Bowel Management Boot Camp

The Children’s Mercy Bowel Management Boot Camp is a week-long outpatient program in Kansas City for children who want to gain confidence with their bowel control. We work with each child and family to create a personalized program to help achieve fecal (poop) continence (ability to control and hold poop). Our goal is to improve the daily function, create a poop schedule, avoid incontinence and increase quality of life and your child’s self-esteem.

Personalized care from a team of specialists

You and your child will work closely with our team at the Comprehensive Colorectal Center that includes a colorectal surgeon, gastroenterologist (GI) doctor, nurse practitioner, registered nurse, psychologist, dietitian, and child life specialist. Together, we will find a daily bowel program that will empty the colon each day and prevent soiling accidents. 

The program is created specifically for your child.  It may include changes to diet, enemas, and/or medication with the goal to keep your child free of stooling accidents. Before starting bootcamp the team will review any previous test results and imaging to help determine the best starting point for your child. We will provide a personalized daily schedule at the beginning of your bowel management week.

Types of treatment

During the boot camp, the team uses a variety of therapies to help each child find their ideal bowel movement schedule.  We have three overarching treatment programs that we will adjust to fit your child’s needs. These include:

Laxative program

This program involves taking medicine every day to establish a bowel movement (pooping) pattern. It helps children whose colon and bowel work too fast or too slow. Our goal is to be clean without accidents and have one to two bowel movements each day.

Enema program

An enema is a way to put fluid into the last part of the colon (rectum) to empty the intestine of stool for 24 hours at a time. A flexible catheter and fluid bag are used to administer the enema. Our goal with this program is to empty the colon with the enema and be stool and accident free between enemas. 

Appendicostomy (Malone, ACE, MACE)

An appendicostomy is a surgically created way to give an enema from the “top down,” or beginning part of the colon, instead of from the bottom. Some children come to our bowel management camp after they have had an appendicostomy created. Other children wish to have an appendicostomy placed after they have established a working enema program. This may provide the child with more independence as they can help give the enema/flush through their abdomen instead of from their bottom.