Being made to sit on the toilet prior to the enema

I had a discussion with my wife and she reminded me of the following about her youth: when her mother was about to give her an enema, she would generally ask the girl to try to have a bowel movement — unless the enema was motivated by a complaint of not being able to have a bowel movement: if poop won't pass, straining will just be unpleasant and harmful.

The rationale was that an enema is easier to accept in an empty rectum.

Most often her mom would leave her in the bathroom to do her business, but sometimes, due to lack of time, she would be in the bathroom preparing the enema. My wife recalls mostly sitting on the toilet for nothing at this point, but she recalls the humiliation of having a bowel movement right in front of her mother waiting with the enema bag at least once.

Did this happen to you?

I've heard several members mentioning being given "one last chance" to poop before an enema for constipation, but this was different. If she was "plugged up", her mom would rather tell her not to insist and the enema would make things easier. She recalls being given a first enema, cramping, pooping whatever blocked the passage, then being given a larger enema to clear the rest.

I do believe that as a child there was always one last opportunity to poop before getting an enema. I was very young at the time but do remember my mom telling myself as well as other siblings to try and have a BM otherwise you might have to have an enema. I think just knowing you were going to get one would give the average kid stage fright and tighten that bung beyond any hope of a pooping. I don't ever remember a time when I actually saved myself from having an enema. At that point it was preordained.

Moppy's jalopy: Passing a few small hard lumps would not have gotten her out of an enema anyway...

Note that she was given enemas for any bowel issue, not just constipation. Thus, for issues like diarrhea, too much gas, nausea, etc. she would be given a last opportunity to poop.

I was always given ample time to try to "make a poopy" before being given an enema, including a few extra minutes after the Fleet box was set out on the sink.

Most of the time after that point though I truly couldn't go, but a few times I did manage and didn't have to get an enema. I have had to do a bm a few times while mom was right there or very nearby.

The rarer times that the bag came out I knew I was getting an enema regardless, but I was still encouraged to try to do some on my own first.

When I was a kid and my mother decided to give me an enema there was no chance of getting out of it. Pleading with her to let me try to go first wouldn't have made any difference. She already had the enema ready and waiting for me and I would get it regardless of whether I could poop or not. She also stayed right there as I was expelling it so she could check the results and decide whether I needed a second one. Usually she was satisfied with the results and only a few times did she repeat the enema.

I rarely got a second enema either, although I remember a couple of times that I did. Both times I was getting the bag and both times I believe that I got the second one for not being able to take very much of the first plus she wasn't satisfied with the returns.

Edwass: Ah ah. My mother in law would stop the enema early if too much cramping, "I need to go now". But then she would refill the bag and give another round after expelling. (And sometimes returned early to fill the bag while the poor girl was still on the toilet. And sometimes asked to see the results.)

Pecan, although the bag looked close to full I was never given the whole thing, usually about half which was usually more than enough.. Probably another reason that I mostly got disposables. As long as I pooped afterwards it didn't matter, even if I had only managed to get a couple of cups in. About anytime that I had to have an enema, my results were checked.

I remember sitting on the toilet trying to go when I was a bout 5 yrs old and pooping what looked like marbles in the toilet I yelled for Mom to come and wipe my bum that I was done. When she saw what I had produced she said Ok no ypu are not done there is a lot more in you and Mommy is going to help it come out better. She then got the enema bag off the back of the bathroom door where it hung and preceded to fill it up half way with warm water and soap, it was at this point I asked her who that was for, darn well knowing it was for me. But when she had me stand up and she sat down on the closed seat of the toilet bowl did it sink into my brain who it was for that is when I started crying my head off, this was even before she picked me up and laid me over her knee.

Kid: Your story reminds me of what happened to me when I pooped small hard lumps, except I was treated with a suppository. Was it the first time you received an enema? Did you know what to expect?

Edwass: "As long as I pooped afterwards it didn't matter"... As far as I understand, if my mother in law thought there was more clogged higher up than the small quantity of water injected had brought out, she would give a second enema. Or perhaps she thought that if one is already in the bathroom with the enema gear out, one may as well give a large one. But she did not do it every time.

I can totally related to the humiliating aspect of having to show the "results", I still hear my mother's voice telling me not to flush...

No pecan nut job that is the reason I started to bawl my head off I knew exactly what she had in store for me. 😢

Kid: I understand that you found enemas unpleasant, but if you passed only a few hard marbles it meant you were clogged up with hard faeces, and getting them out naturally would likely be unpleasant as well, right? I recall passing hard stools, as a kid, that injured me and I had a little blood on the toilet paper when wiping...

Do you think your mother gave enemas improperly? too much soap? too fast?

Pecan: hoping not to be tmi, but I tended to have rather large bms fairly often, which also seemed to concern my mom. Added to that, I had an early childhood "holding back" habit that I never completely gave up even though my teens - later, the habit was mostly that I didn't "go" completely during bathroom time. That of course would lead up to not being able to go, and yes, I'd need an enema.

So usually when I got an enema I was packed pretty full.. It was impossible for me to hold back on even a small enema. Results were usually substantial every time, first time.

It wasn't too long in childhood that I learned something that others here also did:: Mom also had decided on an enema when she gave us the chance to poop while I strained to do so. In one case I could hear her bring out the can and attachments rom the sound of the nozzles and metal hose clamp rattling around., Once she made that decision an enema was inevitable and a stool softener was out of the question.

I too, would be placed on the toilet and given one last chance to go, which I usually couldn't, but I'm convinced it would have made no difference. Once my mom got out the syringe she was determined to use it on me and an enema was inevitable.

(My own mother did not give me enemas but she would have me sit on the toilet before giving me medicated suppositories, those consisting of grease with drugs dissolved in... she feared that otherwise the suppository would give me a urge to go and I would expel it with the poop before it had time to act.)

To amend my posting as No. 14, it was actually my first remembered enema, in which I was put on the toilet only to be lifted off it, carried to my bed and delivered the treatment with legs up and spread. I remember little or no warning for later enemas either but learned to anticipate them.

My mother would ask me to come into the bathroom. There she already had the enema bag set up. She would ask me when my last BM was, and, of course, I would not remember, so she would tell me that I needed an enema; there was no getting out of it. I simply had to lie on the floor and take it, probably two quarts of SSE. She would tell me when I expelled not to flush so that she could see the results. I must have put out enough because I never got a second one, not even a rinse. It was an uncomfortable and humiliating experience which fortunately did not happen very often. I like my enemas now, all four quarts of them, but then I am in control of when, how, where, etc. and look forward to giving myself one or two tomorrow morning.

hankb

I don't recall Mom ever telling me to sit on the toilet and try to go when she had made up her mind that I needed a good enema. It was however, one of the stages of our ritual that I would remove all my clothes and sit on the toilet, watching her mix the hot soapy water in the sink and fill the bulb while explaining to me yet again the benefits of a good enema.

By the time I graduated to the bag and had learned to relax and accept (and secretly enjoy) the enema, the sitting-on-the-toilet stage prior to the enema was over. It became my job to drape a towel over the closed toilet lid or fold it over the bathtub rim and kneel down, present myself to her, and wait for her to finish preparations.

I normally always sit on the toilet prior to my enemas. Unless I want to just have the enema do what it’s ment to do make me poop when I’m constipated. I normally like a clear or as clear as possible colon before hand just to make my enema experience a little more enjoyable and especially to allow me to take a little more water with less of the need for a quick evacuation.

I have been meaning to post on this subject I remember this well. Not always but sometimes this would happen: If mom said she was going to give me an enema I would of course plead not to have one. "All right go in there and see if you can go." Nothing worse,I recall, than running to the bathroom naked from the waist down or totally naked and sitting on the potty or when older on the toilet dreading the impending event.. It seemed like I was always stopped up like with cement. I hated sitting there watching mom get the vaseline jar, pillow and towel to prepare my enema bed. When she came back I would be crying not to have an enema as she pulled the old red bag from the linen closet and started to fill it. I knew damned well time was up. I think mom might have suggested I try to go to avoid having to go through the giving ordeal or perhaps to get me out of the way begging and crying not to have an enema. Sometimes I would would run to the bathroom and try the old toilet trick myself to delay the prepared that enema yelling that I did not want one, I didn't need one. .All of this was ,of course, to no avail.

Well you are not alone. Similarities exist. So I get it

Moppys jalopy wrote ... "I think just knowing you were going to get one would give the average kid stage fright and tighten that bung beyond any hope of a pooping."

That is so true! I remember my mom sitting me on a potty telling me to try and "go". She would sit by me, and on a table next to her would be a box of childrens glycerin suppositories and a jar of vaseline for me to stare at. As if that wasn't a big enough incentive to comply with her wishes, she would say "Keep trying now, the suppositories are right here!" I don't remember ever being able to relax enough to do anything after hearing that other than cry, as I contemplated my fate.

Oh yes i always had an opportunity to try an have a bm. Our caregivers. would know if we needed enemas .They would have to wipe us until we could do it ourselves. That varied with age so they knew if we were constipated or our bowels were not up to there liking.

Once it was established that I was a constipated kid, all the sitting would produce Nothing. So the handy dandy fountain bag was put into play and the game begun. "I don't need an enema". "Yes you do". Tears and denial followed. It did no good. I watched the preparations. Learned it well. LOL. The warm soapsuds always worked. Amazing me. SO even today, It still does work. So there.

It's hard for me to find a rationale for this.

Certainly the way to obtain a child's cooperation is to make them a participant in the process. At as young as 3 the child should be allowed to watch but should also do that in a way that is not intimidating.

Having them sit there unproductively on the toilet only adds to the fear, and negative imprinting, which is exactly what you DON'T want!

LisaK: I fully agree that when a child complains of not being able to go potty, it is counter productive to have him sit on the potty for a last try while preparing the enema. This just encourages straining, which is uncomfortable and may damage the rectum.

My mother did not give enemas but suppositories and used to tell me that if there is a problem, I should ask for a suppository instead of pushing in vain, which would just hurt and damage things.

Here, however, I was specifically asking a question about enemas given for other motives that low constipation, e.g. other reasons for stomach ache.

Mom would always have me sit on the toilet and try to have a BM. As I did that she would be standing at the sink making my enema. It didn't matter if I had a BM or not because she had already made up her mind that I needed a good cleaning out.

This post brought back some memories. I can remember being 10-11 years old and sitting at the breakfast table. I am sure my mother knew i was backed up by how little I was eating or whatever. As breakfast finished she said, Isaac i want you to go upstairs and try to use the bathroom. I didnt need to ask what she meant, i knew and she knew i knew. So up I went to try. As usually being asked to do it never worked, so after a while (i dont remember how long) she came in. She didnt have to ask, all she said was 'we are going to do an enema'

My mom had the same practice as Emom's : having me and I guess older sisters sit on th toilet while filling the enema can in the kitchen. In my fost remembered enema, at age 4 , I was taken off the toilet with no warning, carried to my bed and treated to a legs-up cleaning out while crying in protest. I learned not to be surprised the next time.