My 4 Year Old Has Fecal Incontinence

My daughter had the same thing. It's called encopresis(sp?). I tried many methods to try and fix it but it did continue for more than a year. I finally felt so bad about the laxatives and the enema's, etc. I started giving her a orange chewable benefiber tablet at each meal. It's not a laxative, it just gets more fiber into her diet. I didn't think it would work but I was desperate. It really helped her. That was when she was in kindergarten and the summer before first grade. It finally cleared up with the benfiber and she's not had any problems since(she's in 3rd grade now). The tablets are actually tasty and I had to make my dd limit her eating of them because she really liked them.

My 6 yr old son has suffered constipation since he was about 2 years old. In his case, his world got turned upside down around then (I left my abusive ex-husband and filed for divorce).

My son's flare ups seem to coinside with any stress or major change - starting school, changing babysitters, traveling...
it's something he can control (by holding) when everything else seems out of his control. He also had embarassment issues because he needed help wiping after a bowel movement and was embarassed asking for help - so he would just hold it instead.

My former mother in law took my son to the doctor a few years ago and had him put on a prescription stool softener (without my knowledge). Once I found out about it, I took him off of it.

I control my son's bowel movements through diet. Foods high in fiber help keep everything moving smoothly. Most people think grains when they think of fiber, but there are other types of fiber. Pears are very high in fiber (a medium sized pear has about 5 grams of fiber). Other high-fiber foods are apples (with skin), blueberries, raisins, oranges, peaches, whole-wheat spagetti, oatmeal. Lentils, black beans, and lima beans all have at LEAST 13 grams of fiber per one cup serving (an adult, muchless a child wouldn't eat that much in a single serving, but smaller amounts over a period of of a couple of days helps too). Peas, baked potatoes (with skin), carrots, corn, brussel sprouts are all good sources of fiber, too.

I'm not sure what the recommended fiber intake is for children - women is 21-25 grams per day and men is 30-38 grams per day. For my son, I aim to get about 7-10 grams a day (some days are far less and other days we blow that out of the water, it just depends).

It might be worthwhile to see if your daughter has any triggers. My son's BM issues are induced by stress or major change of any kind (even good ones, like my mom visiting for a week, through him off). Since I know my son tends to hold when theres a lot of activity going on, I try to increase his fiber for a few days before a major event or change. I also give him belly rubs and let him soak in a long warm bath to help relax his muscles.

good luck... it can be frustrating - especially when they have "accidents" (whatever manages to leak out past what they are holding).

S.,
My heart goes out to you and your little girl.
I believe you are right to be concerned about medication, at least until you have thoroughly examined her diet. It does seem like your daughter needs more than the addition of fiber to her diet. This sounds like a case of IBS and/or gluten intolerance. Gluten intolerance is thought to be markedly underdiagnosed. To test for this at home, the only grains you should allow your daughter to eat are corn and rice. I would try this for 2 weeks. Further, you must faithfully read labels and learn the many names for wheat. For example, many hard candies contain wheat.
The other mothers are right about adding fiber to the diet. We have been saved by using Benefiber powder every day. We cannot use the tablets, because they contain wheat.
We have a great pediatric allergist who began his career as a pediatrician. He addresses digestive issues, as well. His name is Dr. Gary Oberg. He is in Crystal Lake. ###-###-####.
There is much information available, if you know where to look. Please contact me if you think I can be of help to you and your daughter.
Good luck!
Amy

Hi S.,

My three kids have all gone through this phase of holding it in. Apparently I did as well! The pediatrician never seemed overly concerned but did recommend giving a dose of mineral oil every few days. Crazy kids of mine actually didn't mind it??? Two older have completely grown out of it and my son who is 3 was doing great & then had a bad bm and then reverted back to holding it in. My kids also like prune juice! So now I give him prune juice every other day & mineral oil every other day just to get things going. I can tell when he has to go because he can't sit/stand still and gets very nasty. I then make him sit down on the potty and try to go and it usually helps, within 10 minutes he has gone & I try to reiterate that it didn't hurt.

Hope things work out!
C.

Your daughter sounds like she has the same problem as mine. Same age. We are preparting to take her to a pediatric GI clinic to get a definitive answer. Miralax does provoke a BM, but we have been trying for 1 year and the problem has not resolved. She now seems to be totally incontinent with her BMs and has to wear a pull-up. I'll post our answers after our visit at Cincinnati Children's.

Your poor baby. I'm so sorry she has to go through this. My son had problems with number 2 probably since we brought him home. He's 5 now. I did diet changes, but him being a picky eater didn't help. He did drink prune juice for a long time and that helped. Then it suddenly stopped working. That's when the Dr. prescribed MIRALAX. So many kids use that. It's surprising.

The miralax changed our lives. He didn't scream and cry anymore when it was time for him to use the potty. Things came out naturally; the way they're supposed to. I did notice giving miralax too often caused a diahrea type deal. So we did every other day then it went to once a week. Now he tells me when it's hurting him and we get some medicine (miralax) and everything's okay. He likes the miralax and realizes it helped him feel better.

I wish I knew something to say about the going in the underwear. Poor baby. I hope you and your daughter get over this horrible issue soon. My thoughts are with your baby.

S.,

My 5yr old daughter is on Miralax. What heppened with her I think is that it would hurt to have a BM and then she would hold it because it hurt. She would sit on the potty and scream and cry. It has improved immensely. I do not have to give her the Miralax everyday anymore, just when it looks like she is holding the BM's.

Hope this helps.

My 4 year old has dealt with constipation for years. I got tired of him holding in his BM's and crying when he had to poop. So, I talked to our pediatrician about it and he said it is very common in young kids to have this issue. He prescribed Miralax. I watch his diet, but he is a picky eater. So, I make sure he doesn't eat constipating foods. I only give him a tiny bit of miralax when I see he is holding in his BM's. I found that if you give the recommended dosage then they have diarrhea for a week. So, I put a little bit of the powder in his milk in the morning. Then, I wait a day and if he hasn't BM'd, then I put a little more in his morning milk the next day. You can very easily end up with diarrhea on Miralax, so be careful. The diet change with occassional Miralax has worked wonders for him. He still holds his BM's every once in a while, but not nearly as often as before. Good luck!

Hi!

My 4 year old son has this - it's called encopresis. We took him to our dr. and she has him on a dose of Milk of magnesia a day. It's really important to encourage them to have bowel movements- even when they don't think they need to. Whenever my son has an "accident" we make him sit on the potty immediately and then he is usually able to have a bowel movement. However, if we keep on top of the milk of magnesia he usually is "accident" free. Maybe you could try that.

M.