Sad to say, but my 11 year old DD is still not completely toilet trained. He has been on meds that constipate him since he was four years old. I am at a total loss with what to do, the accidents continue to happen numerous times per day and it does not seem to bother him. Back to pullups and retrain? Any advice would be helpful.
Has he been checked out medically? There is a disorder called Encopresis that causes these types of things.
He is soiling then? It sounds like encopresis. He cannot control it. His colon is stretched out. He no longer feels the urge to have a BM. Go to Target or Safeway and buy Miralax. Mix 1 full capful a day in juice. 20 minutes after breakfast and dinner, have him sit on the toliet for 20 minutes. No less. After a couple of weeks, the reflex to go to the bathroom will kick in. If you don't make progress, add in Kellog's Bran Buds ORIGINAL. Give them to him daily. If he hates them, try them dry, soaked in honey. You can also increase the Miralax. Not sure what the bottle says about dosage and duration, but what I'm telling you comes from my pediatrician. It does not promote dependence and you can take quite a bit. With the regime, the colon will reduce back to normal size in 6 months or so.
You don't have a toliet training problem, you have a medical condition.
Our DS 5 had this same problem about 8 mos ago. Our doc suggested using suppositories everyday to get him going everyday. Sounds gross and actually wasn't pleasant (for him or us) but it did help. He also suggested giving extra fiber in his diet. We found Fiber Choice tablets that we give him twice a day (which is an adult dose, we found the smaller dose didn't do the job), these are similar to Metamucil or maybe that Miralax in the previous post. The tablets are chewable and come in fruity flavors, just like a chewable vitamin. Things are much better now, but we still have to keep an eye on how often he goes, if we notice that it's been a couple days, then we still use a suppository to clear up the problem. It's not a pleasant experience but important to take care of, especially if you don't want them having accidents at school. Look up encopresis on Google, lots of good info. Good luck~HEY!!!!I just came across this while posting something else. You have been given great advice. I have been giving my son Miralax for two weeks becasue of this exact problem. An xray showed his colon was stetched and his lower intestine was the size of a softball. He was soiling himslef. The ped gave this same advice. She also said it could be why he pees also. It is all pushing on his bladder so the bladder never really fills up and tells him he has to go.