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Time to potty train my 1 year old, but 9 year old sd still poops pants!!!

Buzybee82's picture

hello again!
im at an interesting phase of life....as many of u know, my 9 yr old sd still poops regularly in her pants (not panties cuz she ran out) starting next week she will be living with us half the time...which is a big increase from 96 hours a month!
my 1.5 year old daughter is ready to be potty trained....so here are my questions:
what is the best way to potty train in general? whats worked for you? how do we even start this process? and how do we know if we should keep it going or give up for a while? on top of the normal potty training questions.....how do we potty train our 1 yr old daughter when my 9 yr old sd poops in her pants? (9 yr old can controll it, has never done it at school or camps, and has had medical testing that concluded its behavioral)
so how do we potty train our daughter and what do we do with the 9 yr old sd in the process? do we punish 9 yr old?
thank you....lmk if you have any more details youd like to know....ive posted a couple time already with lots of info about out of controll 9 yr old sd.
thanks in advance!!!

Anon2009's picture

If it's behavioral, DH might want to ask her doctor how to handle it. She might have something going on that's stressing her out, and he needs to ask her doctor how he can go about finding out what's stressing SD. Maybe she needs counseling, too.

1shoeon's picture

Please take her to the doctors!! My son had encopresis the accidents were just that -- a messed up body that signals were all confused. What would happen was there would be blockage and the softer stuff leaked around it. He could have multiple accidents a day then once a week to ten days he would have major large movements. One blockage was a size of a baseball :jawdrop: Right before we found a competent doctor who didn't say it was all in hi head the size of his bm was to large to flush :jawdrop:

We had to change his diet. We had to help him learn to poop on a routine. He was on stool softeners for a very long time because we had to retrain his bowels and allow them to "shrink".

uncommon's picture

So instead of helping the 9-year old, you choose to humiliate her by not providing undergarments?

Lovely.

Oi Vey's picture

I was wondering the same thing. How do you "run out" of underwear?? Is there no washing machine??

lmac's picture

Ditto. The 4yo I watch poops himself, and he has to clean it up. Including taking his soiled pants outside to wash them with the hose and wiping himself clean.

So, I think a 9yo should be able to do the same.

oneoffour's picture

If it is behavioural I would revert to John Rosemond's creed. She is obviously too tired to stay up late if she cannot go to the bathroom on time. So she starts going to bed at 5:30pm - straight after dinner. When she is not 'too tired' to use the bathroom properly she may stay up later.

As she doesn't do this at school or at her friends places it sounds like this is a little habit she has learnt to control her surroundings as she can. Think about it this way ... she has a BMovt and suddenl;y the world revolves areound her whether in a negative way or not. At least it is attention. Sending her off with wipes and a bucket to clean herself up away from everyone else and no eye contact at all may get the message home.

Another thing you may try is every time DD is put on the potty, her 1/2S has to sit on the toilet to 'show her how' to use the toilet properly. When both girls get a result both get a reward.

I would certainly be restricting a 9 yr old who willingly poos herself to control her environment. The trick is to let her understand SHE controls her bedtime now. IF she CHOOSES to soil herself then SHE has chosen her bedtime that night. Just remember it may be so that it is part of her nature now so it may take a while for her to retrain herself.

As for your 1.5 yr old... good luck with that. Personally I think she may be a little too young but you know your daughter. If your daughter isn't getting the principle just let it rest for a few weeks and don't blame your 9 yr old SD. Toileting is a personal thing and she may see her 1/2S pooing herself however considering how uncomfortable it feels in your pants and the smell she is likely to NOT pick up the self soiling as an acceptable behaviour.

Oi Vey's picture

OP, the two kids are different. The issues with SD are exclusive of potty training your one year old. Please remember that.
Just potty train your one year like you normally would.
And get SD some help. At the very least, get her some underwear.

If she has "accidents," she needs to help clean it up. She sounds like she has some pretty serious emotional issues...

alwaysanxious's picture

Well, I have no real advice here. I know people who have potty trained at 1.5 and it has worked. Others have had to stop and try later. No reason why you shouldn't try.

Punishment doesn't work as well for behavior modification. I'd say consequence is really the answer. If you have all assurances that it is not medical, then she should clean up after herself each time she does it. At 9 she can handle it. She cleans her clothing that she soiled and the area that she messed in.

I honestly wouldn't respond emotionally to it, just maintain a neutral tone and give her the task to complete. tell her ahead of time before it happens again

"SD, children your age do not do this. It stops for most children at the age of xxx. If you cannot go in the toilet when you have to go number 2 (whatever you call it in your home) then you will have to clean up your mess yourself. Anything that you make dirty, you will be cleaning. I will not."

You have to be consistent though. If you only do it sometimes it won't work. Complete follow through.

Sorry you received some flaming. Some users will just insult instead of provide an alternative. Maybe you just ran out of undies for her today or maybe you guys are tired of cleaning it? In any case, when you can, get her undies and make her wash them when soiled. I assume you were just throwing them out for convenience.

Hopefully, your baby won't pay too much attention to SD at this time. I would say around 3 or so is when they would want to imitate and take on her habits. Hopefully you will have this resolved by then. Just treat each child separately.

asheeha's picture

My SD9 did this too. We are not sure when it started but it was close to our wedding. I honestly believe BM put a lot of pressure on SD9 to help her get DH to come back to her and the wedding was a huge stressor for her.

As far as I know, it wasn't physical, I'm not sure BM took her to a physical doctor about it. However, she's been seeing a psychologist and the episodes seem to have stopped.

She was pretty embarrassed about it and would just throw her soiled underwear in the trash.

I believe she was just VERY stressed out.

If your SD9 is doing this it's not normal. Something is wrong and it'd be a good idea to get her into counseling.

No ideas on your one year old, but the two aren't related.

Auteur's picture

Yep I wouldn't count out some PAS that is stressing out SD9.

So I also agree to follow John Rosemond's advice and also make her clean up her own messes.

In my case, Prince Hygiene, when he was almost seven, purposely crapped himself and all over the house as a "withdrawal/anger" symptom of daddykins not springing out of bed at 4 a.m. on a Saturday and surfing the internet in a blue haze that lit up Prince Hygiene's vast dark circles from lack of sleep and proper bedtime.

I also noticed the snarky, yet predictable, BM troller pile on. GAG!

asheeha's picture

Yes there was a lot of PAS going on. I imagine it is still going on but the girls don't talk about what their mom says anymore.

There is a HUGE difference in that she genuinely felt ashamed of the episodes. DH talked with her about it and she said she didn't know it was happening until going to the bathroom. She didn't say anything about it and we only knew it happened because we saw the panties in the bathroom trash can.

I wonder if she was having diarrhea as a symptom of stress.

As far as we know, it only happened twice while she was with us.

I feel really bad for her. But I think the counselor has helped her a lot. She has been diagnosed with depression and ADD.

I think that kids with this problem should see a counselor to help them deal with stress in their life in a more appropriate manner.

However, the research I've done says that the cure can take years. I feel for whoever has to deal with this, it's very disturbing and frustrating.

Buzybee82's picture

ok let me clarify for those who are jumping down my throat about her not having any more panties....this has been going on her whole life. we have been dealing with this for a very long time and have tried everything with her. she does controll it when she wants and does not do it at school, sleep overs, summer camps, etc etc. she says she knows when she is doing it, just doesnt want to stop whay ever it is she is doing to go to the bathroom. we did have her clean her panties for a long time, when that wasnt working we made her start throwing them away. we bought her "last pack" of panties, told her when they run out theyre out. so since weve gone through 6+ years of panties we thought we'd try something new.
in summer we get her for 2 weeks. during those 14 days she didnt have any accidents (or should be called on purposes') for 12 days....then when it came time to go home she started up again.
she has had all medical testing and trust me i have read everything on the net about that endo..c... whatever the syndrome is called.
like many of the "nice" posters have said, it is a controll thing.
frankly i got tired of her cleaning up shitty panties inside or outside of my house, cuz then the poopy water gets all over everything, and then in my washer, on counters, etc.
ive been thinking a lot about this cuz she will be living with us 1/2 the time starting next weekend....
trust me, when youve been dealing with this as long as we have youve tried just about everything u can think of!
i really want to thank all the nice people on here. i have never heard of the put her to bed at 530 theroy and am gonna look into that! i like that!
and those of u that said she does this for attention are right. she will do ANYTHING for attention, and the sad thing is when she is here she gets ALL of the attention and our 1 yr old is not getting enough! it pisses me off!
what do u think about pull ups? good idea? send her to school in them until she stops??? maybe she wouldnt want kids at school to notice or ask so she would controll it? or would it just give her a bigger reason to poo in her pants?
thanks to all you nice posters, and to all the rude ones: stop going through life assuming you know whats going on without knowing all the facts....im sure you dont only do it on here, but in your everyday lifes too.

alwaysanxious's picture

Love the pull ups idea. She will see the other kids don't wear them. Sometimes peer embarrassment is the only thing that works.

I can see why you stopped buying panties. In order to control the mess, you could have her stand in the tub and rinse everything she messes in her clothes then shower herself. Give her clorox wipes to wipe it down then shower. Oops, bedtime now. You must not feel good or be tired if you are not going in the toilet.

stepfamilyfriend's picture

What worked for me, was letting her be naked. It was possible because we were in Hawaii when she was one, and lived by the beach for two months. Once the diaper no longer held and hid the stuff, but it started running down her legs and made a mess, she became waaayyyy more aware of it. After 3 weeks she no longer pooped her pants, expect for one single time a couple of months later. She also started to dislike pee down her legs and it wasn't too much after that she did not need a diaper in the daytime. Now I know that you may not have that option, but some regular naked time each day, maybe in the yard Smile might help make her more aware. Kids tend to stay in diapers long partly because they work so well and hide and keep everything tidy for the most part.
As far as the nine year old, that is beyond me, sorry, no advice there.

Rags's picture

I have got your fix. Take away all of her lower half garments and let her wear diapers in public. To school, out for dinner, to her friends house, etc.....

She gets a choice. Stop now or wear diapers to school,etc..... If you want to be a bit reasonable then put her in spandex sport shorts over her diaper so the diaper is clearly visible.

ZERO tolerance. It stops now or she goes in to diapers and stays in diapers until she goes 90days with no incidents. Each incidetn resets the 90days.

That ought to fix it.

Public humiliation always works wonders when necessary. IT worked on my Skid when he had this problem at 6-7yo. It only took one day in diapers and he fixed the problem himself.

sunny_in_La's picture

I hope I am not too late posting this. I just stumbled upon this post. My daughter has had this problem for about two years...she is now 8. I did a ton of research and know she has encoporesis. I was very frustrated before finding out what was causing her to constantly have dirty underwear. It was so frustrating and I was constantly angry about it. I had her clean her own dirty underwear in the sink once as punishment. I even threatened to buy her a pack of diapers to wear..thank goodness I did not make her wear diapers, since that is a horrible way to shame a child, and it would have been a rotten mistake on my part to do that to her. I even feel bad that I made her wash her own dirty underwear. She kept telling me she did not know why she was having accidents. I sat her down and told her how much I love her and that we are going to fix this problem. I now make her sit on the toilet every evening now sometime between post dinner and her bath time. She has to sit for a total of 10 minutes, even if she believes she is done before 10 minutes it up. She brings a book into the bathroom with her or her DS to pass the time away, and she even brings the timer and sets it for 10 minutes. And, whoo hoo! It has been a success! She now is having regular BM's in the toilet and no more mess in her underwear. If we get off track, and I forget to have her sit daily for 10 minutes, the mess will start again. So, consistency is key. My daughter has had a lot of turmoil in her life, and I believe holding in her BM's is the only thing she must feel she has some control over. I'm not expert, but this is just my opinion.