Dr. Fischel reviews?

Background: my son is 3 1/2... between the ages of 1 1/2- 3 he had very bad constipation issues. Sometimes to the point that it required ER visits and manual disimpactions/enemas.

Fast forward to 3 years old... I switched his GI doctor, we switched up his regimen, and now at this point have been able to wean him off almost all of his laxatives... he has not had a constipated episode in the past 6 months!!

However, here’s our issue now... the kid is beyond frightened to poop on the potty. Adamentely refuses to go anywhere near or even sit on the potty. He is totally trained to pee in the toilet and does that without an issue but every time he has to poop he wants a diaper, he’ll cry that his poop is going to hurt on the potty. We’ve literally tried everything... including bribery. My husband and I have been at a total loss with this whole thing. Finally, his GI specialist referred us to Dr. Fischel, she has a degree in psychology and I believe is a behavior specialist... works with many different types of needs but one thing she is well known for is her potty training techniques and successes.

Basically, I just want input from anyone here that has worked with her, good/bad/indifferent. We had our first appointment with her today and to be quite honest, I was quite taken back. She’s extremely strict, comes off to be very rough around the edges. I walked out of there not knowing how to feel. However, she broke down her very regimented potty training protocol which seems like a great plan and at this point I need to try anything and everything.

Dr. Fischel reviews?

I dont know anything about that doctor or her methods. However my DD (who is now 13 and totally normal) had the exact same issue and I will never forget the stress and despair those episodes caused. When she was at the same point as your son is now, I let her put on pull ups and then cleaned her when she was done. This lasted until a bit over 4 years old and then she grew out of it on her own and used the toilet. I would not do anything harsh and give him time to overcome his fear.

Re: Dr. Fischel reviews?

Sorry, I have no idea about Dr. Fischel, but I thought I'd share this.
DS#1 was basically potty trained, at about an average time I would say. He would pee on the potty - no accidents even at night. But he would NOT poop on the potty. Every time he had to poop, he'd ask for a pull-up. We tried for - oh, it had to be over a year, maybe more- to get him to do it. Bribing, begging, just sitting him there for 1/2 hour.

He never really had a constipation issue, but one time we basically told him we were all out of pull-ups so we sat him on his potty in front of the TV and we told him he could watch Star Wars. He was so excited but ended up making himself constipated. I finally told him I found a swim diaper he could use and after a little while, he was able to get it out but it was awful and there were a lot of tears and we felt awful.

Flash forward to one morning months later and he woke us up to say he pooped in the potty (and it was the regular toilet, not even his little potty.) I said "Oh, really? Is it still there?" (because he'd tried that before so he could get a treat.) He said yes and lo and behold, he had. And from then on, he pooped in the toilet no problem.

So, that is my long winded way of saying - he may just not be ready and, I found anyway, the more pressure I put on him, the worse it made it.
Good luck!!

Dr. Fischel reviews?

We saw Fischel once. DC had severe encopresis - we tried diet, supplements, enemas, etc. She was extremely regimented and TBH, condescending at times. Her plan was so time-consuming there was no earthly way we could have done it. The one thing she said NEVER to do was make the child wash their soiled underwear. One night, after an accident, DH had DC quietly and without fanfare/scolding/etc wash their underwear. From that day on there was never another incident with stool wittholding and DC has been regular ever since.

Re: Dr. Fischel reviews?

I don't know about the dr but I will give you my experience.
My 3rd ds was a late potty trainer but like your son would not sit on the potty. He would ask for a diaper to take care of his business. We let this go on for months because I figured he wasn't pooping in his pants and it was easy enough to clean. We started discussing he was a big boy and that he would have to poop in the potty once school ended. So lo and behold after the last day of pre-k ( he was 4 3/4) he went poop on the potty all by himself. I would give him sometime and he will come around as long as he knows when he has to go and is not having accidents.

Re: Dr. Fischel reviews?

I don't know about the dr but I will give you my experience.
My 3rd ds was a late potty trainer but like your son would not sit on the potty. He would ask for a diaper to take care of his business. We let this go on for months because I figured he wasn't pooping in his pants and it was easy enough to clean. We started discussing he was a big boy and that he would have to poop in the potty once school ended. So lo and behold after the last day of pre-k ( he was 4 3/4) he went poop on the potty all by himself. I would give him sometime and he will come around as long as he knows when he has to go and is not having accidents.