6 Yr Old Having Bm 'Accidents'

my son is 8 an daughter is 10 ad it is somewhat genetic and somewhat enviromental about wetting nittinme especially .limiting fluids and soduim helps and dstigmatizing the problem also helps because it is more common tha you would expect. I had this problem until about 11 an just suddunly stopped

C. M 40 NE PHILLY

My oldest is 6 will be 7 in May. He has had problems in the past with this happening. I found out that he was being bullied at school and the stress from that was causeing the accidents. So I would sit down and talk to him about it and see if he is having any of htose kind of problems.

With the wiping I am no help none of my 3 boys wipes very well.

Yes, Shannon is right. It could be from stress. You don't want to punish him, or make him feel bad about it, it may make it worse. It happens to kids when they start school sometimes. A child this age sure wouldn't want to start going in their pants, be patient with him. Try to eliminate any stress on him, and see if it helps after a while. Reassure him that it's not his fault.

I would talk to your doctor. We had potty issues with our son and the pediatric urology team really helped us. Your pediatrician should be able to give you a good referral.

Hi,
My 5.5 yr old son has had similar issues. He was potty trained at 3.5. At about 4.5 he was having a lot of streaks in the underpants, etc. And he would go a couple days without going and then have accidents. I took him to the Dr. The Dr. said he was witholding and recommended Miralax for hi. It is now over the counter. It is very safe and effective. It is a tasteless powder that you can just mix with his drink. I think we had to give it to him a couple times a day for a couple weeks to get him on track. Since then I just give him a dose if I notice he starts to get off track(skipsa day)and that seems to get him going again. Also I make sure we have him sit on the potty after every meal until he goes for that day. He doesn't like to go anywhere except at home so if we are out for the day or something he is likely to get off trcak. This works pretty well. Alos as far as the wiping thing we had been wiping him but fairly recently we decided he needs to learn to do it himself. My husband spent a lot of time with him just talking about how much toilet paprer to use, whre it goes when you are done wiping, remember to flush, etc. The we took pictures of each step (a re-enactment, no icky pictures!). (I let him take some of them too which made it fun) and printed them out on a little chart with the numbered pictures and little descriptions of what to do. It id hanging up in the bathroom. I plan to get it laminated so it will last longer. Seems like it is working so far. He doesn't like to be reminded of everything but n ow he can check himself! Hope this helps. Good luck.
A.

Hi J.,

The issue your son is having is not a "boy thing" I have 4 boys and I have never came across this problem. I would talk to your pediatrician about it because it could be a physcological probelm.

Kim

Take your son to the pediatrician. It's not urgent, but you need to have your dr on board with this. It sounds like encopresis and its not his fault.

Encopresis is a problem that children can develop due to chronic (long-term) constipation. With constipation, children have fewer bowel movements than normal, and the bowel movements they do have can be hard, dry and difficult to pass. Once a child becomes constipated, a vicious cycle can develop. The child may avoid using the bathroom to avoid discomfort. Stool can become impacted (packed into the rectum and large intestine) and unable to move forward. The rectum and intestine become enlarged due to the hard, impacted stool. Eventually, the rectum and intestine have problems sensing the presence of stool, and the anal sphincter (the muscle at the end of the digestive tract that helps hold stool in) loses its strength. Liquid stool can start to leak around the hard, dry, impacted stool, soiling a child's clothing.

It can be from many things:
-Eating a high-fat, high-sugar, "junk-food" diet.
-Drinking mainly soft drinks and sugared drinks, and not drinking enough water and 100 percent fruit juices.
-Lack of exercise.
-Reluctance to use public bathrooms.
-Stress in the family, with friends or at school.
-Being too busy playing to take time to use the bathroom.
-Change in bathroom routine, such as when a child starts a new school year and bathroom breaks are less frequent than they were over the summer.

Encopresis can cause both physical and emotional problems. Impacted (backed up) stool in the intestine can cause abdominal pain, as well as loss of appetite. Some children develop bladder infections because they avoid urinating as well as passing bowel movements. Other health problems may cause chronic constipation, including diabetes, hypothyroidism, Hirschsprung's Disease, and inflammatory bowel disease. Children with encopresis can certainly feel emotionally upset by the "accidents" they have when they soil their clothes. Their self-esteem and interactions with other people can be affected. Children are often ashamed or embarrassed. They may avoid going to school, playing with friends, or spending the night away from home. Parents may feel guilt, shame, anger or distaste by the problem. The child will often be aware of a parent's feelings and become even more emotionally affected.

My information comes from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. http://www.chop.edu/consumer/your_child/condition_section...#

There is much more, valuable information there that would just take up too much space to put here.

Good luck!

Is it a full blown soiling accident or is it just a little bit of stool. It makes a difference. If it is just a little bit there could be a blockage and he may not be able to help what is leaking out. If it is full blown bowel movements it may be a stress issue. www.livegreeneasy.com

I agree with Beth. my son know 10 has been struggling with encopresis since he was 4. he potty trained perfect at about 2 and a half and no problems till around his 4th birthday.then he started withholding to where i thought he was just pooping himself on purpose.he wasn't he was so impacted that what i was asuming was him going was just leakage. i would contact a Gi dr asap and at least have a consult and see what they say. Good luck if you have any questions feel free to ask. my son wore pull ups till almost 9 years old and it was so hard keeping it a secert to everyone of his friends at school when he had an accident.i do feel for you,but if you don't seek help early with this it only gets worse and causes damage to the colon like my son has

I would check with a GI specialist and consider his diet...there may be something he's developed an intolerance to...good luck

I have a 2 sons before are 8yr old. The one dose not wipe his butt and if he dose not very well. Major high streaks threw his underpants. He also had proublems in kinder when he to would poop his pants.

I think that he just grew out of it. They say that boys are lower slower in some area and have harder time controlling themself.

The button wiping will get better, just keep reminding him. The pooping of the pants. YOu can talk to the doc. To see what they might suggest. Is he still in the pull up type pants? Sometimes that will give a child the comfort that they need just enough that they will have accidents.

Best of luck.