My 3Yr Old Still Poops Her Pants HELP

Amy,
This sounds similar to my experience with my son. He refused to poop at preschool because he didn't want his teachers to help clean him up. This led to him holding it in, becoming constipated, and eventually a condition called encopresis. Because of the constant pressure on his rectum, the nerves there eventually died and the muscles weakened to a point where he actually COULD NOT hold it in, and had no sensation there to let him know that he had had an accident at all. Sometimes it was just a little accident, and once in a while it was the whole thing. Punishing your daughter could only make things worse because she will try to hold it in more, perpetuating the cycle. Talk to the doc right away about how to help your daughter. It may come to clearing her system out with a laxative and then scheduled potty times to keep her cleaned out, giving her rectum time to heal- strengthening the muscles and regaining sensation. It's a long, frustrating process. My son is 11 and still has some issues. But there is help out there, and you don't have to feel like your child is doing this to be stubborn. She likely isn't. Do some research on encopresis, and good luck! I'm here if you need to vent about it- I've cleaned more poop than anyone else I know!

my son had an issue with this and what i had to do was establish mandatory potty time. for a minimum of 6 min. 3 times a day. after breakfast , noon and after dinner, he had to sit on the toliet. i let him set a timer and he could bring in a book or whatever to look at but he had to sit and eventually his body got on a schedule of having a b.m. in the morning and that eliminated alot of accidents. he also had to assist in the clean up process if he did have an accident. this is not an overnight process it does take some time and your daughter may even resist having a designated potty time, as my son did but he quickly learned it wasn't worth losing his t.v. time. hope this helps

My son has suffered with constipation & encopresis since he was 3 (around the time he started pre school). He is now 6 and will still have problems if I don't keep a close eye on things. Especially now that he is in first grade - that's 8 hours where he won't go! I have him on a small does of miralax every other day just to make sure he doesn't get bound up. But the best advice I can give is to put your child on a strict toilet regime. Every night after supper I make my son sit on the potty for at least 15 minutes - whether he goes or not. Usually he'll sit with a book or connect the dots or even a game boy and he almost always has results. It really helps to get them into a routine. And it's also my way of keeping track of when and how much he goes.

Good luck!
R.

Hi,
I have 5 children, (all boys) , I never pushed the potty training issue and they all were out of diapers by 4 years old, on their own. Does she have to be trained for school? It sounds to me like she is withholding because she is nervous about something....my own personal advice is not to punish her, you will make it bigger than it needs to be. Something is obviously bothering her, maybe she is nervous about being away from you at school? I say, leave her alone, and let her do it on her own...ask the school if they will alow you to come in to change her if she has an accident...use some type of chart to reward her for having no accidents but make sure she knows that it is only that, an accident. (like stickers or treats) .... If I think of anything else I will let you know....good luck.
M.