5yo pooping pants
 

Hi:
We have adorable 5 year old twin grandsons. One is very sensitive. Their mother is having a C-section tomorrow for their sister. Suddenly he has started to poop his pants all the time.

He said it just happens. I am worried sick about him. I am not sure if it might be medical or if he is suddenly doing it for attention. We have not stopped giving him the attention we usually do.

He is constantly crying and afraid he is in trouble when it happens. He is not. We haven't yelled at him and he falls apart when we tell him to go check. (he will walk around in it for hours.)

Help:confused:

Sometimes kids regress in development, when under stress.

Wetting the bed, can happen too.

But I would look to the diet and see if there are triggers present there. Dairy and gluten are the two most common GI triggers in children. Dairy can cause bedwetting in some children.

Also too much sugar or fructose in the diet can cause bowel urgency. Actually 1 in 3 people have a fructose intolerance.
So since that is a bit easier to control, I'd try withhold candy, other sweets, fruit and fruit juices and see if things improve. Combined with stress, a fructose intolerance is hard for adults to manage even!

Apples and pears are the worst offenders and some people can remember not being able to drink apple juice or cider!
In fact many mixed fruit juices are also high in pear juice.

Little kids in US really chug the fruit juices. So see if that is the culprit first. The second culprit is gluten. Going gluten free is more complicated but also may be a culprit.

I'm looking at his diet too. Maybe Ill ask at the hospital today. It just started a couple of weeks ago. Today is the C-section. We are trying to emphasize that he is still loved and that he need to help by being a good big brother.

I suggested giving him matzoh. That will plug anyone up. :D

If the matzoh, makes it worse, you have your gluten diagnosis!

He was doing fine for a couple of days and then it happened again when little sister came home yesterday. That may indeed be the root cause.
Monday night at the hospital:

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...igBrothers.jpg

What a beautiful picture! Beautiful children!

Thanks for posting it. Here's hoping he realizes that
isn't as bad as he imagined! Kids with sensitive natures, often over-react. My son had one incident in kindergarten that flummoxed both me and his teacher. And it was all a misunderstanding on his part, that grew inside his emotional centers. I got the answer one night doing a pillow fight...and we punched pillows and shared what was bothering each of us, and it all spilled out and therefore was fixed the next day with the teacher he misunderstood. Kids can be mystifying sometimes!

It's just nice to have someone with which to talk. He was fine for a couple of days and slipped yesterday when she came home. I tried to talk to him that his sister was coming here to grow up just like he did.

He is the more sesitive of the twins. He has me worried sick. and you can see from my signature I have enough to worry about. But as they say, "that's a whole nother story."

If this does NOT clear up with time, and continues, intermittently
I'd suggest you give him some Kefir. This fermented yogurt has 12 probiotics in it compared to 3-6 for yogurts.
http://www.lifeway.net/Store/StoreLocator.aspx
I get mine at Kroger's. A friend on the boards suggested it to me in Sept when I had a horrific GI upset, and it totally cured me--I think I had some low grade thing for YEARS! Now both my husband and I have 4 ounces every day. It tastes good, and is amazing.

There are science articles on bowel bacteria differing in identical twins, coming out now.

http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/20930.aspx

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Identi.....-a0225435648

Of course, antibiotic use also upsets bowel flora. And that may be a trigger too between twins.

I am still new to Kefir. I just was lucky to find it easily near my home. You could try health food stores. I assume they would have it too. The Kroger's I shop at has an "organic" food section, but all Kroger's may not...they vary by location, etc.

Recommendations for constipation involve knowing what may be causing it. If you take opiates, the suggestion would be different, etc, than if you just had dietary issues, or IBS. The kefir may help people with IBS and therefore help correct constipation too.
There is a yogurt Activia by Dannon made for constipation of mild causation. (won't work much on opiate induced constipation though).