William's poop sagas

 For a few years now we have been dealing with some pretty difficult bowel issues. Around the age of 2 William decided that he did not want to poop. He would go long periods of time without pooping and the length of time got longer and longer after the issue started. When he was close to 3 I knew I needed to potty train him but didn’t know how I would handle it with the poop issue. I went ahead and got him pee trained and that was pretty easy but the poop was a major challenge for years. He would hold it for over 30 days sometimes. We would be at the pediatrician wondering how to handle it. They would always push miralax and that was their solution. When I would give too much miralax he would have multiple disgusting accidents a day since he couldn’t control it as well and still was opposed it happening. When I didn’t give him the miralax he was a master at controlling it until it became critical. Then he would have up to 10 grape sized accidents a day for several days until his body would revolt and he would physically be trembling trying to control it. I would have to force him to sit on the toilet and sit with him begging and pleading for him to give up control. He finally would have to and what would come out of him would be more than you could ever fathom coming out of such a small body. It would clog the toilet so I ended up removing it from the toilet to save our plumbing, gross. 

About a year ago we started occupational therapy. His therapist, Sarika, was precious and so so good with him. She focused on core strength, yoga poses that release bowel and breathing. She also read with him and did things that normalized potty needs. He slowly made progress and finally overcame. I believe that this was ultimately a control issue. His pediatrician mentioned that kids can really only control what goes in and what comes out of their bodies so most kids are picky about what they eat but some kids choose this. He has so many things in his life that felt out of control that he found something to control, a move at 2, living in an old house with failing septic that caused stress, his dad fighting cancer, another move and losing his beloved dad. 

This issue caused so much stress for both of us. When he got to a critical point it often meant several hard days. This was hard when he had someone caring for him while I had to travel for sports with his sisters. It was hard when our family traveled. We always had to have many changes of clothes and ways to dispose of gross things. I am so thankful for the progress he has made and that we seem to be past this hurdle. I am so happy about it that his sisters and I threw him a poop party. 

I kept a schedule so I was clear when talking to doctors and therapist:

August 26

October 6

November 1

November 19

December 1

December 16

December 19

December 30

January 11

January 18

January 25

January 29

Feb 5- in the night everywhere 🤪

Feb 12

Feb 16- unprompted on his own 🎉

Feb 19- unprompted on his own 🎉

Feb 22-unprompted on his own 🎉

Feb 26- unprompted on his own 🎉

Feb 28- unprompted on his own 🎉 but painful and he cried

March 17- traumatic & only bc he physically couldn’t hold it any longer again

Mar 28- traumatic & only bc he physically couldn’t hold it any longer again

Apr 12-traumatic & only bc he physically couldn’t hold it any longer again

Apr 23- traumatic & only bc he physically couldn’t hold it any longer again

May 2- only bc he physically couldn’t hold it any longer again

May 13- made to sit on the toilet but didn’t take as long for it to happen. 🙂

May 16- made to sit on the toilet but didn’t take as long for it to happen. 🙂

May 21- only bc he physically couldn’t hold it any longer again and had to sit on the toilets several times for long periods and finally gave in

5/25- showing signs of needing to go so made to sit on the toilet with a phone to watch and decided not to fight it 🎉, took about 20 mins.

5/30- made to sit on the toilet but didn’t take as long for it to happen. 🙂

6/9- made to sit on the toilet but didn’t take as long for it to happen. 🙂

6/13- unprompted and on his own 🥳

6/16- started 10 min sitting after some meals, pooped in 3 minutes 🥳

6/17- unprompted and on his own 🥳

6/20-unprompted and on his own 🥳

6/22-unprompted and on his own 🥳

6/24-unprompted and on his own 🥳

6/24-unprompted and on his own 🥳

6/29- “””” 🥳

7/1- “””” 🥳

7/2- “””” 🥳

7/4- “””” 🥳

7/8- “””” 🥳

7/10- “””” 🥳

7/12

7/15

7/18- twice

7/22-7/29- 4XS beach week

7/30

8/2

8/4

8/6

8/7

8/12

8/14- x2