Sneaky Poo

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Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user. A GP may refer your child to a specialist for treatment if they think soiling could be caused by another medical condition. Things you can do at home to help with soiling This approach is distinct from most open, unstructured play therapy, in that we collaborate closely with children in play that is actively focused on facing a problem. Children’s sense of effectiveness as agents of change clearly increases when they experiment with possibilities in relationship to an externalized problem. In therapy with families the play is mainly with words, using humor wherever possible! But an externalizing conversation is easily enhanced with other forms of expression favored by children, such as play and expressive arts therapy. SELECTED READINGS (Emphasis on children) In contrast to the common cultural and professional practice of identifying the person as the problem or the problem as within the person, this work depicts the problem as external to the person. It does so not in the conviction that the problem is objectively separate, but as a linguistic counter-practice that makes more freeing constructions available.

Encourage your child to sit on the toilet 10 – 15 minutes after eating (eating activates the gastro-colic reflex which stimulates faeces to move through the bowel), The bowel's natural tendency to move after the intake of food is a great ally in the campaign against soiling, because it enables parents to predict when a motion is likely to occur and encourage the child to sit on the toilet at those times. For the child, externalization is like playing a game of “pretend.” Implicitly, or sometimes even explicitly, we are saying to the child, “Let’s pretend the problem is outside yourself and we’ll play with it from there.” As Paley (1990, p. 7) writes, “‘Pretend’ often confuses the adult but it is the child’s real and serious world, the stage upon which any identity is possible and secret thoughts can be safely revealed.” Encourage your child to have some exercise daily. This also helps stimulate movement of faeces through the bowel.Holding their bodies in strange positions (a banana bend), going rigid and standing on their tip toes. They use their bottom muscles to stop themselves from having a bowel movement when they feel the urge to go. This is done using softening and stimulating laxatives, which may initially be at frequent, high doses. It will be messy initially as the old stool comes out so it is best to keep the child home from school while this part of the treatment is carried out. Roth, S. & Epston, D. (1996a). Consulting the problem about the problematic relationship: An exercise for experiencing a relationship with an externalized problem. In M. Hoyt (Ed.) Constructive therapies: Volume 2., (148-162). New York: Guilford. White, M., & Epston, D. (1990). Consulting your consultants: The documentation of alternative knowledges. Dulwich Centre Newsletter. 4, 25-35.

Build Associations: putting potty in places they might like to go for a wee or poo, changing the child’s nappy in the bathroom encourage your child to empty the contents of the nappy into the toilet and flush. Seeming vacant and not responding to instructions. It can take a huge amount of effort and concentration to hold on. Your child may get cross if you interrupt them at this point or seem 'unreachable'.Constipation affects 1 in 3 children. It is particularly common in children under 5 years old. The majority of these children have what is known as ‘functional constipation’. This means there is no underlying physical cause or other medical condition.

Lobovits, D. & Freeman, J. (1997) Destination Grump Station, Getting Off the Grump Bus. In D. Nylund and C. Smith (Eds.) Narrative Therapy with Children and Adolescents. New York: Guilford Press.Travelling down the neuro pathway: Narrative practice, neuroscience, bodies, emotions and the affective turn Be active in as many ways as possible; for example, through play, cultural activities, dance, sport and recreation, jobs around the home. White, M. (1993). Commentary: The histories of the present. In S, Gilligan & R. Price (Eds.), Therapeutic Conversations (pp. 121-135). New York: Norton. It is normal for you to feel an urge to poo within about half an hour of eating. This is known as the 'gastrocolic reflex' or peristalsis and is what prompts people to want to go to the toilet in the morning.

Commonly-asked questions about narrative approaches to therapy, community work, and psychosocial support When children stop the urge to do a poo it’s very easy for them to get trapped in a vicious circle of withholding.When their poo hurts or they are fearful of the toilet, they find it hard to relax and are anxious it will hurt.Whichever method is used, once there have been a few successes the problem usually disappears. Even without any kind of intervention, in my experience it is very unlikely that the behaviour will persist past the age of 5. Most parents begin toilet training their children at about the age of 2 - 2 1/2 years, and by 4 years of age more than 90% of children are reliably clean and dry during the day. It is important to state at the outset that night-time dryness is achieved as the result of neurological development and maturation, not as the result of daytime toilet training, and only about 80% of children will be reliably dry at night by the age of 4, as compared with the daytime figure. SOILING