I was potty trained by the age of 3. When I was 5 I developed an allergy to dairy products that caused me to lose all feeling in my bowel muscles. That meant I couldn’t feel it when I needed a poo and the first I knew about it was when I’d done it in my pants. At the time the doctors couldn’t find what was causing it and told my mum there was no medical reason for it. My problem got worse by the time I was 6 when I moved to a different school. At first I’d been pooing my pants or bed a couple of times a week, but now I was doing it a couple of times most days. I got teased a lot and called names. After a month or so of this at the new school the school nurse told my mum that things couldn’t carry on like this and suggested I see a child psychologist. I saw this woman a few times and remember after one session she told me to wait outside while she spoke to my mum. She told my mum she thought I was doing it on purpose to get attention and said she should put me back in nappies and only change me at set times to show me it was better to use the toilet. She gave her a letter that she could use in the chemists to get free nappies as she was a single mum. On the way home we stopped and she got some Peauduce disposable nappies that were for 6- to 9-year olds. They were thick and bulky as they were designed for bedwetters and they rustled when I walked. I wore them until I was 8 and a half when the doctors found out what was causing it. After that I wasn’t allowed and dairy products and my mum warned me I’d be in trouble if I had any. One Tuesday after school when I was ten and a half I got told off for teasing my sister and decided to be naughty by going to the kitchen and drinking two big glasses of milk and was eating ice cream out of the tub when my mum walked in. She saw what I’d done, grabbed me and put me under her arm and bent me over. She picked up a wooden spoon, pulled down my trousers and my pants and whacked my bare bum 10 times. She said I’d be in even more trouble if I pooed myself. By school the next day I’d almost forgotten about it, but whilst sitting in class just before the end of school I felt a warm sticky feeling spreading across my bum and realised what I’d done. I made it to the end of school without anyone noticing it but as soon as I got in the car and sat down my mum smelt it. We stopped at the chemist and she came out with a pack of nappies, the same as what I used to wear. She said I’d be wearing them for a week to teach me a lesson and that for the next 5 days she would be giving me milk and other dairy products. I said they wouldn’t fit but they did. I was told I would be changed after breakfast, after school and before bed but at no other time. The next morning I begged her not to make me wear one to school, but she did. I prayed no one would notice, but mid morning I pooed my nappy and had to sit in it. Someone must have noticed because at lunch break a group of boys came up to me in the playground and asked if I’d pooed my pants. I said I hadn’t so they grabbed me and pulled down my trousers and everyone saw what I was wearing. I was stood in a dirty nappy with my trousers round my ankles in the middle of the playground and started crying. After a week I got my pants back and never did that again.