TDT get many enquiries on how we can help all ages with their toileting problems. 

Toileting accidents are more than: “Oops, I forgot” or “I was busy”.  How many times as a mum have you held on because you are busy and want to finish your task and then raced into the loo at a rate of knots and just been lucky you didn’t have an accident… some of us haven’t been that lucky. 😉

ACCIDENTS

• Can mean the cognitive load or my high-interest level in my activity has not allowed me to receive the messages in my brain to pop to the loo.
• Or we can be putting it off like mums do and not be able to hold it all the way to the loo.

Slow bowels can cause toileting struggles 

• Not wanting to poo as it hurts, 
• Not wanting to sit there for ages as my bowel is sluggish, 
• Not knowing I need to poo, 
• Having a poo plug that leaks out poo
• Also, wetting can be caused by slow bowels.

Would you like to know how to help?

–  Ensure bowels flow daily and don’t smell offensive. If they are smelly, the bowel is slow, even if there is a daily poo. The longer it is in there, the more the bacteria build, causing the smell. 

– Consider removing dairy and gluten 

– Check for food intolerances and remove them (there are various ways to do this)

–  Increase fibre 

– Do ribcage rocking daily, which is a reflex integration activity.

Do you know how long a poo has been processing in the bowel? 

We can find this out by putting some white sesame seeds in a cup of water and drinking them. Watch your poo until it comes out, and that is how long your digestion is taking. It should take one day and be a Boston Stool No. 3 or 4. 

Cabot Health, Bristol Stool Chart – http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs-wm/46082.pdf

If your poo is compacted – meaning it is big and bulky and hard to pass, and you only poo every few days or more; this desensitises the bowel as it is stretched, causing damage that can be lifelong. The action the bowel uses to squeeze out the poo gets weak even if the poo is smaller and easier to pass.

TOILET AVOIDANCE 

Toilet avoidance can be because the feeling of sitting on the toilet is overwhelming, noisy, cold, uncomfortable, or lonely, or it could be the quick feeling of the poo leaving the body.  It can be undressing that causes them to feel uncomfortable. The wiping can be distressing. 

Finding out why is essential – there is always a reason for the behaviour. 

Accidents from the bladder – impaction causes accidents – Structural problems that need to be investigated, and infections.

• Food intolerances play a part and confuse the messages being sent to the brain, causing accidents and incontinence.
• Interoception is the ability to understand the feelings in the body, like needing to do a poo. So there is a lot at play here.

The feeling of needing to poo is complex.

Reflex integration has a direct impact on toileting and interoception. When we undertake programs to increase interoception, our clients have stopped wetting or having accidents within a couple of months, sometimes after 14 years of wet beds or soiled pants.  

Primitive reflexes are what the body/brain uses to communicate with itself and allow us to be human. They are neural pathways that will enable us to crawl, walk, talk and have the ability to read and write as well as regulate our bladder and bowel. When they are inhibited, pooing and weeing when we need to can be hard to establish to varying degrees.

It can be so hard for parents not to get upset if their children have accidents. It is best to realise there is a reason for this refusal or inability. 

Just think how hard it is when sometimes you can’t feel your fingers. 

Imagine not feeling your bladder or your bowels. Tricky, isn’t it? 

When has fear ever worked long-term to change a behaviour? Yelling won’t create the neural pathways you want. 

Personally, I haven’t seen reward charts work … especially if the neurological connections aren’t established yet. 

Our programs are really effective.

If you are concerned and none of these apply please get a referral to a urologist for medical support.