Night soiling

[Claennister]

First up, sorry there will be some reasonably detailed descriptions of poo in this post!

My daughter is coming up on her 5th birthday and has returned to soiling virtually every night. She has no fear of the toilet and will happily go onto the toilet and poo, we've seen her do so many times and a few times a week there is some evidence such as "skidsmarks" she's been at the nursery too (they don't track what they are doing in the toilet for privacy, but might be possible to ask them to monitor this for a while) but still always a poo in her night pants. She's a late developer and we've no thoughts she might be ready for night training for wees, but this issue of soiling is distressing her.

She's always done this, always done a really loose poo when she is sleeping. She used to go for a nap and immediately pass a big leaky splat in her sleep, yet any poos done whilst she is awake are well formed, though not really what I'd describe as constipated most of the time. They said she had "toddler diarrhoea" and that she'd grow out of it in time, but I'm still not sure why this business of always passing loose stools in her sleep and well-formed stools in the daytime. I'm not sure if she's feeling as if she's constipated or slightly reluctant to go and it's just all coming in her sleep, not sure if perhaps she's just got into this bowel routine now that she always goes at night so there's nothing left to poo in the daytime, or something else entirely. It's a whole different sort of poo, normal ones in the toilet, baby poo (loose, yellow colour, undigested food) at night.

She used to be seriously allergic to dairy and grew out of it, perhaps she's irritated by dairy or some other food group, but not sure how to go about withdrawing a major food group.

Any insights? Similar experiences? Is it worth a trip to the GP or will they spout all manner of nonsense/tell us she's a late bloomer?

I would go to the GP about this. I think she could need a referral to a specialist in dietary intolerances again. They are best to advise on ways of working through DD's diet and finding the culprit. It's possible that she has irritable bowel, but I 'm not an expert so don't take this as a diagnosis, but stress plays a big part; is there anything she is worried about apart from the soiling? Does she have tummy pain or lots of wind, and have to rush urgently to the loo?

I remember a classmate of my DS's was under Gt Ormond St for what they thought was gluten intolerance, after a few years of the same symptoms as before, they found it was all wheat she was intolerant to. A big diet overhaul and a lot of wheat free home-made foods, and she was a different child.

In view of your DD's past problems with dairy, I think she needs to be seen again. It's easier to be referred between departments at a hospital once you are seeing one specialist.