7 in April now, so her next holidays will be April time