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Lifestyle and home remedies
By Mayo Clinic staffOnce your child has been treated for encopresis, it's important that you take steps to encourage softer stools and regular bowel movements. The following tips can help:
- Focus on fiber. Feed your child a diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables and foods high in fiber. Offer whole grains, which are brown — not white — in color.
- Push fluids. Encourage your child to drink plenty of water.
- Limit dairy products and fats. These can inhibit bowel movements.
- Set a schedule. Adopt regular mealtimes and bedtimes.
- Arrange bathroom time. Have your child spend three minutes alone on the toilet after one meal each day trying to have a bowel movement. This applies only to children who are toilet trained and are at least 4 years old.
- Stick with the program for several months. The relapse rate for encopresis is high.
As you help your child overcome encopresis, be patient and use positive reinforcement. Don't blame, criticize or punish your child if he or she has an accident. Instead, offer your unconditional love and support.
- Parenting Corner Q&A: My child is way past toilet training, but he still soils his underwear. What should I do? American Academy of Pediatrics. http://www.aap.org/publiced/BK5_Soiling.htm. Accessed Sept. 10, 2008.
- Stool soiling and constipation in children. American Academy of Family Physicians. http://familydoctor.org/online/famcoden/home/children/parents/toilet/166.printerview.html. Accessed Sept. 10, 2008.
- Berkowitz CD. Encopresis. In: Berkowitz CD. Berkowitz's Pediatrics: A Primary Care Approach. 3rd ed. Washington D.C.: American Academy of Pediatrics; 2008:223-236.
- Stafford B, et al. Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders & Psychosocial Aspects of Pediatrics. In: Hay Jr. WW, et al. CURRENT Diagnosis & Treatment: Pediatrics. 19th edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3398994&searchStr=encopresis. Accessed Nov. 28, 2008.
- Nurcombe B. Developmental Disorders of Attachment, Feeding, Elimination, & Sleeping. In: Ebert MH, et al. CURRENT Diagnosis & Treatment: Psychiatry. 2nd edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3291880&searchStr=encopresis. Accessed Nov. 28, 2008.
- Vegetative Disorders: Elimination Disorders: Encopresis. In: Kliegman RM, et al. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th edition. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007.
- Ferry GD, et al. Definition, clinical manifestations, and evaluation of functional fecal incontinence in children. http://www.uptodate.com/online/content/topic.do?topicKey=pedigast/10533&selectedTitle=1~14&source=search_result. Accessed Nov. 28, 2008.
