Children can often exhibit pooping behavior during the transition period from diapers to the toilet or at any stage of life when they are emotionally challenged. When these children poop, they try to push their poop back by using their excretory musculature instead of making it go to the toilet. However, the parents of children who hold their poop for various reasons have a hard time in the face of the stubborn and agitated situation their children show.
When Do Children Have Pooping Behavior?
Poop holding behavior is defined as the child's conscious or unconscious control of his muscles to prevent the excretion of poop. For this reason, in order for the stubborn pooping behavior to be observed in children, first of all, the child's muscle development in the excretory system must be sufficiently developed. The fact that the muscles, which have been adequately developed in the excretory system, become gradually controllable by the child is another criterion for the onset of this situation. Occurs in the age range of 3 years. However, sometimes this situation can be seen in later ages as a pooping problem that is outside the developmental process and based on different reasons.
Is Pooping Problem Only Related to Age Period?
strong>The period between the ages of 1-3 in the developmental periods of children is defined as the anal period. Pooping behavior primarily occurs between the ages of 1-3, when muscle control occurs in the child, that is, in the anal period.
Children realize their control over their muscles, bodies and behaviors in the anal period. Providing this control gives pleasure to children. Keeping in control makes children feel better. Therefore, developmentally, in this age period, it is necessary to create areas where children can be in control, such as choosing the toy they want, deciding on the clothes they want to wear among the appropriate options. However, the child who does not feel the necessary personal control in accordance with his age level They may try to regain the control they lost with the act of pooping. Therefore, even if the problem of pooping is not only related to the age period, it can be said that the characteristics of the developmental period covering the 1-3 age range play a triggering role in the pooping behavior.
Giving Early Toilet Training Does it Cause Problems?
To give toilet training to children, the child must meet many prerequisites that show that he is ready for this training in the developmental area. The main of these conditions are physical conditions that show that the child can achieve muscle control; cognitive conditions showing knowledge and understanding of toilet-related concepts; Emotional conditions that include desire, curiosity, motivation and readiness for toilet training. When all these prerequisites are met by the child, only then can it be said that the child is ready for healthy and safe toilet training. If toilet training is tried to be given to the child without adequately meeting these prerequisites, the child may develop negative feelings about the toilet. These negative emotions are observed quite frequently in the emergence of pooping behavior.
Does the Desire to Poop Come from the Unconscious?
Human; may not always be able to consciously or voluntarily control their emotions, thoughts and behaviors depending on relational, social, internal or external factors in every age period. This uncontrollable process is observed more in childhood. In this case, when the children's reactions cannot be based on a clear and concrete reason or cannot be explained logically, the entire emotional, intellectual, impulsive and behavioral process involving the reaction should be examined at the unconscious level, not the conscious level. This also applies to pooping behavior in children that cannot be based on any concrete reason or that continues despite all supportive studies. In other words, the child may not be willingly and consciously to hold a poop.
For example, during the anal period covering 1-3 years of age, children see every part of their body as a part of themselves and naturally they do not want to break away from this part. This perception develops in unconscious processes that are valid for every child. Therefore, since poop is perceived by the child as a part of the body, leaving the body and removing it may create feelings of sadness and mourning in the child. Because of this situation, children do not want to break away from these parts. Thus, they may have problems with pooping in the form of denying the fact of pooping as an unconscious behavior or avoiding pooping.
Does Poop Containment Problem Cause Sensory Sensitivity?
Some children may be more sensitive to senses such as sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste than others. In other words, these children may be more disturbed by sensory stimuli such as smell, sound, and light, and they naturally want to avoid this discomfort. it is a piece that contains an intense fragrance, a different visual and tactile sensation. However, children who are emotionally sensitive may exhibit pooping behavior in order to avoid the discomfort caused by this sensitivity.
Do Adverse Life Events Cause Pooping Behavior in Children?
If the child has a fearful and painful experience with the toilet for any reason during the period when he develops the habit of going to the toilet regularly, he may exhibit the behavior of holding his poop in order to avoid the negative emotions he experiences. In particular, the unsuccessful and negative experiences of the child regarding the toileting process may trigger feelings such as intense fear, sadness, and helplessness, causing the child to encode negative feelings towards the toilet. For example, being afraid of falling from the toilet seat while getting toilet training, being exposed to the punishing and harsh attitudes of the parents, or being hurt while pooping as a result of being constipated are some of the negative experiences that trigger the child's pooping behavior the most.
Has Poop Containment Problem How to Tell?
Children with Poop Problems;
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They can go and hide where they think they will not be seen when they poop.
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They may not want to be involved in conversations about the toilet.
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They may start squeezing and tensing their body when they poop.
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When they poop, they may exhibit behaviors such as squirming by crossing their legs.
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They may want to lie down, lie down or even sleep constantly by avoiding moving.
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They may not want to go near the toilet.
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When they poop, they may act in a way that ignores the poop by not mentioning it.
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They may want to change their own laundry, keep them or throw them away.
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They can be quite picky about their meals.
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More liquid they may want to consume foods.
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They may eat less.
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They may experience frequent stomachaches.
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Your rectal sores may occur.
Is Pooping Behavior Due to a Child's Need for Attention?
When the child performs the pooping behavior for some reason, if the parents' reactions to this situation are more understanding, more patient, more playful and more compassionate than the reactions given at other times of daily life with the child, then the child will also be resistant to the pooping behavior in order to receive these positive reactions from their parents.
Of course, the child does not do this in a planned and organized way. While the child establishes a cause-effect relationship on the reactions he is exposed to, the child's brain, which is open to learning by experience, makes general judgments on this situation. So what we mean is that this is no longer just a poop retention problem for a kid's brain. This situation for the child; It means that as the child's anxiety, fear, and restlessness increase as a result of the problem of pooping, he thinks that his interest, understanding and compassion will increase, and even experiences and learns this. negative Positive inferences as a result of a specific behavior are also called secondary gains, and the child can unconsciously normalize victimization by acquiring secondary gains to get the attention they need.
What Parental Attitudes Cause Pooping Behavior in Children ?
Correct parental attitudes are very important for the healthy completion of children's developmental stages. If parents fail to notice the behavioral patterns that affect their children negatively emotionally and behaviorally, and if they continue to maintain negative behavior patterns, children may experience intense negative emotions as a result. When negative emotions cannot be resolved in the child's inner world, this insolubility is reflected on a behavior pattern of the child. The problem of pooping is also seen as one of the examples where unresolved emotions are reflected in behavior. In this situation; Perfectionist, anxious, punishing, controlling, indifferent parental attitudes generally trigger negative emotions in children and can play an effective role in the development of pooping behavior, especially in the anal period covering 1-3 years of age.
Poop Can Holding Behavior Be A Way Of Punishing Their Parents?
If the child is punished by his/her parents in return for a negative behavior, he/she is controlled a lot, he/she thinks that he/she is not understood enough, is put on trial, encounters physical interventions; this situation becomes so challenging that it is almost impossible for the child to deal with the processes of unhappiness, anxiety and anger correctly. Because the child; Due to his age and development, he is quite weak in physical, emotional and cognitive terms compared to adults. Therefore, the child does not have the problem-solving skills to cope with the difficult situations he encounters. The child who is deprived of these skills may try to calm himself by showing stubborn, fearful and avoidant behaviors, seeing pooping as a source of power in his hand, instead of parental attitudes that he is unable to control and can't control. In this case, pooping behavior means more than punishing parents.
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