Author| Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT pelvic floor and bladder/bowel physical therapist
Why is My Child’s Poop So Big?
Getting to the Bottom of Poops So Big They Clog Toilets…
We’re going to do a deep dive into kids who have big poops! Although this may sound like a joke, this is actually a medical issue and you aren’t the first person to ask us why their child’s poop is so big. Here at Purple Mountain Physical Therapy, our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapist is trained to help children achieve bowel and bladder control. Below we cover lots of details about what’s going on for kids who have big poops and PT options. If you would like to call our clinic to learn more, we can be reached at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
If you are wondering why your child’s poop is so big, it is likely your child has constipation and may benefit from pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy.
We provide physical therapy for children who struggle with bladder and bowel control, including kids who experience a range of symptoms such as enuresis (urinary incontinence), bedwetting, constipation and big poops. It may surprise many parents to learn that sometimes the main symptom of constipation is a big poop. Our licensed physical therapist who treats pediatric bladder and bowel conditions offers a variety of physical therapy treatments and evaluation methods to determine what is causing big poops and to improve your child’s issues. When parents come to us perplexed and wondering why is their child’s poop so big, we are able to provide you answers and a treatment path forward to resolve this problem. If you are interested in learning more about our methods, call (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
The M.O.P. Method (Modified O’Regan Protocol) helps constipation, including kids who have poops so big they clog toilets.
One approach we provide for pediatric bladder/bowel problems is the Modified O’Regan Protocol (M.O.P.), which helps with enuresis, encopresis, constipation, bowel movements that are extra-large and urinary tract infections. M.O.P. is a method to help resolve enuresis (including both daytime and nighttime urinary incontinence) and encopresis (fecal incontinence). Success with the MOP Method resolves constipation, big poops and urinary incontinence. The MOP Method receives its name after Dr. O’Regan, who is the first physician to have developed this protocol in the 1980s. Because the protocol has been refined and modified, it is now called the MOP Method (Modified O’Regan Protocol). Our therapist’s training in the MOP Method is unique in our community and provides families excellent support for their child’s bladder and bowel issues. If you are asking yourself, why is my child’s poop so big, we are here to help give you answers. To learn more about Purple Mountain Physical Therapy and our methods to help children who have large poops, constipation, bedwetting and enuresis, call (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
The MOP Method has been developed by Dr. Steve Hodges, MD, internationally renowned pediatric urologist, researcher and associate professor of pediatric urology at Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Dr. Hodges is highly regarded worldwide in the field of potty training, pediatric urology and treating bedwetting, constipation and bladder control problems. The M.O.P. Method is based on research, clinical experience and patient success that has found that a rectum filled with stool (constipated) that does not empty fully, causes bladder control problems. As you can imagine, a child with a constipated colon will generate a large poop, sometimes that clogs the toilet. To learn more about Purple Mountain Physical Therapy and our methods to help children who have large poops, constipation, bedwetting and enuresis, call (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
The Modified O’Regan Protocol (M.O.P.) helps with children’s Enuresis, Encopresis, Constipation, Poops that are So Big They Hurt and Urinary Tract Infections
Our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapists here at Purple Mountain PT have trained in the MOP Method. To inquire about cost and availability of our services, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
The most common sign of constipation is huge bowel movements. Does your child have poops so big, they clog toilets?
Parents, you should be taking note of the size and shape of your child’s stool. Big bowel movements coming out of a young child are signs of constipation. If you are wondering why your child’s poops are so big, it is because the colon in these children gets backed up with stool and stretched out. An enlarged, dilated, full colon is not healthy in childhood or adulthood. To inquire about our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
The M.O.P. Method provides for using a variety of means to resolve chronic constipation and improve the size and shape of bowel movements so your child’s poop is not so big anymore.
There is some flexibility within the M.O.P. process, as each child may require a personalized approach to determine what works best. The use of enemas, laxatives, diet, exercise and behavioral changes may be trialed in this approach. Our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapist will guide your child and parents in the options and best methods to help your child experience improvement in bladder and bowel function and control. If you know that your child has poops that are so big to clog a toilet, instinctively you have a sense that this is not optimal. To learn more about Purple Mountain Physical Therapy and our methods to help children who have large poops, constipation, bedwetting and enuresis, call (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
The beauty of the approach is that as your child cleans out constipation, you will notice improvements in bladder control, both enuresis and nocturnal enuresis, in the size of poop (no more clogged toilets!) and in their bloating.
When your child experiences dry nights or days, parents often report hope and a lifting of the stress that enuresis had been causing. If your child also has encopresis, you are monitoring this, as well and should notice improvements in bowel regularity, also. You will also notice that your child’s poops are not as big anymore. If you would like to learn more about how to help your child normalize the size of their poops and gain urinary control at nighttime, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
The M.O.P. Method requires a commitment on the part of the child and family, because resolving ongoing constipation, bedwetting or daytime loss of urine (enuresis) is not a simple and easy fix.
Our experience has taught us that the ongoing attention to bladder and bowel functioning, to avoid recurrent constipation, is important for success to be achieved. Parents and children must be vigilant to monitor daily bowel habits. In particular, things like illnesses, medications, diet changes, changes in activity levels and dehydration can all contribute to the return of constipation. Dr. Hodges suggests that children may benefit from daily osmotic laxatives, even after they have achieved bladder and bowel control, due to how easy it is to slip back towards constipation and holding in your poop. To inquire about our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
At Purple Mountain PT, helping children and adults overcome bladder and bowel troubles is our life’s work. Kids who clog toilets can benefit from PT.
We are devoted to providing our patients exceptional care, delivered in a compassionate, holistic and welcoming setting. We use developmentally appropriate physical therapy interventions, such as the M.O.P. Method, biofeedback, exercises, games, practicing toilet postures and teaching children how to listen to the signals of their body. Our greatest joy occurs when our pediatric patients or their parents report to us improved confidence and achievement with bladder and bowel control. To inquire about our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
If you are wondering:
*Why your child’s poop is so big.
*Why your child is able to clog the toilet.
*Why your child’s abdomen is distended.
Then you should consider constipation and the possibility that your child’s colon is distended. This can be improved!
Constipation is the single most prevalent childhood medical condition. Kids who have big poops are constipated!
Dr. Hodges notes that constipation is the single most prevalent childhood medical condition. And, yet, it is usually unrecognized. Consider this: kids with no signs of constipation often get better with a comprehensive bowel program. Isn’t that surprising, that your child may have no signs of constipation (maybe their only problem is bedwetting, for example), and treating the constipation helps their main problem (bedwetting)?! To inquire about our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
Can my child be constipated and I don’t know it?
Yes, constipation is occurring much more often than most families recognize. It is very easy to miss the signs of constipation.
Constipation can be happening when:
A child has a daily bowel movement, yet the movement is incomplete, strained or painful.
A child has a regular schedule of a bowel movement. Parents tell us “He always had a bowel movement every 3 days, so we thought this was his schedule and he was not constipated.”
A child has a big poop. Often the large poop is a reflection of backup of stool.
Constipation may be missed when the child has no symptoms.
Constipation may be missed when it begins after a viral or bacterial illness, especially if the child required antibiotics. The family may not realize that the child experienced constipation that now becomes chronic.
Encopresis is a fancy term for childhood fecal incontinence or soiling of their underwear.
Encopresis is the involuntary loss of stool. Encopresis most commonly occurs in kids who are 4 years old or older who have long-standing constipation. Typically, the fecal incontinence occurs when impacted stool builds up in the colon and rectum and becomes too large. The liquid in and around the stool leaks out, staining the child’s underwear. Sometimes the solid stool is also lost involuntarily. Under these circumstances, you will notice that your child’s stool is very big. Other times, the expulsion of the backed-up stool causes a mess of liquid and solid stool. To inquire about our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
Ongoing retention of stool causes colon distension (stretching), a child to have big poops and loss of control over bowel movements.
Our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapist implements various methods to help retrain your child’s system to move stool, to use the toilet, to reduce constipation and to resolve encopresis. Although encopresis may be frustrating or embarrassing for a child or parent, treatment is successful. And one successful measure of treatment is the size and shape of bowel movements. When properly treated, you won’t be asking yourself why your child’s poop is so big. Instead, you will notice that their stool size and shape is appropriate of their age and food consumption.
When the constipation is improved, your child will also experience improvement in urinary incontinence, including daytime enuresis and nighttime bedwetting, as well as reduction in painful bowel movements, holding in bowel movements and poops so big they clog toilets.
By partnering with our physical therapist, families tell us that their stress levels and worry about their child’s social-emotional development eases. To inquire about our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
Does Your Child Have Toilet Avoidance for Pooping?
Unfortunately, it is very common for children to completely avoid the toilet when they need to have a bowel movement. We often see children who are dry with urinating, but ask for a pull up to have a bowel movement. When a child holds in their bowel movement, they will develop constipation, gas, bloating, poops that are big and pain when trying to defecate. When you are wondering why your child’s poop is so big, look at their daily bowel movement habits and you will notice a trend towards constipation. If your child has this problem, our licensed physical therapist can help guide you and your child towards using the toilet to complete a bowel movement. To inquire about our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
MiraLAX is a good first step to try to get the colon empty, but does not work for all children.
Children who have chronic constipation, withholding of stool, incomplete emptying of the colon or encopresis, may benefit from trying MiraLAX to help facilitate softer stools. Some children hold their stool in, because the stool is very big, hard and painful. By softening the stool, the child can experience a more comfortable bowel movement. With encopresis, a condition of fecal incontinence caused by overflow (they literally explode with stool), MiraLAX may not be effective for some kids. Some kids don’t get relief at low MiraLAX doses and the next higher dose causes diarrhea, which also is not an effective solution. Our pediatric bladder physical therapist is trained in MiraLAX titration protocols and can help guide you and your child through a MiraLAX regime. MiraLAX can be a good first step and when implemented with other physical therapy methods (exercise, biofeedback, behavioral changes, toileting practice, etc.), our goal is that your child experiences improved bladder and bowel control. If MiraLAX is not effective for your child, there are other options and our physical therapist can help you navigate the choices and monitor your child’s responsiveness, as well. To inquire about our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
Dr. Sean O’Regan in the 1980s recommended nightly enemas for constipation and bedwetting. The MOP Method builds on this work and also offers other treatments.
Since the 1980s, Dr. Sean O’Regan, recommended nightly enemas for constipation and bedwetting. Dr. Hodges explains that this information seems to have been forgotten and instead of using enemas, MiraLAX became the treatment method for constipation. Unfortunately, MiraLAX is often not implemented in an effective manner to resolve constipation and bedwetting. Our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapist is trained in the M.O.P. Method of effectively titrating MiraLAX or using other interventions to help constipation. We can help advise you in implementing the protocols and will work with your child and family to come up with a program that is agreeable and do-able. When you and your partner are asking each other, why is my child’s poop so big, you know that something isn’t right. Our physical therapy can help your child resolve their constipation and bladder control issues. We are happy to partner with your urologist, GI specialist or pediatrician to help this. In fact, we have found that physician offices appreciate our guiding you on this protocol, as they don’t have the time to coach you through this. To inquire about our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
Pediatric Bladder and Bowel Physical Therapy Includes a Range of Therapies to Improve Constipation, Poops that are So Big They Cause Pain and Urinary Incontinence
Our pediatric PT will provide you and your child with whole body care. Your child’s care is specific to his or her needs. We work with children with all range of ability and cognitive function and can modify our methods to meet the comfort and needs of your child. Some things that could be included:
- Exercise to improve hip, core and pelvic floor coordination
- Dietary and chewing strategies to optimize digestion and the gastrocolic reflex. We wrote an article about how important chewing is, you can read it here.
- Examination and treatment to your child’s abdominal wall and investigation to see if your child has a diastasis recti abdominis.
- Manual therapy, visceral mobilization and gentle hands-on external techniques to facilitate bowel motility and bladder control.
- Play based activities that promote effective breathing and motor patterns necessary for bladder and bowel function
- Biofeedback to teach your child to learn how to perceive their pelvic floor muscles and the urge to urinate and defecate.
- Recommendations for sports and athletic pursuits that can improve the neuromotor control that bowel and bladder function requires.
- Toileting posture, practice and techniques to urinate and defecate.
- The M.O.P. Method and overseeing your implementation of this method at home.
- To inquire about our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
Purple Mountain PT is the leading pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We are devoted to helping you and your child with any pelvic health needs, including if your child has big poops!
Purple Mountain Physical Therapy is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We specialize in pelvic physical therapy for children and adults. We are here to help support kids and families. Our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapists have experience helping kids and parents improve bladder & bowel functin, potty training, bedwetting, urinary incontinence (enuresis) and constipation. Parents tell us that our evaluation and treatment for their child’s bladder and bowel provides peace of mind, hope and answers the question, Why is My Child’s Poop So Big? The families who come to us tell us that they feel less stress around the issue of their child’s bladder and bowel function. We treat kids and adults and have advanced training in pelvic health physical therapy, including treating chronic pelvic pain. If you experience pelvic pain, you may like to read this article we wrote about pelvic PT for pain. If you are interested in learning more about our therapy, call (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
Peace,
Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT specialist in pelvic PT
Check out these other articles, which may give you more information:
Does Physical Therapy Help Constipation?
Does Chewing Help Constipation?
Pediatric Bladder Physical Therapist Near Grand Rapids, Michigan
Why Does My Ten Year Old Wet The Bed?
