Does your child play with its own faeces?

Question

Ok, my daughter is nearly four years old. She has suffered from chronic constipation since before she turned one. This set toilet training back ages, but it has been on track for about 5 months now.
Last year, she would cover nearly her entire bedroom in her poo when she finally did it. I took her to specialists, but they put her on parafin oil for her condition and didn't say much about the behaviour.
Two weeks ago she was constipated again, which lasted over a week, but fixed itself up. Then, last week, when she did a poo, she smeared it into the carpet and played with it again.
She is in a private school who are very caring and they say she is very intelligent and want to move her up into the next class already.
Have your children displayed such behaviour? What did you do about it?

Not that i think this has been implied, but our house is the most loving, quiet, care-free and child-friendly house I know. I grew up amongst violence and have been careful not to expose my daughter to anything of that nature.
Also, we are trying for another baby (not stressing about it), and my daughter is constantly asking for a brother or sister.
I used to think her behaviour was due to frustration or anger at her poo, but I'm not sure that's relevant anymore.

Answer 1

my daughter did the same thing about 10mths ago(she turned 5 in june) but it was usually out of curiousity and boredom than anything else. It is entirely normal but I really had to chastise her and actually gave her a cloth and made her kneel down with me to clean it. I didn't shout and get angry but explained that its not a nice thing to do and 'we don't want her pretty room to smell bad...'

I think its just a phase that will pass, so don't make a big deal out of it to her and if she does it again make her help you clean it up and keep explaining why its not nice to do it.
A reward chart for pooping in the toilet could work for her too. if she touches her poo, take a sticker off...5 stickers in a row gets a treat of your choosing.

Best of luck

Answer 2

Oh my goodness, I'm sorry that this is happening to you and your daughter. My children have never gone through anything like this but my best friend's niece used to do it. I'm not sure if they ever determined exactly why she would do that, but my friend thought that it might be because her sister forced the baby to use the toilet even before she could could sit up on her own (she would always hold her over the toilet when she thought the baby was ready to poo). I know there was also a lot of mental (and possibly physical) abuse in the house from the dad toward the mother and step-children, so that might have been her way to display the stress she was feeling. She was about 3 yrs old when she was doing this and she is 12 now. I don't know how they finally got her to stop but eventually she did.
Maybe you could visit with a psychologist or a family therapist who specializes in early childhood and maybe they could help find out the cause or at least how you can help your daughter to stop doing this.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

I expect with your daughter that the poo is such a big thing in her life due to the fact that she probably has a lot of discomfort etc because of it, she probably a bit intrigued. As hard as it is I expect you have to be patient and look forward to a time that she will be over this phase. You probably have already tried this but sitting her down and explaining "Bad Bacteria" and hygeine in an age appropriate way. I had a few behavioural problems with my three daughters at different stages and always find a lot of it only love and time and communication will cure, good luck. Might she be seeking attention? Maybe....

Answer 4

The sad thing is my son has done it up through this last summer, so far. He will be 4 in November. He'll get it all over his wall, bed, floor, and even the ceiling! Not to mention himself. I have even caught him eating it. I am just hoping he'll grow out of it. I sure get tired of cleaning him and his room up, esp sometimes he's been known to do it once per day, usually in the morning when he wakes up. My niece also did it for a short time when she was younger too. Its perfectly normal, kids usually grow out of it.

I have tried many methods, including making him clean up his own mess, but this didn't work for him, as he thought it was fun, so he would make the mess on purpose, so he can clean it up! What seems to work the best is pretty much not making a big deal out of it.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Does your little one inform you by way of phrases, facial expressions or posture when he or she needs to go?
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Answer 7

I have no clue about the playing with feces thing, but have you tried putting her on Miralax for the constipation? My son is four and he has had lots of problems with constipation as well. He's been on it for a couple of months now and is not having any more problems. He just takes it once a day and it is mixed into his juice so he never knows he takes it.

Answer 8

I have a 2 an a half year old boy who has gotten into the occasional horrible habit of doing a finger check when he does a poo, he then proceeds to cry after finding out that wiping it on his clothes doesnt get it off his fingers. so every time he runs off to the corner an starts to grunt we budle him up when his done an change his nappy.

Answer 9

yes whenmy eldest was 2 and a half she used to do it every day i was constantly cleaning her walls. In fact i even bought special things to clean it up with but i realised that she did it because she didn't want to have a day sleep anymore i don't think it is the case for your child considering she is 4 but it took me to figure out my reason from my child doing it and i just hope it doesn't take you as long

Answer 10

I don't know if this'll help, but how about getting her some paints? Tell her that that is the only thing she can play with like that. Maybe get some butcher paper so it can go in a big area, or those paints that only go on the special paper.