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Many children get constipation at some time. For most, it lasts just a few days and isn't a problem. But when it lasts more than a few weeks, it can be more serious.

We're not sure how many children get this ongoing type of constipation (called chronic constipation) because parents don't always take their child to the doctor. But here's what we know from the research.

• Constipation is an ongoing problem for about 3 in 100 children in preschool and 2 in 100 children in school.¹
• One study found that about 14 in 100 parents who had a 2-year old said their child had ongoing constipation.²
• Ongoing constipation is most common in children between ages 2 and 4, when they're potty training.³
• In about 25 in 100 cases, constipation starts when the child is still a baby. ³
• In toddlers, constipation is just as common in boys as in girls.¹
• But once children start school, more boys than girls get it.¹
• About 25 in 100 visits to doctors who specialize in children's bowel problems (called pediatric gastroenterologists) are for constipation.⁴

Some children with constipation also have times when liquid stool leaks out into their underwear but they don't realize it. This is called encopresis. Again, we don't know exactly how many children have this problem.

• Some studies say that it happens to about 3 in 100 children who are 4 years old and 2 in 100 children who are 5 years old.⁵
• It's most common in children ages 2 to 4.⁵
• It happens in boys more often than in girls.⁵