This morning, I took a look at toilet training in Russia's orphanages. Now I need to talk about what happens when there are problems with bathroom behavior, and most specifically about a problem called encopresis.

What's that? It is, in essence, what happens when constipation gets out of control. In slightly starker terms, stool gets so backed up in the large intestine that it begins to leak out into a child's underpants and clothing. The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, which has an adoption medicine practice, has a detailed backgrounder on encopresis here.

Encopresis doesn't just happen to children adopted from Russia. But I've seen enough posts on chat boards and support groups about it to know that it is an issue for some. And to know that the parents and children dealing with it really struggle, and that their frustrations are not often treated kindly--or fairly--by fellow board members. And yes, I am writing from first-hand experience on this one.

For the first six months after he arrived in the United States from Sakhalin Island, my little guy was a model of bathroom behavior. Then one day he was constipated and everything changed. I lost count of how many new pairs of underpants I had to buy for him during this downward spiral. Both of us were stressed beyond belief.

I learned along the way that stress can play a role in the onset of encopresis, and there can certainly be a lot of stress in even the easiest adoption transition. We are, after all, asking children to leave a familiar environment to go halfway around the world with people who sound, and sometimes look, very different from anything they have ever known. But I would have thought that that stress would have been all shaken out after six months.

I never really did uncover what triggered the problem. As I've written before, I am staunchly against junk food, and not just because consuming it can lead to constipation. And I try very hard to have lots on whole grains on the menu, like the kasha my kids likely ate in Russia.

If you are struggling with encopresis now, talk to your pediatrician. Ask him or her to make sure there is no physical reason for the blockage. Stay positive and stock up on cheap underwear until it is over.

It took almost a year for my little guy to completely shake off encopresis. A program called "Soiling Solutions" got us going in the right direction pretty quickly and I used a lot of positive reinforcement. It's amazing how much of a celebration you can make out of poop.