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What works and what doesn't?

Patricia - posted on 02/16/2010 ( 4 moms have responded )

Hi all I am looking for advise on what works and what doesn't, I know routine is one of the main things but do you suggest sitting on the toilet after meals? For how long is long enough? We give my son Fiber bears and they seem to help I don't like giving him miralax, it causes more accidents than not. we do enemas every once in awhile but how often is too often? I guess I am looking at any options, opinions, advice and a new plan of attack. My son starts first grade next year...... the teasing will start... it already has a little....... and he is aware that kids think he stinks... The best thing I can do for him is to roll up my sleeves and dive in gloves first (just kidding I don't use gloves!) I am just looking for what has worked or even helped someone else that I can incorporate into my plan.... which as of right now is well defeated. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

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Jennifer - posted on 03/05/2010

Hi Patricia!
My daughter Norah has been struggeling with encopresis for several years now. She is in K and has to wear a pull-up to school. Her K class is full-day but she goes half day because her encopresis was so bad when she started in Sept. Her teacher and team at school are absolutely wonderful. We take Norah to Childrens hospital and meet with the head doctor of the Gastriointestinal dept. All they can tell us is to do the Miralax. They told us that the impaction is what causes the leaking and the soiling and the objective is to eliminate impactions. The Miralax seems to be a bandade to the problem if you want my opinion. My husband has done extensive research online and he came across a doctor who has dedicated his whole profession to the study of encopresis. His name is Dr. Robert Collins. He wrote a book called The Clean Kid Manual. His website is soilingsolutions.com
My husband and I are going to try this route. We are just so frustrated with the whole Miralax regime. We also had Norah on Senna syrup with the Miralax. That caused diarrhea like stool with many accidents. Let me know what you think about the website mentioned. We havn't started it yet. Good Luck. I will pray for your son. I know this is the hardest and most frustrating thing I have dealt with as a mother.

Patricia - posted on 02/17/2010

I also pack my son's lunches for school he is currently in kindergarten and his teacher is wonderful help with this. I've never tried the Karo syrup I'd be very interested to see if it helps, Gil gets very grumpy when he has to sit on the toilet as well which almost makes it pointless as when he is frustrated or upset he can't relax enough to release a bowel. Gil is very open to enema's and I hear that that is the aggressive approach to this but I worry it might cause other issues when addressing this one... Thank you for your insite and responding it is comforting to have someone else who is going though the same thing to talk to.

Tina - posted on 02/17/2010

Patricia, my heart goes out to you. Connor is just now 7 yrs. We have tried miralax with the same problem. I don't know exactly how long it's going to take to kick in and I don't want a problem for him at school. I pack his lunches for him so that I can limit his dairy and increase his fiber. I'm trying Karo syrup right now. I'll let you know how it goes.

We have tried sitting on the toilet after meals for about 10 minutes. It only serves to make him very grumpy!

I guess at this point I can't really offer much info on what has worked. :-( If I find something I will certainly let you know.

hang in there!

tina

Patricia - posted on 02/16/2010

I guess I should also mention that we have only known my son has encopresis for about 10 months and it started about a year before that...... he was at one point fully potty trained.