Recurrent constipation resolves itself at the end of childhood

I recall that I was constipated quite frequently as a child, but do not recall such episodes, or at least not as frequently, in teenage years.

One possible reason is that I was reluctant to go #2 in school toilets in elementary school, and I did in the better organized toilets of middle school, so maybe in elementary school my body trained itself not to "go" when feeling the urge. However, I seem to read similar testimonies here ­— people who received enemas or laxatives because of frequent constipation as children and then the problem went away in teen age.

Is this like a documented physiological phenomenon? More regular bowels after puberty, in general?

My mother gave me laxatives for a variety of reasons when I was a kid, acting cranky and irritable, not eating all the food on my plate, eating a bunch of candy or other "junk food", even though I wasn't constipated very often. She also expected the laxative to make me go first thing the next morning. If it didn't she gave me a glycerin suppository, let that work on me for about 20 minutes and if I still hadn't had a big bowel movement she'd give me a hot soapsuds enema. I also got a daily soapsuds enema whenever I was too ill to go to school to keep my bowels emptied out during the illness as suggested by the family doctor even though I rarely got constipated. Once I was a my teens and 20's in Junior High, High School and University I actually got constipated more frequently than I did as a kid, probably because I had a heavier load of schoolwork that I stayed up late on Friday night to finish and then slept in on Saturday, missing breakfast and sometimes even lunch as well as my usual morning urge for a bowel movement and then I found I couldn't go. My Mom kept a close check on my bowel movements and if I hadn't gone on Saturday she'd give me a dose of laxative Saturday night to make me go on Sunday morning. This continued the whole time I lived at home into my mid 20's.

When I was a child, sometimes my mom gave me microenemas if I missed my bm for a day or two. They're essentially glycerin with some herbal extracts, something resembling Fleet liquid suppositories I think. It could have happened that sometimes I got constipated, especially during change of seasons, but it was not quite often.

One time, when I was a young teen, one of those microenemas didn't work, so shortly after I was given a bulb enema, the first time something bigger than a couple drops of glycerin entered my butt. Strangely enough, apart from some isolated cases, my bms were quite regular after that bulb.

I had problems both as a child and as a teenager.

Mother was bowel watcher if didn't go daily steps taken help me go supos soap sticks soapy enemas which ever she had time for to make me go so got help to go all way through child hood and into teen but not resolved it's self still need help to go often to this day