Tracking bowel movements

A number of people here had constipation issues as kids and say they were given an enema if their last bowel movement was too long ago. Some of them mention they suffered from encopresis or chronic constipation, and thus this was not an exceptional event.

Did your mother use some kind of notepad or similar to keep track of your bowel movements? How did she know you "went", did you have to report bowel movements? Did you have to report unsuccessful attempts at defecation? How did she know about bowel movements at school or other moment outside the home?

My mother kept trak of my rectal temp my bowel movement every day seemed obsessed with it if didn't go on my own was given help in form supos soap sticks and enemas

When I was very young I had to call out for her after I was finished going #2 so she could wipe me, so she knew when I pooped and if it was sufficient. After I started school she would ask me if I pooped or the last time I pooped and I always told her. If I was taking a while in the bathroom she would check on me and I was told to let her know when I was done and not to flush to see if I needed enemas. She babied me and I was given many enemas even when I was older!

I had encopresis and regularly soiled my underwear. My mom was totally obsessed with my BMs. Did I go and how much did I go. She was always asking me if I needed to change my pants. I was spanked a few times for going in my pants and a few times was locked in the bathroom naked and told to go on the potty.. I was given suppositories and fleet enemas which had little effect in making me go. The only way to get the mass out was use an old fashioned enema bag which did flush me out. All of this I remember was very traumatic at a young age. I believe that all the stress around going poop caused it to get worse and I held it in even more. I soiled myself and had encopresis til I was 13.

My mom was so obsessed I was so embarrassed one day I was about 10 my mom at a store with people around said Eric how is it downstairs and she felt my bottom to see if I had a messy pants. I felt like digging a hole and going in it. A few ladies looked our way and had a shocked look on their faces. I was so embarrassed...

My mom did not keep track on paper as I remember, but she would ask questions. Did you have a BM today or sometimes used the word "poop". Do you feel OK? What's a matter honey are you feeling OK? If you had farted several times, she would notice. If you were not hungry at a meal or picked at your food. Remember kids can be picky eaters. Skid marks on your underpants. These things would lead to her checking and decided if you were constipated and then off course most of the time, I got an enema. Occasionally, a suppository. Most often, the enema or suppository was preceded by a rectal temp, or so it seemed. I have three siblings, and she was consistent with us all. She seemed to that sixth sense, that you needed to have that BM.

Also, my mom was a stay at home mom, so focused on taking care of us, our home and my dad.

Growing up in the nineteen fifties, it was common to get your temperature checked rectally, especially if mom suspected you were constipated. Another common method to check for constipation was a digital recital exam an in most cases, both methods were used. A few other things that could get you a date with mom's douche/enema bag was being moody, acting sluggish, picking a fight, or not eating normally. All were thought to be a sign of constipation or not using the bathroom when you should an earned you a date with mom's enema bag.

Grandma on the other hand, handled things a little differently. On Saturday evening, at bath time, she had our two young aunts give us and themselves a couple of enemas before our shower. However, if you showed signs of being constipated during the week, it was enema time.

@greengoddess The "you're taking too long in the bathroom, don't flush so that I can have a look" is familiar. 😃

Inasmuch as grandma was next door in the apartments, we kids were under constant supervision between mom and grandma. From a very early age, I can recall having to report my BM's to one or the other. My older sister was in a similar situation. Like Greengoddess, we were wiped after a BM and the results observed. Daily BM's were an expectation and failure to have one resulted in a date with the enema bag. Mom and grandma tag teamed us both.

It was also very common for our pediatrician and his nurse to inquire about our BM's. If it was mentioned that we were at all constipated, the orders for an enema were relayed. The doctor was always telling my mom to "just give that kid an enema". She didn't need much more encouragement inasmuch as grandma was also prodding her.

No. We were questioned every day. If one day passed without BM the well known procedures were initiated.

My Mom was always asking me if I'd had a bowel movement that day and if not I'd be given a dose of laxative at bedtime. She also watched my behaviour for things like acting cranky or irritable or not eating all the food on my plate at mealtimes which she assumed were signs that I was constipated, hence a dose of laxative even if I wasn't constipated. Also if I had been stuffing myself with "junk food" like candy, popcorn, potato chips or nuts she'd give me a dose of laxative to clean them out of me before they had a chance to constipate me. If the laxative didn't make me poop first thing the next morning it was suppository time to help the laxative work and if that didn't make me have a good big poop she'd give me a large hot soapsuds enema to clear everything out of me.

@gboy said,

She also watched my behaviour for things like acting cranky or irritable or not eating all the food on my plate at mealtimes which she assumed were signs that I was constipated, hence a dose of laxative even if I wasn't constipated.

When my siblings and I were growing up, it wasn’t a dose of laxatives for that type of behavior, it was a soapy followed by a rinse enema. During the summer, when we were at our grandmothers, the job usually fell to our two teenage aunts in the evening at bath time. Grandma was a lot quicker with enemas than mom was, but she gave us plenty of enemas for the same reasons when we were at home.

I was monitored from about age 5 or 6 after my encopresis had been discovered, and up through my teens. It was routine that I would be instructed or reminded to use the toilet every evening. Usually I would remove all of my clothes and sit naked.

It wasn't charted or anything, but I would have to show results before flushing. I had to let her see pretty much every time when I was very young, but that diminished somewhat as I got older. I was always required to "call out" (like @greengodess ) after finishing, before wiping (so that it wasn't covered) and before flushing so that it could be verified just in case there was doubt about wether I had went or not. The calling out part was always part of the routine. I still got checked sometimes as a teen, so I never attempted to lie about it when I couldn't go.

My gf who knows about my history of constipation will often ask if I have been "going to the bathroom okay?" Sometimes when I have been sitting for a while she will ask to see it after I have declared myself successful. Sometimes I will ask her if she wants to take a look if I produce something exceptionally large or unusual. She always seems eager to take a look.

Because I had problems with bowel movements since childhood, my mother marked my bowel movements in the calendar with stamps. She asked me if I had defecated and took my word for it. Three days without a bowel movement meant interventions. Usually, mom used laxative pills and castor oil first. If that didn't help, she used suppositories. The last resort was an enema.

The cross in the calendar meant the day without a bowel movement, the letter V - my bowel movement on that day. The letter L - an enema (my mother did not mark other means).

I didn't like the fact that my toilet matters were noted in a visible place. My mother never told anyone what it meant. However, I was afraid that someone would guess what it meant L. When I was older, my mother stopped marking it like that.

My family had a wonderful grandmother-type primary doctor for many years, and when one of my gang was sick, she told me to “note absence of BMs.”

My two girls were quietly cooperative In telling me if they needed something to get them going, but my husband would conveniently not tell me if he hadn’t gone, until a couple times he got pretty miserable. I’d get grumpy with him, so I wasn’t always the happiest wife, nurse and lover giving him enemas.

Mother wasn't interested, but matron at prep (boarding) school was different. Every boy was allocated to a toilet, in the first year, aged eight, it was right beside her dispensary. In addition time for bowel movements were allocated and rotated around, I think six of us were to use each toilet every morning. This meant you were hanging on for dear life if you were last on the list or straining to make yourself go. What I now know as my IBSc, so diarrhoea for the first few days of each term and then constipation made life horrible.

In the first year you weren't allowed to flush and matron's assistant had to inspect your offering. I imagine she was not only checking your poo against that Bristol stool chart but looking for worms. What a horrible job. In subsequent years you were required to tick a book to show you had done your business and woo betide you if you falsified the record as the toilet doors had no locks and the matron or her assistant could swoop to carry out an inspection.

Failure to produce after a couple of days resulted in doses of liquid paraffin and then, if that didn't work an appointment with matron's Higginson syringe. To give her her due such an appointment was carried out in a most discreet manner and while I had regular enemas I never knew of any other boy getting one and I didn't mention it to anyone else. Matron was a lovely bubbly lady, I definitely had a crush on her and so different to the vitriolic head master who wealded a cane un-mercifully. Sixty years on and I still remember those sessions which ended up on her large china chamber pottie so vividly. When she finished me up that first and so memorable time, she smiled and said "I'm sure you will feel better now, but if you need another, come and see me and we'll sort you again". Oh my goodness...a lifetime of klysmophelia!

My mother did not keep a written record of my bowel movements or lack thereof. I suffered from periodic bouts of constipation as a small kid. I made things worse by withholding my stool at times. I would get stomach aches if I went long enough without a bowel movement. That is when she would ask detailed questions about my bowel movements and figure out that I was constipated. In retrospect, I may not have had such severe constipation as a teenager and adult if she had been more vigilant in combatting my childhood constipation.

The constipation gradually got worse as I got older. By the time I was 11 or 12, it was happening multiple times a month and at times I was going over a week without a bowel movement. She would figure out what was happening by just observing the distress I was in and give me either milk of magnesia or Castoria. If the laxative failed to produce a result, she would give a large tap water enema and then observe the results in the toilet to confirm that it had worked properly. During that period of my life, she would inquire daily about my bowel movements and became much more proactive in treating the constipation. That focus lasted until I was about 16 when I was allowed a little more personal autonomy about my bowel problems. I was allowed to administer my own enemas beginning at age 13, but she insisted on inspecting the results in the toilet to verify efficacy.

@eboyhou said,

The constipation gradually got worse as I got older. By the time I was 11 or 12, it was happening multiple times a month and at times I was going over a week without a bowel movement.

Then said,

I was allowed to administer my own enemas beginning at age 13, but she insisted on inspecting the results in the toilet to verify efficacy.

My siblings and I had more or less the same kind of issues growing up. Once we started school, we waited until we got home to use the bathroom, because we didn’t like using the bathrooms at school. On top of that, if we were busy doing something and needed to use the bathroom, we put it off until we were finished. Which didn’t help matters. So, consequently mom had to giving us enemas two or three times a month, sometimes more. We didn’t get enemas on a weekly basis, like a lot of our friends did, but mom might just as well have had. Because by age eight, we were averaging an enema a week, occasionally more. Grandma on the other hand, had our teenage aunts give us weekly enemas on Saturday evening at bath time. Irregardless of the enemas we received during the week, for one reason or another. Then, like grandma had done with our aunts, she taught us personal hygiene as preteens. Afterwards, we were responsible for ourselves in the enema department. Being much closer in age to us, our aunts were more like older siblings than aunts. That’s not to say, we only did solo enemas, because we didn’t. We helped one another when the need arose. It’s just that, mom and grandma were no longer concerned with our bathroom habits, they were our responsibility.

Generally, women interpret flatus as an indicator of accumulated stool. Frequent flatus and its attending unpleasant odor is treated as an indicator of need for the source to defecate. Most mothers can differentiate which of their progeny walked through an area to release flatulence. One location in the home with unwanted odor is normally just regarded as incidental release, but when the odor is encountered in multiple places in the home, then it is regarded as an indicator of the child's need to empty the bowel.

Now you know how Moms know which child needs attention.

I don’t know how she kept track but if I did not produced a verified BM after 2 days I was getting Castoria. Another day of nothing and I would have to drink prune juice. Another day without a BM and the enema bag would be prepared with warm, soapy water. Of course I would argue that I didn’t need an enema, but once the full bag emptied into me I produce expulsions that were unbelievable. It was like a dam had burst as the enema cleaned me out! I probably wound up getting an enema about every 4-5 months.

My mother was absolutely psychic. I am convinced of the fact. She had no calendar, notebook, or other tracking systems for bowel movements. Seemingly, out of the blue, she would announce "I think you could use a good cleanout." After that, there was an inevitable trip to the bathroom for a soapsuds enema and a rinse. If the first dose of soapsuds did not produce a good enough BM, a second was administered. She would say after it was done "Now, don't you feel better with all of that out?'

I did not. No matter how much I might argue about not needing an enema, she always seemed to know better and took action.

My spinster aunt who was an RN watched us closely when we spent summers with her. She tracked our BM's and asked every day when we had gone last. If more than two days passed she gave a dose of Father John's tonic. (ICK!) If no results the next day it was a soapsuds enema from her red two-quart Davol Comfy bag.

@ew68 said,

I don’t know how she kept track but if I did not produced a verified BM after 2 days I was getting Castoria. Another day of nothing and I would have to drink prune juice. Another day without a BM and the enema bag would be prepared with warm, soapy water.

When my siblings and I were growing up, both mom and grandma were like that, however they didn’t wait three days. Nor did they give us laxatives, if we couldn’t go by day two, mom gave us a soapy followed by a rinse enema. If we were at grandmas, she had moms two younger sisters take care of us at evening bath time, with a soapy then a rinse enema.

Im often constipated due to parkinsons and the meds i take for it, problem is, i tend to forgetwhen i did what to make me poop , was thinking some sort of code letters on the calendar maybe, ssomething like E for enema, S for soap ,SU for suppositories ? written discretely so anyone else didnt know what it meant.

I'd try hiding it, and avoid going to poop.

They never monitored my bowel movements. They tried encouraging me to poop but that felt horrible to me. Like they were trying to control me.

My parents had this friend. She started going to my house or my parents took me to hers, cause both my parents worked. She always told my parents in front of me that I hadnt pooped. She was a two faced woman, before she started taking care of me she seemed sweet and kind to me. But when we were alone she would always treat me as a nuissance. Somehow I think she enjoyed doing this cause she didnt like me.