My child is 9 and has issues using the toilet. He says doing a poo hurts his butthole. "It hurts when it comes out so I don't want to poo".
He frequently tries not to poo and then rushes to the toilet when its to late. His undies have skids and also big messes.
I have taken him to different gps and never get taken seriously. I get told its encopresis or he just needs laxatives because it must be constipation.
This has been going on since he was a toddler, i've tried allsorts of things including counseling, laxatives, punishment, rewards, change in diet, you name it!
Im wondering if there is some type of medical issue that can cause pain when you poo?
Or if this is a sensory disorder?
Is there a dr (not a gp) i can take him to that will take us seriously? Its been 7 yrs of this!
He has cried saying he knows its not ok, he doesn't want to hold in poos but he can't help it because pooing hurts to much.
I don't know what to do to help him
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6 Replies
Same. Give the laxatives for a week to give him a rest and help him mentally. Also drink water and eat good foods. We find watermelon great, my kid is only little but rates her poo and then relates it to what theyve eaten and will choose those foods if they make poos not hurt. Reassure him poo shouldn't hurt and doesnt hurt most people, this is a problem, and you can fix it and you can get it so his poor bum doesn't hurt too.
Constipation can be an on going thing. They can be blocked up really high and get wash around runny poo. Clear him out with 2 weeks of movicol adult sachet twice a day and then reduce to 1 for a few months. If ur really concerned get a referral to a paediatric gastroenterologist. If ur in Brisbane I highly rate Dr Emma McIntyre!
My daughter had sensory processing disorder, (SPD). She's 20 now.
But she would never poop. She had to wear pull ups to school or pads and had a teachers Aide/carer in primary school to wipe her bum as she was always leaking poo. I had to give her supositories every night and she would lay on a bluey on the floor and poop there. It was so bad , that she was admitted to hospital every 6 months to have a saline tube inserted in her belly to give her a wash out. She would stay a full week in hospital for this each time.
I would also give her movocol to drink daily.
She grew out of it by year 6 when she was 11.
She had tests for all sorts of disorders, including Hirshsprungs disease, and other than her SPD everything else was negative.
Follow your sons Paediatric advise to make things easier for him .
If all tests are clear , he WILL grow out of it.
Don't write the GPs for not taking you seriously- this is a very common problem for kids and the things that you and others have mentioned are pretty much the standard treatment. The only thing aside from being very constipated is that he may have an anal fissure (basically a wound inside the rectum) from holding in poos and/or a harder poo causing damage as its passed. I would suggest getting GP to examine and if necessary there are creams that can protect and numb the area so it doesn't hurt. You need to encourage him to drink plenty of water and use the prescribed laxatives.
Does your local hospital/health centre have a continence clinic? My kid was younger than yours (3) but didn't want to poo because it hurt. Took her to doctors who couldn't see anything wrong. But she insisted it hurt. Continence clinic did not need a referral, I just made the appointment. They were honestly fantastic, talked to her about it in an age appropriate way, gave suitable stool softeners so fissures could heal. They dealt with that kind of thing often and were very helpful, definitely a route that I recommend.
One of my kids has this same problem. We cut out dairy as it was making her constipated and then when she finally did Poo, it was huge and hurt so she’d try not to Poo .
Try cutting dairy and see how you go .