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Soiling pants, medically known as encopresis,
is much more common in boys than in girls. It occurs more in children with
a strong sense of privacy or a strong tendency to concentrate on an
activity to the point that they are unwilling to stop long enough to use
the toilet. By understanding why this unpleasant problem occurs, you can
help your child master his bowel habits.
Why it happens?
This is how I explain pant soiling to a child. The bowel, like the
bladder, sends a signal to the brain: "I need emptying." (Draw a picture
of the bowel below and the brain above and connect the two by an arrow,
and refer to this diagram as you explain to the child.) When your bowel is
full, it tells the brain it needs emptying, and the brain says: "Go to the
nearest toilet." (This defecation reflex, or urge to empty the bowel,
automatically occurs in persons with healthy bowel habits.) If you listen
to what your brain tells you, bowel and brain continue to talk to each
other; you go to the toilet when necessary, and your pants stay clean.
But suppose you don't listen to your
brain, either because you're too busy, too lazy, or you just plain can't
hear what your bowel and brain say. In this case, they stop talking to
each other. The bowel lets go whenever it wants to and there's poop in
your pants. Usually a doughnut muscle at the opening of your bowel
squeezes closed to help keep the poop inside until you can get to the
toilet. Sometimes this muscle gets lazy and opens up. Sometimes you smell
it before you feel it.
If you don't listen to your bowel signals
the poop gets big and hard and won't come out. This weakens the doughnut
muscle around the bowel. It doesn't "feel" when the bowel is full, and you
get all plugged up. It's called constipation; it feels uncomfortable.
That's when you have two types of bowel movements, "hard poop" and "soft
poop." The hard poop stays in your bowel and the soft poop - sometimes
it's even watery - leaks around the hard poop, and you don't even feel it
until it's in your pants. The longer this goes on, the harder the poop
gets, the weaker the doughnut muscle gets, and the less bowel and the
brain talk to each other.
So how can we keep this from happening?
you ask. (Encourage the child to answer.) Always listen to what your bowel
tells you. Instead of being busy and not paying attention to your body, go
to the toilet as soon as your bowel says, "I'm full." Next, you can keep
your poop from getting hard. See
constipation.
Busy little bowels.
Keep (with your child's help) a diary of when your child
soils his pants. What triggers holding on to the bowel movements and what
triggers letting go? Does he poop when he is stressed in group play? Is he
so engrossed in play that he ignores his bowel signals? Little boys with
little bowels are forgetful. If your diary detects a correlation between
play and soiling, call this connection to your child's attention. "As soon
as you feel bowel pressure, go sit on the toilet. Don't hold on to it."
Embarrassed little bowels.
Some children are embarrassed about toileting.
Rather than let their playmates know they have to go to the toilet or ask
the teacher to go to the bathroom, they ignore bowel signals; consciously
or subconsciously they convince themselves - and their full bowel - that
they really don't have to go. Impress upon your child that toileting is as
normal as eating. Everyone does it. Perhaps some children can't imagine
their teacher ever having to go to the bathroom.
Lazy little bowels.
Some children don't want to "waste time" going to the
toilet. Rather than interrupt play, expending the effort to go all the way
to the toilet, get undressed, redressed, and reenter play, the child
ignores his body signals. To help your child do his own toileting quickly,
have simple elastic bands on pants and shorts.
Blocked little bowels.
Paradoxically, the most common medical cause of pant
soiling that I see in my office is constipation. This diagnosis surprises
parents ("But it runs out…")
What soils the pants is the soft, watery stool that leaks past the hard
feces. By examining your child, the doctor can tell if constipation is the
culprit. See
constipation.
Click
here for 7
simple steps to help minimize encopresis.
...www.askdrsears.com
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Types of Poop
GHOST POOPIE: The kind where you feel the poopie come out, but there is no
poopie in the toilet.
CLEAN POOPIE: The kind where you poopie it out, see it in
the toilet, but there is nothing on the toilet paper.
WET POOPIE: The kind where you wipe your butt 50 times and
it still feels unwiped, so you have to put some toilet paper between your butt
and your underwear so you won't ruin them with stains.
SECOND WAVE POOPIE: This happens when you're done
poopie-ing and you've pulled your pants up to your knees, and you realize that
you have to poopie some more.
POP-A VEIN-IN-YOUR-FOREHEAD POOPIE: The kind where you
strain so much to get it out, you practically have a stroke.
LINCOLN LOG POOPIE: The kind of poopie that is so huge
you're afraid to flush without first breaking it into little pieces with the
toilet brush.
GASSY POOPIE: It's so noisy, that everyone within earshot
is giggling.
DRINKER'S POOPIE: The kind of poopie you have the morning
after a long night of drinking. It's most noticeable trait is the skid marks on
the bottom of the toilet.
CORN POOPIE: Self explanatory.
GEE-I-WISH-I-COULD-POOPIE POOPIE: The kind where you want
to poopie but all you do is sit on the toilet and fart a few times.
SPINAL TAP POOPIE: That's where it hurts so badly coming
out, you'd swear it was leaving you sideways.
WET CHEEKS POOPIE (The Power Dump): The kind that comes
out so fast, your butt cheeks get splashed with water.
THE DANGLING POOPIE: This poopie refuses to drop in the
toilet even though you are done poopie-ing it. You just hope that a shake or two
will cut it loose.
THE SURPRISE POOPIE: You're not even at the toilet because
you are sure you are about to fart, but *oops* --- a poopie!
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