my 7 year old still poops his pants

I am a stepmother of five children and am having serious trouble with
our seven-year-old. He still poops himself. He is well aware that he
does it and always seems to feel bad afterwards but we can't seem to
get him to stop doing it. He does this up to three or four times a day!

toypup...

I doubt he can control this, so punishment won't help. Get him to a ped.

ngaudlap...

thanks for the advice guys. we will have his mother make him an
appointment right away. until then, should i avoid giving him dairy
products?

I can't keep up with the laundry! When we go out i wind up sometimes
washing his clothes in the sink( gross i know but he can't go around
with poop in his pants. some times he lies and says he just didn't wipe
good. we ran out of a whole box of wipes in a week. we've tried taking
video games away, sending him to his room, anything we could. but none
of it seems to work. I talked to my aunt who said it may be a
psychological thing. maybe some thing happened to him and he's letting
it out(pardon the pun) this way. My husband and i can't seem to figure
it out. His mother makes excuses for him, which i dont think is right.
she says he's just stressed. I think it's more than mere stress. and
beyond that telling a seven year old that he's just stressed only tells
him that it's ok to poop his pants. he has been through a lot at his
young age. I dont know if it's all of that or maybe something specific.
I dont think it's for attention because he tries to hide it from us. my
next effort will be to spend some time with him each night and try to
talk to him and figure out what's wrong. any advice or related
experience on this matter would be greatly appreciated.