Patient's question:
A seven-year-old boy often soils his pants with feces. This has been happening for over a year now, and it happens every day. He has seen a doctor and undergone an (anal examination) and a B (ultrasound), but no abnormalities were found. However, he frequently complains of stomach pain and has vomited a few times at school due to it. Sometimes, when he looks very urgent, I ask him to use the bathroom, but he always says he doesn't need to. When he can no longer hold it in, he loses control. We have tried many methods—spanking, scolding, and talking to him calmly—but nothing has worked. I don't know if it's a physical problem or a psychological one?Doctor's answer:
Adults remind me not to go when I don't want to, but when I really feel the urge to go to the toilet, it's too late, and I end up wetting my pants, for which I get beaten every day. Later, a hospital check-up revealed it was colitis. When my son was around four or five years old, he also had a period where he wet his pants, and even occasionally did so in the first grade (he started school at five). Learning from my own childhood experience, I didn't scold or beat him but instead observed the reasons behind this behavior. Later, I discovered (during kindergarten) that a lot of the time, he was so engrossed in playing happily during breaks that he forgot to use the restroom. After class, when he felt the urge to go, he was too afraid to ask for leave, so he ended up wetting his pants. On one hand, I told him to use the restroom before breaks, and on the other, I asked the teacher to remind him to use the restroom at regular intervals. After starting elementary school, the reasons for him wetting his pants became even more amusing and frustrating: because he was an early reader and quite short, the toilet stalls in elementary school were too far apart, and he was afraid he might fall into the pit when squatting. Therefore, he was too scared to use the restroom. Gradually, I trained him to use the restroom at home. In reality, the child was also very reluctant to do so, and excessive scolding could harm his self-esteem. Parents should keep this a secret for him and help him solve the problem.