Kinder pooping pants

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Specializes in Adult M/S.

Hi All: I am attending a SST meeting tomorrow for a Kindergartener who is pooping his pants. The info I have so far: he does it both at school and home, he's been to a doctor who says he has a bit of constipation, he will be asked if he needs to use the bathroom and will say no but then a few moments later will have poopy pants, teacher has tried to schedule him to use the bathroom but doesn't help, he's the youngest at home and is a very sweet boy well behaved, can tell that he has to go but doesn't give himself enough time to get to the bathroom. I was thinking that maybe there were some food allergies but doctor says no. Anyone have any other ideas suggestions?

Thanks

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I have no children, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt.

I assume this child is 5 or 6 years old. How do his parents approach toilet training?

A mother was complaining that her 5-year-old boy would not poop at the toilet. "He knows when he has to go, but refuses to poop at the potty," she insisted. Therefore, at times he wore diapers designed for kids who were in the 60-month-old range. When he did not wear diapers, he simply pooped in his pants.

She was a very lenient, permissive mom who feared inflicting 'mental damage' on her boy if she took a tough love approach. However, having multiple children in diapers at home was getting too expensive because she also had a toddler.

One day her son pooped in his jeans. She got fed up one day, ran some soapy bath water, and made the boy clean the poop from his pants and undergarments. Miraculously, after this incident he never pooped on himself ever again. After being forced to clean his poopy jeans, he started defecating at the toilet.

I've seen Miralax used in less extreme cases because it allows the kid to 'feel' it and respond to the cue to go before pooping in one's pants.

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If my kiddo was still having trouble with this, he'd stay home with me.

I like Commuter's story . . just hope the mom had the boy wearing gloves!

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Maybe he is embarrassed to use the BR at school? Maybe a toilet schedule of every two hours? What is his routine at home? What are the parents doing at home to help with this? Does he urinate in the BR? Its hard to say without more info.

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Specializes in ccu.

He's NEVER pooped in the toilet?

Then I would treat him like I treated my toddlers when I potty trained. Bribery. STickers, jellybeans, whatever works. And I would make him clean his own mess as well (which I didn't do w/my toddlers, but I would w/a 6y/o)

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I'm wondering why this is the school's responsibility?

Shouldn't he be potty trained before starting school?

I can undertand a rare accident. But he is not trained.

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Sounds to me like he wasn't potty trained properly.

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Wow, I have about 20 of these cases at my elementary school. I have tried everything I can think of as well. By any chance is your school in a low income district? My school is poverty-stricken, so most of my kiddos are poor, no medical insurance, ect.

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I also have several 1st grade -3rd graders who still poop themselves......

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But I honestly believe it is because I work at a poverty-stricken school. Everyday I have to deal with parents who don't take their kids to the doctor when I refer them, mainly bc they are too lazy, bc i KNOW they have medicaid. I also deal with a lot of CPS cases. The parents at my school are just plain worthless, excuse me for being blunt, but this is the truth!

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
But I honestly believe it is because I work at a poverty-stricken school.
Interesting. . . in my experience, many of the poverty-stricken parents I've met bum-rush their toddlers to be completely toilet-trained by the age of two. They start the toilet training process at 18 to 20 months and the kid is totally potty-trained at age two.

The main reason: diapers are as expensive as heck for low income parents. Diapers are not covered by the various forms of public assistance such as WIC, SNAP/food stamps, section 8 vouchers, Medicaid, etc., so they must dip into their limited funds in order to purchase them.

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Ok guys, here is my 2 cents. This child has emotional issues and this is his way of "controlling" what he can. He is getting attention. Perhaps he is a child that needs more attention at home than most.

I would not shame him, or yell, etc. as this could turn into something worse.

I would stay home with him and when he poops his pants see what he does. Let him sit in it, etc. If this child has no clue and does not mind then there is something wrong here. Some psych counseling for the parents and child is maybe in order.

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