Toilet Training (and loose bowels)

My 9-year-old daughter has been successfully toilet trained for urination but not bowel movements. She has frequent soft, sometimes runny stools, which I suspect, she cannot hold between bathroom visits. Also, she has no way of communicating to me or anyone else that she needs to go to the bathroom. We have eliminated allergic foods from her diet, added hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes and fiber to her daily intake. Medically, nothing has been diagnosed.

Typically with bowel movements there is a specific pattern of going. I would usually suggest that regularly after breakfast and potentially after lunch and/or dinner you should put her on the potty and try to have a bowel movement. This may help train her system. Also, if there is entertainment in the bathroom, there may be higher chance of her staying on the toilet until she is done. It would be helpful for her bowel movements to be “firmed up”. Fiber can increase the frequency and looseness of the stool. I would try to urge foods that tend to constipate. These would include bananas, rice, applesauce and toast (the BRAT diet) as well as milk products (cheese, etc.).

TK 7-13-10

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