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5 year old not wiping
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5 year old not wiping

[Replies: 1]
Last Post Apr 18, 2009 7:47 AM by: mthon825
mthon825
 
mthon825
Posts: 1
Registered: 4/18/09

Re: 5 year old not wiping

Apr 18, 2009 7:47 AM
I had the same problem with my son. What we found out was that it was not that he wasn't wiping. It was that he had what is called Encopresis. It stems from constipation; which my son had when he was young.
My son had quite a few changes three years ago. He had to deal huge blows and setbacks with moving, changing schools, and a new baby sister. We thought he was just being lazy. Every time he left the bathroom he smelled horrible. His underwear was streaked every day. When he did go to the bathroom he clogged the toilet. After a while his underwear was not just streaked. The stool was caked in his underwear.
Now I don't know what your son or you are going through. This is just a suggestion that may be happening. My son dealt with this for two years before I started researching what the problem was. I looked up behavioral mental disorders in the beginning. It started off slow and progressively got worse because we didn't know. I felt horrible for him and even more horrible for him because we were constantly frustrated with him.
When I took him to the doctor she knew exactly what I was talking about and actually told me his symptoms before I did. he has been on Prescription grade Miralax for almost two years to retrain his colon because of what happened to it before. The Miralax softens his stool enough to pass it; thus making his colon return to normal size so it can help him to know when the urge is there.
Obviously it's taking a really long time to retrain his colon and we're still working on it. I'm just thinking that if we knew what was going on initially, we wouldn't be here today and it could have saved him a lot of embarrassment and frustration.
Again, I'm just throwing this out there just in case because it really can save you a huge hassle later if it is the problem. Here is a link to a website to start you off, but you will find quite a bit of information out there if you Google it.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/encopresis.html

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Edited by mthon825 at 04/18/2009 7:48 AM PDT

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Edited by mthon825 at 04/18/2009 7:49 AM PDT
ballyhara1
 
ballyhara1
Posts: 1
Registered: 4/2/09

5 year old not wiping

Apr 2, 2009 9:36 PM
Please help! For over a year now, my five year old son is not wiping his butt after going to the bathroom. He is going up to 10 times a day which tells me that he is not sitting long enough. We did have problems with constipation for a while and have been giving him metamucil fiber wafers daily. I don't care that he's going 10 times a day-it's that he doesn't wipe after he goes. We smell him and have him show us his butt. We have provided him with a mirror and wipes to help in wiping his butt but he just doesn't want to take the time to wipe. We have told him to tell us when he goes so that we can help him but he waits until we smell him and then tells us that he has to go, but of course he has already gone. The frequency is wearing on our last nerve. We have tried offering rewards and we have tried taking away his favorite things. He just doesn't care. His older brother and his twin will tease him and tell him he stinks. It makes him mad but not mad enough to take care of it. It is also a problem at school. We have met with the teachers and school psychologist and and we are all doing the same thing so that we are consistent at home and at school but nothing seems to be working.
Is there anything else that we can try. We know that it is behavioral at this point. He has had a couple of "life changes" (move out of state and new sibling) in the last 7 months but this problem was happening before the life changes.
Thanks in advance