My little girl started using the potty on her own about 6 months ago. We always leave a potty handy and she just decided to try using it on her own. She has been doing great and only has wet accidents if we are outside and cannot get inside in time. She can even go all day running errands in town without an issue. She is always asking for underwear and really wants to try to go overnight in panties, but I have not let her yet.
So here is the problem and it might be TMI for some people... her underwear is always dirty, sometimes with poop and sometimes with just skid marks. She sits on the potty and tries to go poop, but does not have any real success. The biggest issue is that when she does go the poop never leaves her cheeks, like maybe she is not pushing long enough, but I have seen her work at it and I do not think that she is just lazy.
We have tried a big reward if she can stop messing in her panties (dance class), a small reward (treat or pretty panties).
She gets really sad and says "no dance class" or "no more pretty panties" when she has an accident and is very excited if a piece little falls in the potty from her underwear, so I know that she is not trying to be defiant.
We have tried timers, naked time and snack treats and she is very willing to go try on the potty, but nothing happens. We later switched to only giving treats if she tried AND her underwear was clean. The only effect was that she rarely gets treats now = (
I thought that she might be constipated and followed my doctor's diet change suggestions, but all it did was make the poop softer. It did not fix the problem of it stopping at her cheeks.
I would just stay the course and let time work things out, but she is bloody raw from diaper rash because she always has poop in her cheeks. I have tried leaving her naked and even gone back to diapers, but it makes absolutely no difference.
I am changing her underwear or diapers atleast 8 times a day and they are dirty everytime and I had to wash her in the tub because wipes hurt too badly = *(
I am going to make her another doc appt to see what he thinks, but I thought I would ask if anyone else had experienced this problem before and get their advice as well.
Thanks
Thanks for the imput guys. Sorry if this is hard to read my computer screen will not let me stay scrolled down for some strange reason. So I am typing blind = P
My daughter is 3 and yes, I am wiping her everytime. No, I am not going to let her go over night in panties yet because she always wakes up dirty and I would rather deal with a dirty diaper than a messy bed.
The rash is because her bottom is always dirty and even when she goes in a diaper the stool never gets out into her pants. It is always caught in her cheeks even when she is naked. Using cream has not seemed to help much because she is being cleaned so often.
I agree that the current treat system does not work if it is a physical problem (which is where I am leaning now), but I tried it this week to see if she just needed some more encouragement to pay more attention to her body.
I googled Encopresis and it sounds like exactly the problem. She was doing great with potty training and then got alittle constipated, which I thought we had dealt with. But now it seems like it might still be the caes. She does not always seem to know that she has gone.
I will bring it up at her doc appt this week. This will be a follow up appt as the first time I talked to the doc will both thought that it was just constipation, but she still has the problem even though her stool is always soft.
Well, you need to help her wipe every time. This is true for most kids until they are about 4 or more. Have her tell you every time that she is pooping and then help her clean up well.
If she is pooping continuously, not while on the potty, that is a different problem and I would be talking with her doctor about it.
How old is she? Have you heard of encopresis?
Have you got her the wet wipes.
You need to "bat clean up" (so to speak) for quite awhile. My son wasn't really able to wipe efficiently until he was past 5. I would always let him wipe, then I would finish. You can do that. It's a different issue than potty training. It's a cleaning issue. And she obviously still needs help.
Encopresis.
This is an involuntary 'leaking' of poop.
Usually caused by constipation.
It causes, skid marks and only a little poop to come out.
Hasn't your Doctor considered this?
The skid marks are a classic symptom of encopresis. She may have a big ol' ball of hardened poop somewhere in her lower colon that simply isn't budging, but moist, fresh poop is squeezing past. The blockage causes local numbing, so the child is often unaware of either a need to poop or the fact that some has just emerged.
I'd get another doctor's opinion. Encopresis can be serious and needs careful medical guidance. Miralax is often recommended to help keep stools moist while the child's body works its way back to normal.
An application of healing ointment plus a layer of vaseline after each cleaning may help. You might also want to look into diaper liners that can be pinned or taped into her underwear to make cleanup easier.
Good luck. This sounds like a pretty miserable problem for both of you. And unobtainable rewards will only discourage her over time. Kids generally don't need rewards when they are really ready and able to potty train.
Don't you wipe her hiney when she is done? Or are you saying it constantly comes/oozes out 24/7?
I think that if it's the first that you need to realize until kids are much older they stink (LOL) at wiping and need help even in elementary school.
If it's the second then a different type of doc is needed. That is not normal and she needs some kind of help fixing this.
Third, if it's just coming out then for goodness sake it's most likely something she cannot control so stop tying it to rewards. It's NOT going to do anything but make her feel like a failure when she doesn't get them. She's already telling you no to the rewards because she knows it is not obtainable to her.
First of all, do not go to night underwear unless her diaper is dry for a few week in the morning. When you do put her in underwear after that, make up the bed with a big incontinence pad centered on the bum area with a fitted sheet over it, and then add another incontinence pad and another fitted sheet. That way if she has a night time accident you can rip off one layer and have a dry bed at night.
Secondly, how did she poop while in diapers? Was that more normal consistency? My kids did fine in diapers but then withheld when in underwear, causing the poops to get super huge, and when they did go it would hurt, causing a negative cycle of withholding again. The colon actually stretches where it can hold a lot more and not give that "got-to-go" feeling until it is full. Again, big poops, pain, withholding. The withholding of a big painfull poop causes a bit to peek out and make the skidmarks.
We broke the cycle with Miralax daily for about 3 months. It is now over-the-counter. It is not a laxative, but attracts moisture so it makes even big poops soft.
Discuss this with the pediatrician first, but it might be worth a try,
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Miralax does help with that though it is kinda pricey at $80/bottle but is covered by many insurances. I see from your profile your daughter is 2 so part of this is normal. Having baby wipes in bathroom for her to wipe will help even my 8 and 9 yr old miss getting everything at times. Giving treats for going right won't help. Get a ref-feral for a pediatric gastrologist and add more fiber to her diet
