Encopresis - Lake Orion,MI

We've dealt with encopresis for a few years now. Thankfully, knock on wood, we're pretty much over it with our six-year-old son. I'm assuming you've already tried the standard mineral oil, fiber additives treatment? That didn't solve anything for us. What DID work was a major bribe. We offered our son something ridiculous like $20 or a huge Lego set to poop the first time. He was scared since holding it results in those huge poops, but he did it for what he wanted. We found the big reward was essential to overcome the "It's going to hurt" mindset. It had to have the "wow" factor or he just wouldn't poop. Next, we made it routine. Every night, before bathtime, he poops. We continued with rewards at the beginning to encourage the routine, although nothing as big as the first time. Over time, it became routine and since he was going every day, they weren't painful and he lost the fear. Now, we've had instances where he will voluntarily go and poop on his own. HUGE progress.

Good luck! And don't blame yourself at all. It has nothing to do with potty training techniques. It's just a medical condition that some kids get.

My son is 5.5 and we are currently working through this same thing. We are going to Dr. Feber in Troy. He is a pediatric urologist since my son has accidents with both (pee and poop) we have been on MiraLAX for 6 months now and have only the faintist hint of success. Dr. Feber is working on fixing the encopresis first and he says that will fix the pee accidents too. My son "can't feel it coming" so I understand your feeling of frustration.

My 3 year old is accident free and doing fine. So, like you, you know that even little brothers/sisters success has not changed the problems with your daughter. AND it was not something YOU did.

Try Dr. Feber, it can't hurt and he can run some tests to see if he can figure out the issue, or direct you to someone that can. We had an MRI done and some other tests and they all showed that our son was "fine" -- so now the hard work of waiting and working on it together as a team.

Like you my son is a great kid and this is the only thing that is "wrong" with him. We homeschool so he doesn't have kids making fun of him when he has an accident. I don't know if that is an option for you, just a thought.

GOD bless, hope you find the "magic pill" to fix it, we have not!

The average age for children to potty train is around 3-3.5. Your children have had some successes early. My suggestion would be to first remain as neutral as possible around this issue, as you anxiety and attempts to control this behavior in your daughter is likely to make her cling more to the control she has in this area. I work with many children who have similar issues and have seen parents' anxieties actually make matters more difficult for the child. We all want our kids to have this success and I ask parents, "How many highschoolers do you know that are pooping their pants?" I know you want relief now and the sooner the better.

*Monitor your own negative responses to your child's behavior
*Praise successful attempts and reward with potty chart and stickers
*Have child participate in clean up
*Assess when the toileting behavior is occuring most often (look for patterns) and then help the child during these times with more direct efforts to eliminate.
*What she is going through is barely even considered a diagnosis of encopresis because of her young age. She may have been having toileting accidents and difficulties for you for the past 2 years, but that is actually not that uncommon. Your other child had early success, but maybe this child has somehting else going on altogether.
*(Check again medically for obstruction or blockage...does she gave intermittent loose vs. hard stools?)

H. this helps.
H. G. LCSW

There was a question about encopresis from a mother with an 11 year old who was having the same problem (I believe she posted last week).

Thank God people have posted because we were able to determine our daughter has the condition and discussed it with our pediatrician earlier this week.

His recommendation (she is 21 months) was 8 weeks of Miralax to retrain her not to be afraid of going to the bathroom. You obviously have a different issue - I wish I could offer you more advice.