My 6 yr old boy has bowel movement accidents

[alwaysintraining]

I am new to this site & I am desperate for your help. My son, who just turned 6, has been having bowel movement accidents for about 6 months now. He basically has "tracks" on his underwear that show that he needs to go. Nothing has changed as far as our rhythm goes at home so the only thing I can come up with is that he doesn't want to stop what he's doing to go to the bathroom. I have tried EVERYTHING as far as I know, from telling him he needs to poop when his body tells him so to getting so upset & making him clean himself up then regreting it afterward. He already has trouble going pee when he's fully engaged because he doesn't want to miss a beat so he wets himself. I know that is very "normal" for boys to do but the bowel movement situation doesn't seem "normal" to me. My husband & I are so frustrated & don't know what else to do at this point.

[azfiresmbm]

The whole thing IS completely normal ..
If tracks are all you have to worry about you are good ..

At 5 my nephew would poop on the floor (take off his underwear and poop)

!!!At 6 my son tried to hold his in for days !!!!! and yes there were track marks
We gave our son extra fiber to help "release" ..
It is more than likely a CONTROL issue ..
This is one thing he can control, the when , how, if he poops ..

The more you get angry at him the more he has your attention and the more he might do this ....

If you are really concerned talk to your ped. about it !!

[lilyka]

are you sure he is not just wiping poorly?

another thing to consider is could hebe constipated.

Other wise I would watch for signs that he had to go and stop everything interesting until he went. we had a lot of trouble with my third having accidents then as soon as she looked like she had to go no matter what she said she needed we would turn off the TV, put away toys ect. that made it easier for her to want to take time out to go to the bathroom (you know . .. because it takes so long and all and our family is so exciting . . . you might miss a lot . . .) Also walking with her up the stairs and keeping her company while she was in there helped.

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

My DS had lots of problems with bowel movement accidents until he was 8 and we finally figured out that he had a lactose intolerance and this was causing all sorts of issues. He would have to go suddenly, with very little warning. He would reguarly not make it to the bathroom at home, let alone when we were out or driving. When he did go, his stools were soft. Because he was so frightened of having an accident at school he would spend hours in the restroom if he felt the slightest urge -- and it was his teacher than finally suggested the lactose thing. Once we limited lactose (basically all it took was eliminating fluid milk, cheese, and ice cream from his diet, plus lactaid for pizza days at school), things cleared up within a week. And now its been months since there was any issue at all unless we knowingly overdid dairy with him.

He also had the occassional urine accident that was completely unrelated to the bowel issues, just normal "I don't want to stop" stuff. They aren't necessarily connected.

[beckyh]

My best friend's son does this and her pediatrican recommends giving him a cup of Apple Cider a day so that he can't constipate himself and make the situation worse.