Bowel problems

Our 5 yr old son has been going #2 in his pants. It is like he waits to long and before he gets to the bathroom he has soiled his pants. Then he tries to wipe himself and gets it everywhere. We have tried to be very understanding with him, but it has become a very big concern now. At first he was hiding his soiled underwear from us (throwing it in the trash), then he would wear two pair (in case he soiled one, he would have a back up pair). That behavior has stopped, but he still has accidents.  He will call us to help him in the bathroom, but could there be an underlying problem?  Our two other boys had no problem with this issue.  Please help!

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Be sure to establish that he is well from a medical perspective, that his bowels are not impacted. If all is well, reward him for successful use of the potty and also have him sit on the potty at regularly scheduled times. You will probably be able to figure out the pattern when he mostly has bowel movements, and use this knowledge to schedule the times.