hiding bowel movements

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omg this i used to do that when i was a kid i thought i was the only one until my kid had similar toileting problems and all the doctor did was send us to a clinic for food advice lol and i have always cooked frome scratch and have a healthy diet.
They said she just must eat burgers or something but i knew why she held her toilet becouse i used to but it's like talking to a brick wall with some doctors.
My kid had nappys at night for quiet a few years and still has some problems now but not as bad i used to clean up a lot of her toilet that was around the room lol

It's kind of nice for me to know im not the only one honestly ive felt like such a freek especialy growing up

I used to have problem with holding it for too long.

The thing is, unless a child has irritable bowel syndrome, or a really weak sphincter, messing accidents are very rare. By the age of eight or nine the only time soiling occurs is when encopresis happens.

I never got to encopresis. But I'd have these super huge bowel movements that would cause the toilet to overflow. So as a spur to future incidents, my parents would buy huge containers of prune juice. I hated prune juice with a passion, but eventually that kicked the habit.

My son does still have "accidents." Usually it is urine, by sometimes stool. He still wears good nights at night. He hates this and sometimes still pees the bed because they overflow. His dr's say that with the seizues he may have to wear pull ups for a while at night. He is 6. When he does something new, almost always you can expect an accident. We have 3 sets of clothes at school. I always take 2-3 extra sets with me everywhere we go. I have explained it is ok. But when he is dancing, I now demand that he goes to the bathroom. Look for the signs. They are usually there.

He is now embairsed about the accidents and will try to hide them from you. I have not talked to his dr about this in relation to the AS. He was just diagnosed yesterday. This did not come up yet. He has been dx with ADHD since he was 3. At first all the dr's said it was the ADHD and he just did not want to stop playing to go, now they have no idea. Good Luck and just watch what she does just prior for her unique signs.

My 4 1/2 year old ds still has accidents (urine, not bm) if I don't remind him to go to the bathroom when I see the signs. He still needs to sit on the toilet (and often takes his pants all the way off), and I'm stuck with ideas for teaching him how to pee standing up...after reading some of the comments on this thread, I'm thinking that will be important to fitting in. His motor planning is not great, so he does not seem at all interested in trying to pee standing up. He also is unable to wipe his own bum (which means frequent baths after preschool days). Does anyone have any tips?

DS also suffers from chronic constipation. We've tried giving him prune juice...he can drink a whole cup of it, for several days in a row and it will have little or no effect on his poop. Is this common with AS? Is there a co-existing condition I should be asking our GP about?

For my son they put him on Miralax for the first 2 years. After that he was able to regulate on his own. However, apple juice is now what I use for constipation. The only down side to that is it makes him extremely hyper. I would talk to your GP. There are many available options for your son. Good Luck

We tried just about everything...routine washroom trips (for bm purposes), mineral/olive oil, probiotics, upping the fiber intake, senokot, dulcolac, etc, but have only really found relief in using lactulose (which I was extremely hesitant to use, because it is like a liquid sugar and sugar feeds yeast, etc)

Now we are having trouble getting DD to wipe herself properly, with constant "accidents" found during the wash. *sigh*

I have been considering doing the wiping for her...wondered if I might need to accept that this is one of her special needs?

If nothing else I am glad to see this thread to know I am not alone!

My daughter, who is the supposed uber-NT in the house, has been doing this for several years now. She started the summer before kindie, at first just wetting all the time. I found that caffeine and artificial sweeteners stimulate the bladder so we cut those out and it really helped. Then, when we were pulling together her clothes for starting school (her closet is set up for her access so she puts up her clean clothes and gets her clothes for the day) there was a stink as soon as we opened up the doors. Inside a backpack she'd been storing up her feces. Ugh.

Since then we've had to monitor her bathroom use, if she's in there too long you have to check because she will go "digging" then start painting the bathroom walls. She's nearly 8. She doesn't do this anywhere but at home.

She's also adopted, and was purely neglected the first 6 months of her life. There is nothing happening to her in our household that would cause this.

We also have to wake her at 11pm every night or else she'll wet the bed. DH has threatened to go the pull ups route, but I've told him that won't move her forward. The one psychologist I consulted however, advised that over a school break we simply "start over" with her potty training.

If someone gets the answer, post it!

I can't help you with this one. It's personal.

I am a little hesitant to go through all of this...because my son is a moderately functioning autie who is dissimiliar to your children in background and gender.

When he was younger (from around 18 months to nearly 5) he would go poo in his pants (never pee---he's been number one trained since 15 months) and then smear it everywhere.

We were able to potty train him in this method:

He absolutely COULD NOT take a crap if someone was watching or touching him...SO I began to hold his hand ALL DAY---only letting him NOT be touched when he would sit on the toilet.

He began pooping on the potty 3 days later.

I phased out holding his hand (which I would also hold while I toileted when my husband was at work---I just turned his head---it was awful) after one and a half weeks.

I then moved to being within 2 feet of him (which is really hard for me, I'm an aspie) at all times. If I cooked, then he sat on the countertop and watched.

He had NO time to be alone to poop OTHER than on the toilet.

After a week of 2 feet, I moved to within 5 feet for a few days, then 10 feet, then just in the same room, and then he had his privacy and freedom.

During this six week process, I would use the same sentence ("Toilet time") to indicate bathroom time. He began using this phrase because he wanted the privacy of the toilet so that he could physically release.

I also read the book Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi repeatedly. It was great because it is very descriptive and semi-graphic. Very good for a very literal kid.

I would also use a social story (with PECS because he was just an "emerging talker" at that point) that said:
"I must poop in the toilet. The toilet is where poop should go."

We have not had an accident since then (nearly 2 years) and no poo smearing.

I did cheer when he would poop, but I kept it very laid back...because loud noises startle him.

Poo smearing is common among autistic children---so it may have little to do with abuse.

It may be completely related to the sensory issues of the act itself.

We stopped the poo smearing (before potty training) by allowing him to paint with pudding, play in mud, and other things of that nature.

As far as the sensation of poop on his butt, when he would poop we would say "If you poop in the toilet, it will not be on your butt."

He still dislikes wiping himself, but the flushable wet wipes have made it possible for him to do so easily. Toilet paper is tricky because it can be hard to judge how much to use and when it's finished.

He HATES to flush the toilet, and that is something that (for now) I have to do for him.

Good luck to all of you.