my son has encopresis, or does he?

My son has pooped his pants for several year now.  He is 7yr old, and I have like alot of parents, I have thrown away lots of underwear.  I was suprised to find how many children have this problem.  My son and I are trying to work thru this together.  We are trying to develope a schedule.   We are trying to encourage his bowels to move each night by traning his body to produce waste.  He takes a hot shower about an hour after dinner.  This has been working as he has been almost 4 days without pooping himself.  I am trying to allow time for his food to process, and giving him foods that will help produce a bowell movement prior to the shower time.  A banana works wanders.
I have stopped yelling at him, grounding him, ect.  Instead we are trying to focus together on this issue.  I have explained to him, he is not alone in this fight.  And we will win.  We just have to try and try again.  But the schedule of eating, waiting an hour or so, a hot shower, and he poops in the tiolet is helping to train his lil body. He also gets back into the shower and washes off.  This is a win win.  
The thought of a schedule came to mind, when I remembered about my 3yr old stepdaughter was wetting the bed everynight.  I get up to pee everynight.  Why not get her up, carry her to bathroom, sit her on the pot and let her pee.  Eventually this trianed her lil body to stop peeing in the bed.  Then each day I would praise her for not wetting the bed.  She didnt even know I was taking her to the bathroom.  She just thought she was doing great. And it didnt take long before her bladder became trained with her body to pee in the tiolet. This was another win win situation.  
This is may not be possible for everyone, and perhaps other problems exist...But I believe with the proper body function "training" and a good positive attitude, you can help your child overcome these issues.

[AnnieBrooke]

Sounds good!!!  The key is to support, not scold, as you so rightly note.  It's really sad how many kids get punished for something that is not their fault.

You can also get excellent results by putting a mild, flavorless stool softener (for example, Benefiber) in his food every day.  It gives the opportunity for the colon to heal and redevelop the ability to contract at the control of the child.

One of the other moms on the site also swears by a regular serving of grapes or grape juice for her child.  (She thinks bananas are binding rather than having a laxative effect.)  I have read that apples have a binding effect -- apple juice is part of the classic remedy for the runs, so be sure to avoid those.  :)

Good luck!  It sure sounds like the right track.

[margypops]

Wow gtreat post and what a good success I absolutly agree that punishments do not work and only make the issue worse causing anxiety in the child .Your good attitude here I would say made it possibe,well done great Mom