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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>4 Year Old-Pooping In Pants
LVG 11:20 AM 07-19-2017
I have a 4 year old (turned 4 in March) who STILL POOPS IN HIS PANTS, and pees on occasion too. He came to me, essentially because he was kicked out of his last facility due to behavior issues and because he was having daily poop and pee accidents. (He was fully potty trained before these accidents at the other place started happening). He started out with me having daily accidents, then he got better. It seems to go in waves...a few days good, a few days of accidents. He has just been having a small ball daily or race tracks (sorry not sure how else to say it) in his underwear when he does have what I consider an accident. Today though he pooped a full on poop in his underwear. I am trying to keep my cool, but this just makes me soooo frustrated. How would you handle this? I have 7 weeks left with him so I'm not going to term him at this point. I'm just wondering how to proceed from here?
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EntropyControlSpecialist 11:28 AM 07-19-2017
If he is having a "ball" it sounds like he has a bowel obstruction. Poop can still go around this but it will make it harder for him to feel like he needs to go poop and he will be more prone to accidents. The Doctor can do an x-ray (I think it's an x-ray?) to check for a bowel obstruction. I recommended a child get this done before and low and behold there it was! There was an article on it awhile back that you might be able to google for.
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EntropyControlSpecialist 11:28 AM 07-19-2017
Oh, and frequent accidents (2 or more in a 2 week time frame) would mean he would be in pull-ups here and not underwear.
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Pestle 11:32 AM 07-19-2017
I see four ways to go, though other providers may have more options. There's probably not one perfect answer for everybody in your situation.

1. Treat him like a toddler. Since he is not potty trained, his parents need to provide pull-ups in his size. Take him to the bathroom regularly to increase the chance that he'll realize he needs to eliminate and do it on the toilet. Make it no pressure, no stress--don't force him to stay on the toilet, and praise him if he does eliminate on the toilet.

2. Consider this extended child-led potty training--the crunchy kind that puts kids in underpants while they're still sometimes having accidents. Make the facilities available with no pressure or shame. Bag his clothes each time he has an accident. Gently and encouragingly teach him how to clean himself up after he soils himself (this part is really important; he needs to learn self-care and the consequences of having an accident). Maybe change your schedule to avoid carpet and upholstery for the next couple of months.

3. Seven weeks is a long time to be miserable. Explain to the parents that, as a family care provider, you aren't able to deal with frequent accidents from a preschooler. The time and effort to clean him up is taking your attention away from the other children in your program. Tell them you'll be calling them for pick up immediately each time he soils himself.

4. Again, seven weeks. . . same as above, but go ahead and term.

Edit: And I second what Entropy said. Encourage the parents to seek a doctor's opinion.
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Leigh 12:37 PM 07-19-2017
Originally Posted by EntropyControlSpecialist:
If he is having a "ball" it sounds like he has a bowel obstruction. Poop can still go around this but it will make it harder for him to feel like he needs to go poop and he will be more prone to accidents. The Doctor can do an x-ray (I think it's an x-ray?) to check for a bowel obstruction. I recommended a child get this done before and low and behold there it was! There was an article on it awhile back that you might be able to google for.

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LVG 07:32 AM 07-21-2017
Thanks for the responses! She did take him to the doctor a while back to see if he had encopresis. The doctor wanted to wait and see because she felt the issues stemmed from something happening at his previous daycare. We have tried rewards, punishments (in the form of wearing a pull up-he hates that), bribes...nothing has worked to completely stop the issue. I told her to take him back to the doctor and push to have him checked after having the big accident this week as you ladies suggested... (and he just had another one this morning). I'm closing my daycare in 7 weeks (6 now, but who is counting), so I can put up with it for that amount of time. Thanks for the helpful tips!
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