my 7yr old son still poops in his pants

[Tami707]

I just wanted to say thank you for all the comments on this topic and to know that this is common in boys.  My son is **** the same thing, and I was becoming very frustrated with the situation.   Michael becomes very embarrasses when this happens.  He tells me he does not want to miss out on anything, then he tells me that Daddy punishes him when he poops (he lives with his father).  I tried to talk to his dad about this, not to punish, maybe it could be medical, take him to the doctor.  My son does not want to tell me when this happens.  He asks me right away, Are you mad?  Will you get mad?  I tell him no, I will not punish him, but I still think he is afraid to tell me, but he is starting to trust me that I will help him instead of punish him.  Any thoughts on this.  His GP's tell me that it could be for attention because his Dad does not spend alot of time with him.


This discussion is related to 7 year old boy pooping his pants.

[jaryel0]

I just found this site and i'm so glad, my son is 7 years old, he has never once pooped himself until 2 months ago and it is everyday,  he say's he doesn't want to stop playing that's why he poops himself.. his behavior problems he has had since he was 3 years old, he is very hyper, get's mad very easly can't consintrate in school, his teacher said he is very loving in school, but he can not consintrate and he can not do school work unless the teacher is standing there helping his every move. He beats up his 3 year old sister,cries and screems for no reason,whines because I say no, runs into things on purpose, jumps around like a crazy person, he'll be sitting watching tv or at the dinner table or in his room and out of the blue he will blurt something out of the top of his lungs and scare everyone because we werent expecting it, he hits himself, he destroys everything, he has torn a solid oak dresser apart in a few minutes, he brakes all his toys, he brakes his sisters toys, he broke his bed, but then like a lightswitch he will  change, he will be the most loving child, kind to his sister, do anything you ask, listens, you say no to something he wants and he say's ok maybe next time. I'm going crazy he's like Dr. Jeekle and Mr. Hyde(spelling). I'm lost. I took him to the Dr. and the Dr said he's just being a kid. The Dr to me doesnt seem like he needs to be a Dr. Please someone help me, what could this be.

[Manda999]

Hi Tami, I'm new to this forum and desperate for help. My son is nearly 5 years old and has pooped in his pants for the last two years, sometimes 3 to 4 times a day. We had him medically examined, xrayed and checked by a medical expert who could find absolutely nothing wrong with him. We tried goats milk, gluten tests as his bowels are sometimes very loose but again nothing! My hubby and I are at our wits end, the unusual thing is though he never does it at school or when out with other members of our family, just waits till he gets home and poops! We tried everything from reward charts, sweets, promises of this and that! Sometimes he will go to the toilet but mostly he doesn't. We try to ignore it but it gets to the stage where you just want to scream! I feel like a total failure as my other two older children are great and I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong this time? Please please please don't tell me this is going to continue till he is 10 years like the poor lady who also wrote in with the same problem! I just couldn't cope with the thought this could continue and just keep hoping he will grow out of it!

[supermom4783]

my 7 year old son has the same problem, when he was a baby he would poop tennis ball sized poop, and all the doctor did was gave him stool softner. when he was 2 he used the potty when he had to poop and he hasnt wet his pants since then he just poops on his self, i have sat him on the toilet and sit with him and read till he says he is done, the doc. says he's just lazy, but i don't know. he tells me when he has an accident and asks me to change him, i gave up yelling and grounding. he also tells me he doesnt know when he has to poop until its in his pants, i have been putting him in pull ups for school, i don't want him to be embarrassed at school. he is very shy and doesnt have many friends. i dont know what to do, it's embarrassing. i also have a 5 year old son, i have never had any problem with him soiling his pants! what should i do?

[Rachael1985]

Oh, I have a 5 yr old and he never had the same problem. So your 1 yr old may not have problems.

[Rachael1985]

My son "had" encopresis. When he started kindergarten 2 yrs ago, I purposely spent the day hanging around in the area of the school, since I left my cell # with the teacher and expected her to call since he hadn't gone for 3 days. So I know exactly what you are going through. I  found, on my own, that he has a reaction to milk. Never did when he was a baby/toddler that I noticed, but when he started having the issues I became aware of it. He"had" encopresis. Notice I said HAD. It has been quite a long road to recovery, but once I found what worked it was very quick. Let me explain.
It started shortly after trying to potty train when he was 3 yrs old. I put potty training off for a while and then when he seemed ready again, we accomplished it. But then started the holdings. Mainly to do with the fact that he had more important "things" to do ~ like playing. Well I did some research and started with flaxseed in all-fruit smoothies, totally changed his diet to much more healthy, whole grain foods etc., but to no avail. He still had encopresis. I found dairy products to also be a trigger to set him off. So I switched him to soymilk and watched his dairy intake, though he loves cheese. This helped somewhat and I was now giving him flaxseed oil in all-fruit smoothies. When I took him in for his 5 yr well check, his Dr chided me for switching him to soymilk and told me he could develop osteoporosis if I didn't give him milk. I told him about his encopresis and he told me to put him on Miralax. I researched Miralax and Dulcolax and decided against it. But I did go home and gave him milk. He immediately got plugged up again, confirming the fact that milk is a major culprit besides him training his muscles to "hold it." We would spend SO MANY hours in the bathroom when he would go for 2-3 to 5 days without having a BM. I switched him back to soymilk. My sister suggested YoPlait YoPlus yogurt since it had probiotics. We tried it and it seemed to work and get him regular. Well, he tired of having to have a yogurt everyday, so I did more research about probiotics and found a chewable probiotic children's pill that he now takes once a day, at bedtime and it's NIGHT AND DAY in the difference. He is now regular and has been for 1 yr. It is such a relief to know our problem is solved. The pill is made by Nature's Way and is called Primadophilus Kids and it's carried by Sprouts and SunFlower Market where I live, but you can call them and find out if they sell it near you. 1-800-9NATURE begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              1-800-9NATURE      end_of_the_skype_highlighting. I thought he was going to have to live with this problem for the rest of his life but thank goodness I found out about this after only 3 yrs, which is still a long time to have to have dealt with it. I'm hoping this information helps someone else out there besides resorting to a drug that doesn't really treat the problem but just makes a person have to go to the bathroom. I am in no way affiliated with Nature's Way and I'm sure there are other probiotic chewables out there for kids. Just hoping someone else reads this and gives it a try if your child is suffering from this problem.
Oh, one more thing. By quick, I mean I noticed a change within several days of him taking the probiotic pill every night (night since it works best then inside one's body). The biggest change came within 2-3 weeks of him going every 1-2 days and he's now going regularly every other day which is a huge change from the 2-3 to sometimes 4-5 days without going. He's never had Miralax or Dulcolax. Sometimes when it was bad I would do glycerin suppositories but that didn't ever help much either. The probiotics has been the only thing that worked.
Hope this helps since it worked for us. Good luck.
** Just from looking this up again, I've noticed some people mention a possible relation with wheat products. I'm going to monitor my son and see if he has a change in his "habits" when he has more wheat, ie bread, pasta**

[maryfran2010]

Hi,

I just found these forums today and am relieved to find out we're not the only ones dealing with the issue.  My Daughter is 8 and has been soiling her pants since I can remember.  Very frustrating.  She's been diagnosed with Encopresis and we're currently working with a therapist.  Goal charts, rewards and lots of TLC...not sure if its working...she has success sometimes. Part of the therapy is focusing on responsibility for one's own body.  She washes all her dirty pants in her own bucket in the bathroom.  I'm at the end of my rope also.  The good news is that my 6 year old daughter is fine and has not followed in her sister's foot steps.  

[mandylei]

i have the same problum with my 8 year old son hes been goin in his pants for the past few years whent to the dr the said he was compacted and to give him miralax every day and if i stay on top of that he goes but mostly in his pants he knows he needs to go on the potty but verey rearly dose he do that gos in his pants at school out side playing siting in his room he knows when he has to go but just wont go to the bath room it drives me crazy i dont no what to to when i ask him to go its always a big fight of him saying he dosent have to and then the next thing you no he whent in his pants and he will wear those same pants untill i smell it and make him change  im at the end of my rope i have a 1 year old and i hope he dosent do this to    my dr said i just have to re potty train him its hard to do that to an 8 year old that wont do it

[Eeno]

i'm having the same problem with my 7 years old son. i took him to a doctor and did all the x-ray and tests, everything physically seems fine. so i took him to a child counceler and with a feedback from my side about school, she came to a conclusion that he feels insecure at school. the first thing i did is talk to school to stop what they are doing with my son with punishments or detention. it's been now two weeks since in talked to school and we still go to the counceler once a week, but he didn't stop pooping his pants. he keeps telling me i want this to stop but i don't know how. i'm trying to remind him to go to the toilet but he keeps saying, i don't have to poop i'm ok, then suddenly he poops.
it's really frustrating and i don't know how to let him get used again to use the toilet. this actually started almost three months ago. it used to be once a day at home. now it's at least 3-4 times aday also where ever he is, at home, school, at our friends, in resturants...every where.
i'm really helpless, i don't know what's my next step should be

[margypops]

I agree it probably is for attention and negative attention is better than no attention, you dont say how his Dad punishes him.The fact that he is worried and says to you , Are you mad etc is telling you hes upset and needs help.You obviously want to help him as you have come here.Could you not share the time with him so hes with you more, definatly speak to his Dad about punishing him ,How often does he do the behavior is it just he doesnt get to the toilet in time, a lot of kids get engrossed in what they are doing and wait till they are nearly going and stain their pants.Get more feedback from Michael, he sounds like a bright boy just needs more TLC